The leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland has spoken about the difficulty of aligning her faith with her sexuality.
Ruth Davidson said she struggled with her religious beliefs when she came out as gay in her mid-twenties.
In an interview with the Sun she said: "there are times in life when you feel close to God and other times when you feel further away.
"I found the period of coming out very difficult to align with my faith but I have found my way back to God."
The church-going, Edinburgh Central MSP recently spoke out against the homophobic abuse she has endured since becoming Tory leader in Scotland and said she feared that growing levels of online hate could put women off a career in politics.
She was the first openly-gay leader of a major UK political party when she ran in the 2011 Scottish parliament election but admits it was "frustrating" to find herself described as a "kick-boxing lesbian".
The former journalist also weighed into the BBC gender pay-gap row in her interview.
She explained: "When I was a lowly BBC journalist, a female BBC journalist, I was probably on less than my lowly male counterparts.
"For every Gary Lineker or Chris Evans, there are a lot of people on less than average wage, working all the hours God sends."
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Article by Eno Adeogun
Eno Adeogun is a multimedia journalist for Premier.
