THE Moderator of the Church of Scotland has urged women who have faced discrimination in the Kirk to come forward.

The Right Reverend Lorna Hood said she had been "taken back and saddened" by sexism in the Kirk, and she had seen first hand evidence of women being denied key roles because of their sex.

Mrs Hood said: "I have spent time with women still denied a place on Kirk sessions and local ruling bodies. There are women elders who, having moved from one area to another, find their ordination is called into question."