Where the SNP leadership candidates stand on same sex marriage

Scotland's SNP members will next month decide the country's next first minister after Nicola Sturgeon announced she would be stepping down from the role.

Following her shock resignation as party leader, scrutiny has turned to the three candidates - who have until Friday to secure 100 nominations - vying to replace her.

Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes has in particular come under sustained fire for her religious beliefs in the last week.

She lost high-profile support after revealing she would not have voted for same sex marriage and later said she believes having children outside of marriage is “wrong”

Here are where Ms Forbes and the other candidates stand on same sex marriage:

Kate Forbes

Ms Forbes said she would have opposed same sex marriage as “a matter of conscience” if she had been an MSP when it became law in Scotland in 2014.

The finance secretary, who is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, 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. It is a legal right now and I am a servant of democracy, I am not a dictator.”

At least four prominent SNP colleagues withdrew their support following her remarks, including children’s minister Clare Haughey and Gillian Martin, Aberdeenshire East MSP.

She then faced...