If the walls of Melville Castle could talk, they would tell of all the historical figures who have graced its halls — Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Victoria, King George IV and Sir Walter Scott. But the castle, on the southern outskirts of Edinburgh, had never seen anything like the wedding it hosted a few weeks ago.

On a beautiful autumn day, Nick Jamison, 33, and Paul Jacques, 40, were “married” to the skirl of the pipes under laws that are making Scotland one of the world’s hottest destinations for gay marriage.

Standing in front of their guests, Jamison, in a cream suit, and Jacques, in his Royal Navy uniform complete with medals, said their vows and walked out onto the lawns of the 18th-century castle to release a pair of doves into the sky.

“It was so emotional, and I really didn’t think I’d be like that. I got quite tearful,” said Jamison.

In less than a year since the law allowing same-sex civil partnerships came into force, almost a thousand couples have walked down the aisle in Scotland. Although not technically a “marriage”, the distinction in the public eye has all but disappeared.

Edinburgh, which is gaining a reputation as a gay-friendly city, has hosted 318 of the ceremonies in just over 10 months. Scotland’s capital used to be known as a dour bastion of reticence and social conservatism. Now it is the third most popular venue in the UK for gay weddings, behind Brighton and Westminster and ahead of Manchester, long famous for its gay clubs and bars on Canal Street.

It is a far cry from the dark days of the 1970s, when homosexuality was still illegal in Scotland and the “gay scene” was restricted, for many, to public parks and gents lavatories. Thousands of gay men living in rural Scotland believed they were, quite literally, the only gay in the village.

Even in the 1980s and 1990s, gay men and women didn’t feel comfortable declaring their sexuality publicly and, for many, the nadir of intolerance was the bitter and divisive dispute over the repeal of section 28 (section 2a in Scotland) in 2000. Almost a million Scots took part in a private referendum, funded by Brian Souter, the Stagecoach tycoon, opposing repeal of the law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. An opinion poll at the time showed that 87% of Scots opposed repeal of the law. Cardinal Thomas Winning, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, crystalised the views of many when he described homosexuality as “a perversion”.

As recently as 2004 homophobia in its most pungent form was exemplified by Tom Forrest, a B&B owner in Wester Ross who refused to allow a gay couple to stay in a double bed, describing them as “sexual deviants”. Forrest, whose guesthouse was subsequently removed from VisitScotland’s approved list, said he would not “condone perversion”.

Yet from that desert of intolerance, when it seemed Scotland was light years behind the rest of the UK in terms of its attitude towards homosexuality, green shoots of enlightenment are starting to emerge.

This weekend the Kirk — one of the last bastions of Presbyterian rectitude — signalled that it is ready to bless gay weddings for the first time. The admission may be enough to make John Knox, right, the father of the Protestant reformation in Scotland, spin in his grave, but it is an unmistakable sign of changing times.

Sheilagh Kesting, who takes over as the new moderator of the Church of Scotland’s general assembly next May, says “the time is right” to allow Kirk ministers to conduct services marking civil partnerships.

A recent YouGov poll for The Sunday Times in Scotland suggested she is in tune with the nation her church is dedicated to serve. Fewer than one in five Scots believe homosexuality is unacceptable, with younger people more than three times more relaxed than over 55s.

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