A Scottish Green MSP has come under fire after claiming “rape is a spectrum”.
Q Manivannan, a transgender Indian migrant who was elected while only holding a student visa, faces a barrage of criticism after a short 23-second video circulated on social media.
In the clip, the 30-year-old said: “There definitely is a demonisation of rape, in the sense that it is a spectrum.”
The Scottish Greens came under pressure to withdraw the whip from Q Manivannan after the remarks sparked a furious backlash from Reform UK and Tory MSPs.
Reform MSP Thomas Kerr said: “This bloke doesn't belong in our national Parliament.
“Q Manivannan's smirk while he argues that rape is ‘demonised’ and that there are ‘spectrums’ is beyond reprehensible.
“Will Ross Greer and Gillian MacKay take action?”
Scottish Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton added: “There are spectrums of rape?
“What is he talking about? This is insulting to victims of rape and it’s incredibly dangerous to normalise a violent act.
“Do the Scottish Greens share Manivannan’s warped views?”
After being elected to Holyrood in May 2026, Q Manivannan also came under fire after it emerged the 30-year-old stood while only holding a student visa.
Q Manivannan, who pushed for Scottish taxpayers to fund reparations to the Palestinian people, was fundraising to pay for a graduate visa despite MSP's earning £77,711 a year.
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The Green MSP also owns a relatively expensive £250,000 home in their home country of India.
Buyers could secure a four or five-bedroom detached villa with its own garden and parking for such a figure in Q Manivannan's hometown of Chennai.
Meanwhile, £250,000 would likely stretch to a one-bedroom flat in Edinburgh.
However, Q Manivannan dismissed the suggestion the recent remarks were offensive.
The 30-year-old responded by instead claiming the comments had been taken out of context.
The Edinburgh MSP said: “This clip has been clearly misrepresented and taken out of context from a much longer interview.
"As a survivor of sexual violence, who has spoken openly about my recovery, I am clear that we need to focus on reducing the likelihood of perpetrators of rape reoffending.
“The point I made about demonisation was that not all rapists fit a stereotype, and that all kinds of men can and do commit it.
“The vast majority of sexual violence is from men who the victims know personally. Victims should be believed regardless of who the perpetrator was, and rapists should be punished in the strongest terms."
Q Manivannan added: “If we are to tackle rape and sexual violence we need to tackle wider issues in society, including the ways boys and men are socialised, the communities or lack thereof they’re in, and how they’re raised.
“When talking about a spectrum I was making the point that laws often take a narrow definition of what rape and sexual violence is, which often allows it to continue without consequence.
"A full viewing of the interview clarifies this. In a country where rape has the lowest conviction rates of any crime, and reoffending continues, this is an urgent and important conversation we need to have in Scotland.”
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