More on Catholics and Gays in Scotland

I suppose a bit of history might help all sides here, for the Catholic Church in Scotland has not always had such a problem with homosexuality.
There is continuing discussion about the Catholic Church and its freedom to attack homosexuality at Tom Harris' blog. I Have chipped in with a bit of history.

In fact the Catholic Church often had its biggest problems with heterosexuality. For decades the biggest pastoral problem discussed was "mixed marriages" (i.e. Catholics wanting to marry Protestants). Apart from tha, there were occasional problems such as when Mario Conti's predecessor as Bishop of Aberdeen eloped with his housekeeper, who happened to be the wife of a local Church of Scotland minister.

Meanwhile, in the 1970s, the incipient gay movement in Scotland was getting its greatest support from various Catholic parishes and priests. For example, in Edinburgh Fr. Anthony Ross OP allowed the first gay discos in Scotland to take place in the basement cafeteria at the Catholic Chaplaincy at 23 George Sq. While the Gay Catholic group QUEST had strong groups in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. More than that the Scottish Minorities Group (later Scottish Homosexual Rights Group, with Robin Cook MP no less as honorary President) for years had its mimeographed publication GAY SCOTLAND produced and distributed from a Parish house in, I think, Cumbernauld.