Pressure is mounting on the SNP’s Aberdeenshire East candidate to publicly apologise over “offensive” comments made in an online blog.
Gillian Martin branded the royal family “a bunch of inbred dysfunctionals” and claimed the EU had a “tranny trove” of cash after students were asked to fill out a survey about transgender identity.
Ms Martin, who was selected to contest the seat which will be vacated by going former first minister Alex Salmond, also suggested she would “blow” any job “which included any element of trust”.
And she described Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared in Portugal in 2007, of being “well-heeled professionals” who “left their child unattended whilst they went out socialising”.
Mr Salmond – who was also branded “smug” by Ms Martin in a blog post – claimed he could “hardly argue” with the assessment given his “good lady wife says similar things on a daily basis”.
But opposition candidates have demanded an apology over the “astonishing” and “outrageous” remarks, while Stonewall has also called for Ms Martin to distance herself from “casual transphobia”.
Ms Martin took to Twitter over the weekend to say she would “never want to offend anyone”.
Stonewall Scotland’s director, Colin McFarlane, said: “We currently have no trans MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and what appears to be casual transphobia in Gillian Martin’s comments are unlikely to help rectify this.
“While we’ve come a long way with regard to lesbian, gay and bisexual rights in the last parliament there is still a lot to do before trans people are afforded full equal recognition in Scotland.
“Our manifesto makes this a key ask for all candidates.
“We’d hope that Gillian Martin would reflect on her words and will now publicly support our calls for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people to be accepted without exception.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat Aberdeenshire East candidate Christine Jardine said Ms Martin should explain herself over the comments, which have now been deleted.
She said: “For Ms Martin to describe the EU as a ‘tranny trove’ is outrageous. It is an offensive comment for which voters in Aberdeenshire East, particularly the LGBTi community, demand an explanation.
“The people of Aberdeenshire East deserve an MSP who will represent their views responsibly and with respect for all sections of the community.
“We all deserve explanations both from Ms Martin and from the SNP as to why they think this type of disrespect is acceptable.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives added: “It’s quite telling that Gillian Martin deleted this site quickly when it was revealed that she is less than complementary about her own predecessor.
“Some may even find her comments on the royals and McCanns deeply offensive.
“If this is the kind of calibre that the SNP are attracting then they will have serious problems ahead.”
Ms Martin could not be reached for comment yesterday.
A spokesman for the SNP said: “Many of the posts stem from almost a decade ago – at which point Gillian wasn’t even an SNP member.
“People in Aberdeenshire East care about how Gillian plans to stand up for them at Holyrood, not about some out-of-context entries from a 10-year-old blog.”
