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| Scottish Justice Secretary Michael Matheson |
Scotland’s Justice Secretary said he would “encourage” the armed forces to formally pardon men convicted of discriminatory historic sexual offences and disregard these convictions.
Michael Matheson said it would be “difficult” for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to refuse to take action on men who were criminalised under military rules given UK and Scottish legislation.
He said the armed forces should take steps to “correct” the records of those who were discharged for being gay.
Mr Matheson was giving evidence to Holyrood’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee on the Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) Bill which will provide an automatic pardon to men in Scotland convicted of such offences and enable them to apply for the convictions to be struck off their criminal record, known as a disregard.
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