Kate Forbes has refused to quit the SNP leadership race following a storm over her comments about gay marriage.
The finance secretary only launched her campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon yesterday but immediately ran intro controversy following a round of interviews she gave last night.
The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, a committed member of the Free Church of Scotland, said she would have voted against the equalities bill at Holyrood "as a matter of conscience".
Asked if her campaign was over before it had properly started, Forbes said today: "Absolutely not. We have a large membership, most of whom are not on Twitter.
"I understand the public has very strong views - but I think the public are longing for a politician to answer straight questions with straight answers, and that's certainly what I have tried to do."
She told BBC Radio Scotland: "My position on these matters is that I will defend to the hilt everybody's rights in a pluralistic and tolerant society, to live free from harassment and fear.
"In the same way, I hope that others can be afforded the right, as people of faith, to practice fairly mainstream teaching - and that is the nuance that needs catching.
"On equal marriage, it is a legal right - and as a servant of democracy I absolutely respect and defend that democratic right".
Forbes' campaign lost the backing of several senior SNP members last night following comments made to to other broadcasters and newspapers.
Asked about equal marriage, she had said: "I believe that it should be a conscience vote because of its profound significance in all mainstream faiths," she said.
"I think for me, Angela Merkel is the example I would follow, I would have voted, as a matter of conscience, along the lines of mainstream teaching in most major religions that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"But I would have respected and defended the democratic choice that was made."
Legislation to introduce same-sex marriage in Scotland was passed in February 2014, with 105 MSPs voting in favour and 18 against.
Forbes was first returned to Holyrood at the 2016 election and was promoted to the Scottish Government Cabinet in 2020.
Ruth Davidson, a former Scottish Conservative leader who campaigned for equal marriage, said: "I'm not an in-depth student of the SNP membership but I'm pretty sure that, with this, Kate Forbes has just set fire to her leadership campaign on the very same day as she launched it."
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