THE UK's largest LGBT charity has demanded an Alba candidate retract a "dangerous and misleading" statement suggesting that it was campaigning to reduce the age of consent to 10.

Stonewall has condemned Margaret Lynch, who is standing for Holyrood elections, after reports that she told an online women's conference that proponents of "queer theory" wanted to lower the sexual consent age to 10.

Ms Lynch was also reported to have criticised the funding of Stonewall and LGBT Youth Scotland by the Scottish Government.

The Central Scotland list candidate denied the accuracy of the reports of her comments, and the Alba party subsequently said they were inaccurate.

Ms Lynch said: "This has been maliciously and cynically twisted for political ends, and demands have been made that I apologise for things I never said and do not believe."

READ MORE: Margaret Lynch: What I really said

In a statement, Stonewall chief executive Nancy Kelley, and the Stonewall Scotland director Colin McFarlane said they were "appalled" by Ms Lynch's remarks, saying she is "repeating deeply harmful myths about LGBT+ people as paedophiles and sexual predators."

They have called for her to apologise and retract the comments made on Saturday, which have since been backed by Alex Salmond's new Alba party.

Their statement, published today, reads: "We are appalled by the baseless and offensive accusations made by Alba parliamentary candidate Margaret Lynch on Saturday.

"What she said was not only untrue, but it was also a wilful, bad faith interpretation made for the sole purpose of trying to smear LGBT+ organisations.

"Her allegations have been refuted in the strongest terms by ILGA World."

The interpretation of Ms Lynch's comments seems to come from an interpretation of the term "adolescent" adopted by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), a worldwide alliance of LGBTI groups including Stonewall Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland.

ILGA signed a women's rights declaration, which includes demands to “end the criminalisation and stigmatisation of adolescents’ sexuality . . . including laws limiting legal capacity of adolescents, people with disabilities or other groups to provide consent to sex”.

Despite the declaration not defining the term 'adolescents', it was suggested by one pro-independence blogger that it referred to the World Health Organisations' definition, which classes an adolescent as someone aged 10-19.

The Alba party was challenged over the comments, but continued to support Ms Lynch, saying her remarks were “based on fact” and urged Stonewall to clarify its position on the age of consent.

It then issued a statement saying it was "drawing a line" and those who abused female candidates would be "faced down".

Alba said reports of her comments from the conference did not "reflect the concerns expressed by Ms Lynch about two Scottish based organisations among others supporting an international group that have openly advocated decriminalisation around adolescent sexual behaviour."

READ MORE: Salmond warns those who abuse his female Alba candidates 'will be faced down'

Stonewall chiefs say her comments and the link to lowering the age of consent to 10 was "vategorically untrue".

Their statement released today said: "In making these accusations, she is repeating deeply harmful myths about LGBT+ people as paedophiles and sexual predators.

"It’s the oldest trick in the homophobic book of lies. This kind of language has a long, dark history of being used to paint us threats to children and stop us from being treated as equal citizens.

"These myths are used to bully, intimidate and silence LGBT+ people.

"We will not stand for this. Her comments have been deeply upsetting for LGBT+ people in Scotland and beyond.

"These falsehoods and those who recycle them and amplify them place our staff and our community in danger. They have no place in public life, or anywhere else in society."

Ms Kelley and Mr McFarlane continued: "We call on Margaret Lynch to retract her false accusation and apologise. We are carefully considering our next steps.

"If you have any information that could help us consider our next steps, please get in touch.

"This is about the sort of country we want to live in, and whether we want to live in a country where decency and truth matter.

"We call on all Scotland’s political leaders to condemn this behaviour and stand in solidarity with LGBT+ communities."

Ms Lynch has subsequently written a full clarification of her remarks, which can be read here.