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Senior SNP minister John Swinney thinks the drag queen at the centre of a social media row should not have been invited to perform a reading at a Scots school.

The Education Secretary admitted it was 'clear' FlowJob should not have been asked to talk about LGBT issues with kids at Glencoats Primary in Paisley , Renfrewshire, last week.

However he refused to be drawn on Mhairi Black's accusations of homophobia against parents who quickly condemned the visit.

Concerns were raised after sexually explicit images were discovered on FlowJob's social media profile.

Renfrewshire Council said it would never have invited the performer had it been aware of the posts.

Speaking to reporters outside Holyrood, Deputy First Minister Swinney said it was important for pupils to "understand more about LGBT issues".

However he continued: "Clearly this was an invitation that should not have been issued given the background material that had been on the social media account of the individual concerned.

"I understand that Renfrewshire Council has apologised for that and I think that's the correct thing for them to have done.

"The invitation was issued in good faith because the school was trying to do something, which I think is important, and that is to respond to pupil aspirations to understand more about LGBT issues and I think that is an important hallmark of our society.

"Crucially, we have to be sensitive about the invitations that are issued to enable that to be done and in this case that's not been done.

SNP MP Mhairi Black joined the performer during the talk on the notorious Section 28 Act, which was later repealed.

The Act was introduced by Margaret Thatcher to ban the 'promotion of homosexuality' in schools.

But the visit was met with backlash, sparking a fierce social media and prompting Black to tweet: "You just know that the people pretending to be livid that a drag queen read a book in a school are also the people who run out to buy their kids the latest Grand Theft Auto on release day.

"Your homophobia is transparent."

But when asked whether his colleague should apologise over the comments, Swinney diplomatically responded: "I'll speak on my behalf and I'll let Mhairi Black express her view on all of these issues.

"That's probably the best place to leave it."

FlowJob was introduced to pupils as 'Flow' at the event, hosted to mark LGBT History Month.

Glencoats headteacher Heather Watson told the Paisley Daily Express: "Top of the list was to invite a drag queen into school to talk about her experiences growing up and her job.

"Flow met with (pupils) and parent council members and Mhairi Black to discuss what it was like growing up during Section 28 when it was illegal for school staff to talk about anything LGBT."

A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: "The school pupils at Glencoats Primary are currently organising a series of activities and events to mark LGBT History month.

(Image: Paisley Daily Express)

"In discussion with pupils in their Rainbow Club, one of their requests was to invite people from the LGBT community to hear about their own experiences growing up and they wanted to invite a drag queen to talk to this group to hear about their own personal experience.

"All school visits are arranged and managed with the wellbeing of pupils first and foremost however it is clear in this case, the social media content associated with the speaker's stage persona is not appropriate for children and had we been aware of this, the visit would not have been arranged.

"We are sorry for the concern this has caused."