SCOTS have been left shocked after Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie was subjected to vile abuse during an interview.
The 50-year-old was at his party’s campaign launch for the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election yesterday when he stopped to give an interview to BBC Scotland News.
However, Harvie – who is also the minister for Zero-Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenant’s Rights – was duly interrupted by an anonymous passer-by who launched a slur his way.
Video shows Harvie in front of the camera, mid-interview with journalist David Wallace Lockhart, when a man, who remains off-screen for the entirety of the interaction, can be heard questioning the pair.
The man asks an unintelligible question, to which David replies: “Scottish Greens.”
The man then promptly responds: “Vote Green? Vote blue, vote any colour except his colour.”
David and Harvie are left in awkward silence for a moment before the former breaks the tension, joking: “I think you’ve got your work cut out there, winning that vote.”
David attempts to push on with the interview as the man initially appears to back off, but the abuser quickly returns seconds later, calling Harvie – who is bisexual – a “deviant”.
Harvie then snaps back: “You’re a bigot,” as he stares the man down.
The man doubles down on his statement before apparently walking away, still rambling incoherently.
Following this interruption, Mr Harvie goes on to talk about how the presence of “toxic forces” in British politics have led to increased levels of homophobia and transphobia in general.
He calls on those who perpetuate the “culture war” against minorities to take responsibility for verbal abuse and violence committed against such groups.
One Scotsman shared the clip to social media yesterday with the caption: “Absolutely disgusting to see a bisexual politician abused on the streets of Scotland like this.
“All the progress we’ve made as LGBTQ+ people used as fodder for a hateful culture war.
“Solidarity with Patrick Harvie who has always stood up for LGBTQ+ people in good times and bad.”
The post has since received over 2,300 likes and more than 250 comments from users left shocked by the man’s seemingly random attack on Harvie.
One user commented: “Very sorry to see this happen. Pity the camera wasn’t turned onto the bigot. Credit to Patrick for maintaining composure.”
Another wrote: “We stand with you 100% @patrickharvie. So sad to continuously see this type of thing – sending love and solidarity.”
A third said: “So sorry that you experienced this, Patrick. You handled it with your usual courage and dignity. Solidarity.”
Another replied: “Well handled, absolutely shocking that this is still a thing in 2023, stoked by high profile individuals pushing gender critical anti-trans views, etc!”
In the wake of the incident, the Greens have released the following statement: “We can confirm our co-leader Patrick Harvie was subjected to sustained and homophobic verbal abuse while conducting a television interview with BBC News Scotland.
“This occurred during today’s launch of our party’s by-election campaign for Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
“While this worrying incident consisted of verbal abuse, the current wave of homophobia and transphobia has included far worse, borne out by recent crime statistics.
“It is truly shocking that in 2023 such a threat is once again being deliberately stirred up by politicians every bit as reactionary as those who created Section 28 back in the 1980s, or who backed the homophobic “Keep the Clause” campaign in the early days of devolution.
“Incidents of hatred against LGBTQ+ people have been growing steadily in recent years.
“Some of this comes as a direct result of the “culture war”, misinformation and hostility being manufactured by the UK Government and other politicians and media voices.
“They must take responsibility for the consequences of their toxic rhetoric which leads to regrettable incidents like the one witnessed today.
“Mr Harvie and the Scottish Greens are proud of our work in pushing through hate crime legislation over a decade ago, which means we now have the data to measure this threat against our community.
“The safety of all our MSPs, staff and volunteers is a priority for our party and we will be contacting Police Scotland to make them aware of today’s incident.”
