Kate Forbes not banned from Summerhall building, venue says

An arts venue has said it has not banned Scotland’s deputy first minister Kate Forbes from the building after a row over her speaking at an event.

Forbes was interviewed on stage at the Summerhall in Edinburgh as part of a Fringe show on August 7 organised by The Herald newspaper.

The deputy first minister is a devout Christian and a member of the socially conservative Free Church of Scotland, and she was criticised during her SNP leadership battle for her stance on gay marriage, abortion and trans rights.

In an email to artists on the day of the event, Summerhall said Herald Unspun was programmed before the line-up of interviewees was confirmed.

It described the booking as an “oversight” and said it “should have considered the likelihood of her being booked to attend, and the understandable upset it would cause”.

The venue said it will be writing “robust, proactive inclusion and wellbeing policies that prevent this from happening again”.

It said Herald Unspun was not curated by Summerhall and at this stage would not comment on future curated events and the possibility of Forbes appearing.

However, in a statement on Friday, it said Forbes is not banned from the building.

It said: “The Fringe event passed without incident.

“Forbes is not banned from the Summerhall building, which encompasses a cafe, pub, arts venues, galleries and independent traders’ offices and studios.”

It said speakers, including First Minister John Swinney, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Forbes, “all entered and exited the building the same way for the events over each day”.

It added: “The events, the Herald Unspun events, were a paid hire and programmed by The Herald newspaper.”

Kate Forbes was a guest at a Fringe event at the Summerhall last week (Alamy/PA) PA Media

Forbes has said she “fervently” believes in freedom of speech.

She said: “Any effort to cancel people, especially politicians, undermines democracy.

“Many people attended the Herald event and it is important that we could freely discuss and debate matters in a respectful manner.

“I respect and acknowledge the fact that, in a liberal democracy, there are people who will agree with me and others who will disagree with me.

“That is all the more reason to create events where the audience and journalists can question politicians openly, as the Herald did.”

In an email sent to artists on August 7 and addressed to “Dear companies”, Summerhall said: “At this point, our main concern is that cancelling the event could pose significant additional risk to the safety and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ artists, staff and audiences by attracting those who share Kate Forbes’s views outside of these walls to Summerhall, and as such the interview will take place as scheduled, with all proceeds from the event donated to a local LGBTQ+ charity, the amount and the recipient will be published as soon as possible.

“While the event is happening, staff will be on hand to help anyone who may wish to make use of a designated relaxed space.

“We do not believe LGBTQ+ rights, nor their existence, is up for debate. We recognise that the LGBTQ+ community make up a significant proportion of our artists, audiences and staff, and we have work to do to repair the damage from this oversight.

“At this stage, we can guarantee that we will be writing robust, proactive inclusion and wellbeing policies that prevent this from happening again.”