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Gay Critics Are Victims, Too: Vatican

Tells UN stigmatization is violation of 'fundamental human rights'

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 24, 2011 6:36 AM CDT

(Newser) – It’s not just gays who suffer discrimination, the Vatican says: Those who decry homosexual behavior are stigmatized for their beliefs, and it amounts to a violation of their "fundamental human rights," a Vatican official told the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday. "People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behavior between people of the same sex," said the archbishop. "When they express their moral beliefs ... they are stigmatized, and worse— they are vilified, and prosecuted."

The Vatican condemns legal discrimination and violence "that is targeted against people because of their sexual feelings and thoughts, or sexual behaviors," he said in a statement reported by the Religion News Service via Huffington Post. But there’s a “consensus between societies that certain kinds of sexual behaviors must be forbidden by law,” such as pedophilia and incest, he said.

Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims as he arrives for his weekly general audience on March 23, 2011 at St Peter's square at The Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims as he arrives for his weekly general audience on March 23, 2011 at St Peter's square at The Vatican.   (Getty Images/AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOPHE SIMON)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 40 comments
RockyPneumonia
Mar 25, 2011 5:45 AM CDT
I'm see anti-Catholic prejudice here that, frankly, is no more acceptable than homophobia.
stanJames
Mar 25, 2011 3:14 AM CDT
So while it is the victimizer now the catholic church is following the lead of the Family research council which is listed as a hate group by the southern poverty law center. Which helped to bring about the end of segregation and demonization of blacks. Perhaps it will also put the church of Adoph Hitler - still not EXcommunciated despite 55 million deaths, because he was a catholic and the abolutists of the church know tht for the laity to understand the church's part in the holocaust and wwII, it will discover it preaches only to the dust in the pews and the dust of the departed. The catholic church also gave the world the hated fo the Jews, because they wouldn't convert. A hatred hitler expoited to become chancellor of germany . we know the rest of that story But how many know that in 2009 the POpe UNexcommunciated a bishop williamson, who is a holocaust denier. Probably because the church needs the money from his 600,000 mad followers to pay off the victims of the endless hidden molestation of the children it was sworn to protect. And the church also moved offending priests to new locations where they were unknown, so they could continue their vile crimes. Why - because no priests, no money for all practical purposed If you are a good Catholic who believes in social justice for all go to www.catholicarrogance.org A website that exposes endless crimes by the vaticans heirarchy. And after you have perused that website, go to WWW.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm To understand the mentality of the catholic church and why it has yet to excommunciate hitler.
Glasswalker
Mar 24, 2011 5:19 PM CDT
"We should only be intolerant to intolerance." -Sir Karl Raimund Popper
 

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