The Vatican is dead wrong on this. Unfortunately, that will mean some other deaths, too.
Gay rights groups and newspaper editorials on Tuesday condemned the Vatican for its decision to oppose a proposed U.N. resolution calling on governments worldwide to de-criminalise homosexuality. The row erupted after the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations told a French Catholic news agency the Holy See would oppose the resolution, which France is due to propose later this month on behalf of the 27-member European Union.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the Vatican opposed the resolution because it would “add new categories of those protected from discrimination” and could lead to reverse discrimination against traditional heterosexual marriage.
“If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations,” Migliore said. “For example, states which do not recognise same-sex unions as ‘matrimony’ will be pilloried and made an object of pressure,” Migliore said.
Now, I make no bones about my support for gay marriage. But I would hope that most civilized and moral people aren’t so paranoid about the prospect that they’d rather see gay people executed.
Franco Grillini, founder and honorary president of Arcigay, Italy’s leading gay rights group, said the Vatican’s reasoning smacked of “total idiocy and madness”.
“The French resolution, which is supported by all 27 members of the European Union, has nothing to do with gay marriage. It is about stopping jail and the death penalty for homosexuals,” Grillini told Reuters.
The resolution is to be presented by Rama Yade, France’s state secretary for human rights.
Human rights groups say homosexuality is still punishable by law in more than 85 countries and by death in a number of them, including Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.
Well, surely there must be some complex and nuanced thinking behind the Vatican’s stand, right?
Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said “no-one wants the death penalty or jail or fines for homosexuals” …
Nobody but those countries that have laws that call for such punishments, that is.
… but defended Migliore’s comments, adding that the Vatican was in the majority on the issue.
“It’s not for nothing that fewer than 50 member states of the United Nations have adhered to the proposal in question while more than 150 have not adhered. The Holy See is not alone,” Lombardi said.
Ah, I see. Morality is decided by a majority vote. That’s … interesting theology there, Fr. Lombardi. I’m sure the Christian Martyrs would be in full agreement. Not to mention Someone Else who was put to death by a majority vote of the mob.
But regardless, arguing that countries should not be criticized or pressured to stop imprisoning or executing homosexuals for fear that uppity gays will then demand marriage right is, frankly, like arguing that countries should not be criticized for encouraging rape and child brides because otherwise women might think they deserve the vote.
If the Vatican is so terrified of “gay marriage” that they are unwilling to do anything that even hints of legal protection for gays, then they are, frankly, dead wrong.
It’s just that it’s the executed gays who will have to pay the price for the Vatican’s error.