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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
With less than a month before the start of Riga Pride, Cardinal Janis Pujats, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Latvia, has defined homosexuality as a "total corruption in the sexual arena" an "unnatural form of prostitution" and calls on the government to protect "the values of the traditional family against the licentiousness of homosexuals" in a letter published by a Latvian newspaper.
"We cannot keep quiet," he says in his letter, 'Defending Family Values', to Ritdiena. "One month from now, there will once again be the issue of tolerance towards homosexuality in the context of yet another attempt to organize a Pride march on June 3."
By this point in time, there are countless examples of GLBT entertainers, politicians, business leaders and families. The only possible explanation for Pujats' ignorant comments is that he is speaking from personal experience. Perhaps, the only gay people he has shared acquaintance with are male prostitutes. I suggest that the good Father expand his circle of gay friends beyond the brothel. Not only would this be good for his career, it also may broaden his mind. Indeed, making assumptions based on personal experience alone can often be a dangerous thing.
12 Comments:
Yep Wayne,sure sounds like he has personal experience, he seems to know a lot about it along with all the right-wing religious zealots. Their obsession with our sexuality is mindblowing.
PS: Just finished reading "Bashing Back", brilliant! Mandatory reading for every one of us in the LGBT community!
You have to wonder why the Catholic Church has increased its vituperation against gay people in recent history, much after the Protestant fundies began the gay bashing.
Methinks that it is for the same reason the Protestant fundies took it up long ago: it fuels their base and makes them loud and militant!
Imagine if that's the only weapon in their arsenal, justlike the fundies, to increase their ranks. The Catholic Church's attendance rolls must be declining seriously.
Recruiting believers through hate and fear worked for Bush brilliantly, the first time around and somewhat the 2nd time around. It’s not going to work again in November 2008.
The Catholic Church should work on its own believers' marriages (are their marriages as bad off as the Protestant fundies'? Ask Giuliani!), allow priests and nuns to get married (Lord knows they need it!), and clean its own house before going on about family values. The only thing that will save the Catholic Church and its Protestant cousins is to concentrate on the loving message of JHC and allow the mythology to be what it is: fiction. richard schillen
posted by Anonymous, at
5/11/2007 10:27 AM
Richard, its interesting to note that the RC church threatened John Kerry with excommunication in 2004, and Mario Cuomo and Geraldine Ferraro prior to that just because of their support for a woman's right to choose but did not include Giuliani or any other republican in the threat. Speaking of Giuliani, he is already in jeopardy of being excommunicated since as a divorced man, you're not entitled to any of the sacraments of the church. Odd how all the republicans in question escaped the Vatican's charge. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what is. The RC church is in decline, rotting from within, and long may it continue to do so, its very deserving in my opinion and the same goes for every other bigoted religious denomination. It also goes to show how desperate the RC church truly is having its leader fly off to Brazil to castigate politicians on human rights issues such as abortion. How convenient that the antichrist is coming to the US next year, an election year of course, to stir up the gay marriage/abortion issues all over again. What an evil piece of work he and his ilk are!
posted by Anonymous, at
5/11/2007 12:03 PM
On the radio show Ring of Fire, Bobby Kennedy Jr said that when Ratzinger was a boy, a high ranking cleric of the catholic church arrived in his german town for some important event. When the young ratzinger saw the flashy expensive car and the ornate flowing robes that the cleric was wearing, that's when he decided to become a priest. Doesnt it figure, he didnt enter the church to help the poor, the sick and the marginalized, he just liked the expensive cars and the designer gowns; especially the later I'm sure!
posted by Anonymous, at
5/11/2007 1:46 PM
And people wonder why I'm an atheist.
posted by Anonymous, at
5/14/2007 4:21 PM
