An independent candidate has come under fire after claiming the Covid pandemic has been caused by gay marriage.
Retired mussel farmer Peter Tait is standing in the Scottish Parliament elections next month as a candidate in Shetland.
He is backing an anti-gay marriage stance, adding “Covid is possibly related to it”.
His comments were branded as “vile” by critics online, who labelled him an “idiot” and a “bigot”.
Tait claimed his position was related to his religious beliefs.
He said: “I’m representing, as best I can, things God would want me to represent.”
Asked if he understood there would likely be a backlash to his views, he said: “I suppose there likely will.”
Kerrie Meyer, founder of ShetlandLGBTQ.org.uk, said: “It is obvious to any sane and educated person that Mr Tait is clearly an idiot by espousing such a nonsense notion.
“His ridiculous belief that Covid is a causation of gay marriage is not only a dangerous conspiracy theory but could propagate and incite hate of gay people and surely contravenes the Equality Act 2010.
“So-called free speech that promotes such hate and division should not be given a platform.
“The Electoral Commission could take measures against Mr Tait for promoting such a dangerous conspiracy theory and vile comments about gay marriage.
“In the meantime, he needs to climb back into his primeval hole.”
Tait stood in a Scottish parliamentary by-election in 2019. He got just 31 votes and was placed last out of 10 candidates.
On that occasion, he called for the monarchy to be moved to Scotland, saying the “off-centre position of the Crown” exacerbated the problems between Catholics and Protestants.
Despite Tait’s poor showing he said he was “quite pleased” with the result at the polls.
