A thread on why I have resigned as an Honorary Associate of @NatSecSoc. I'm a strong believer in a secular society, where religion isn't given advantages by the state, where people are equal regardless of religion, and where religious freedom can include freedom *from* religion.

The NSS's Honorary Associates aren't involved in the leadership or management of the society. It's just a way of demonstrating support from across the political spectrum, and from high profile public & academic figures. I was asked to become one shortly after being elected.

I've been happy to support the society because it has an important role to play. I've sometimes disagreed with its policy stances, but that's never been a problem before. However their work on the new Hate Crime Bill has made me increasingly uncomfortable.

There's a legitimate debate on this Bill. As an MSP who led a previous hate crime bill through Parliament, I'm familiar with the arguments. A consolidation bill on hate crime has been overdue for a decade, and that's most of what the new Bill does.

It also takes the idea of a "stirring up hatred" offence, which already applies to racist hate crime in Scotland without problem, and applies a narrower version of it to other forms of hate crime. It only applies to behaviour which is threatening or abusive.

There are legitimate free speech issues raised here, and my mind isn't closed to that debate. I'll listen to any serious proposals to change the Bill for the better, so long as the purpose is to tackle hate crime in a coherent and effective way.

The NSS are campaigning against this Bill. Which isn't a problem, of course, even if I disagree with them. What I cannot accept is that they have formed a joint campaign with the Christian Institute, a deeply homophobic and transphobic religious extremist organisation.

This is one of the most toxic religious right organisations in the country. They not only want the state to impose their religious values on everyone, they have also opposed the equality and human rights of my community, the LGBT+ community, at every step of the way.

Before I was elected I worked in HIV prevention and LGBT+ youth work. They were responsible for repulsive smears against us for the work we did to support people. Since then they have opposed our legal & social equality at every chance they ever got.

They've also attacked sex & relationships education, reproductive rights & healthcare, the HPV vaccine, PrEP to prevent HIV infection, and laws to protect children against assault. They consistently put their own ideology ahead of people's lives.

The NSS recently agreed that after his latest outburst the racist historian David Starkey had to be removed as an Honorary Associate. They accepted that his racism was a red line. Why should homophobia, transphobia and misogyny be treated any differently?

In my view the Christian Institute should be treated as a hate group, not an ally to work with. And the NSS should recognise that while there are legitimate debates about the best way to tackle hate crime, the CI is not interested in those.

In the context of the extraordinary wave of transphobia in politics and the media, and the racist backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement, it's clear that there are people using debate on this bill to propagate hateful views, and protect the perpetrators of hate crime.

I hope that the @NatSecSoc will reconsider their alliance with these people, argue their own position on the Bill on their own terms, and stop treating as allies an organisation which stands for utterly toxic values. Until they do, I'm out.