SNP leadership hopeful Kate Forbes has accused the media of wanting to “take the conversation” back to her opposition to same sex marriage.
The Finance Secretary said she had answered questions on the issue comprehensively and insisted she had confidence in party members to decide on the next leader.
Forbes is up against Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and backbencher Ash Regan in the race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, but her campaign has been dogged by comments in the early days of the campaign.
The evangelical Christian said she would have voted against gay marriage in 2014 and claimed having children out of wedlock was wrong.
Her comments led to initial backers withdrawing their support.
In an interview with BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, she said of her faith:
“I certainly answered more questions than many politicians have in their entire lifetime on matters of faith, and I said obviously in the first week that I recognised that the way I had said what I'd said had caused hurt and I was extremely sorry for that.
“And so I'm certainly humble enough to reflect on how I could have done things differently.”
She added: “If you can trust me to deliver a national budget, I think you can trust me to make policy that serves all of Scotland.”
Forbes was also asked if the genie was out of the bottle and whether her social conservatism was a problem for her.
“And mostly because journalists keep wanting to go back to those issues,” she replied.
Put to her that she was being asked because she wanted to be First Minister, she said:
“I've answered those questions comprehensively. And I would appeal to people to recognise that in the last few years, I have served all of Scotland's people faithfully, and that would be my commitment to going forward.”
She also said the SNP would remain a socially progressive party of the centre-left if she wins the contest:
“This week alone I visited some of the Ukrainian refugees that have made Scotland their home because Scotland welcomes refugees. We have a warm, hospitable heart. We believe in treating others as we would want to be treated."
Asked again about her opposition to gay people marrying their partners, she said:
“I recognise you want to keep taking the conversation back to the issues that I've comprehensively addressed. We're now into a debate. And that debate is looking at a whole host of different issues that people care about, but ultimately we are in a contest, okay.
"So we've got a few weeks left of that contest to run, and I have confidence in SNP members to decide who they want to lead their party.”
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