Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

MSPs seek views on bill to pardon gay men convicted under discriminatory laws

Peter Matthews and Alistair Dinnie made history when they were married at St John's Church, run by the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) (iStock)
(Getty Images)

GAY men who will be pardoned under new legislation to right past discrimination have been urged to contact a Holyrood committee.

The invitation has been issued by MSPs on the parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee who will be scrutinising the Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) Bill.

The Bill will automatically pardon gay men convicted under historical discriminatory laws and will also allow for past convictions of this nature to be legally disregarded, or removed from criminal records.

The committee wants to hear views on the legislation from the public, particularly those who will be directly affected.

One of the issues under consideration is whether the Bill goes far enough to address past wrongs under discriminatory laws.

Convener Christina McKelvie MSP said: “This Bill sets out to correct a historic injustice by ensuing that convictions don’t continue to harm the lives of men convicted of acts which are no longer a crime.

“It is very important that we learn the lessons of how these discriminatory laws impacted on the lives of people so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

“As a committee, we will be spending a few months looking at the details of the Bill so we can consider any areas which may need to be improved or changed. We want to hear from anyone who has a view on the Bill.

“We are especially anxious to hear from men who will receive a pardon and who may wish to apply for a disregard of their criminal records.

“If you, or someone close to you, will be impacted by the Bill we urge you to take part in our work. We will treat your personal stories with sensitivity.”