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London, United Kingdom--The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Associaton (GALHA) condemned the Vatican on Monday for allying itself with "murderous, oppressive and undemocratic states" in order to block a United Nations motion which would have given protection from discrimination to gay people
The Vatican, along with several Islamic nations, including Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia persuaded Brazil - which had proposed the motion - to withdraw it. This is the second year in succession that religious interests have intervened to thwart the change. As many as one-third of the UN's 191 member states outlaw homosexual acts, and gays who live openly as homosexuals can face persecution and even death. George Broadhead, secretary of GALHA, said: "We expect this sort of bigoted behavior from undemocratic Islamic nations that persecute and murder gay people as a matter of course. The Vatican, however, trumpets itself as a champion of human rights and a model of compassion. This continued barbaric contempt for gay people shows that the Vatican is prepared to go to any lengths to promote its nasty dogmas. It has now thrown in its lot with states that kill and imprison their gay citizens - just as the Vatican has done in its own history. "The Vatican has a special status at the United Nations that is granted to no other religion. It is seeking to gain full status that would give it even more power to impose its will on an unwilling world. We call on the United Nations to immediately strip the Vatican of its observer status. It has shown itself unworthy of having it." Even as the Vatican continued its campaign of persecution against gay rights, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has also made clear that he, too, stands shoulder to shoulder with Islamic homophobes. Dr. Carey found himself in trouble last week when he made a speech in Australia in which he said that Islamic societies were undemocratic, backward and had contributed little of value to world culture for the past 500 years. Interviewed about his remarks on the BBC's flagship news program Newsnight, Dr. Carey said: "Muslim leaders are not afraid to talk to me about Western excesses. They have expressed their great condemnation of practicing homosexuality in the church, particularly in the United States. I hear those criticisms. They are rightly made." George Broadhead responded: "It seems that even the wishy-washy Church of England thinks it is OK to echo Islamic homophobia. However, we shouldn't forget that Dr. Carey, though, was a complete failure as Archbishop of Canterbury. He launched a 'decade of evangelism' when he was in office which saw interest in the Anglican Church in Britain plunge to the point that now less than a million people attend church on the average Sunday. One bishop predicted last week that, on present trends, the Church of England would no longer exist in 2013. Good riddance, we say." |