United Families International is drawing the world’s attention to the fact that “tolerance of the homosexual lifestyle has become forced acceptance.” (Blog of June 9, 2010). Since the inauguration of Barack Obama as President, June has been declared “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.’ Obama has declared his inention of “strengthening federal protections against crimes based on gender identity.” He also supports same-sex marriage and wants to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

            This activism is now infiltrating all aspects of U.S. society such as education, health, the media, and even leisure organizations such as the Boy Scouts. In the world of business, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act will require even religious groups to hire “gays” and lesbians, while in the armed services repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will cause problems not just for regular personnel but particularly for military chaplains. Other groups in danger of closing are of course Catholic adoption agencies.

Pope pinpoints abortion and same-sex “marriages” as insidious

            Pope Benedict XVI used the occasion of his visit to the Portuguese shrine of Fatima to re-inforce core Catholic teachings on life and the family. After celebrating Mass before a congregation of almost a half-million people on May 13, anniversary of the appearance of“Our Lady of Fatima,” the Pope addressed a meeting of Portuguese Catholic educators and social workers. Expressing his appreciation of their efforts on behalf of the unborn and the traditional family, he declared same-sex marriage and abortion to be “some of the most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good today.”

            Despite statistics showing the country is officially 90% Catholic, abortion on demand has been legal in Portugal since 2007. In January the Socialist government passed a bill permitting same-sex “marriage.” (Files from Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, May 13, 2010; Metro, May 12, 2010).

Vatican: discrimination against sexual orientation can be just

            "The Church distinguishes between just and unjust discrimination."

            A 1992 Vatican document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith spelled out some of the areas in which discrimination with respect to sexual orientation is permissible. 

            "There are areas in which it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account, for example, in the placement of children for adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or athletic coaches, and in military recruitment," says the document titled Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons (The document may be consulted in Catholic Insight magazine, February 2005, pp. 22-25; or go to the website http://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/print/PrintArticle.aspx?id=128671084).

            In mid-December 2009, Fr. Philip Bené J.C.D., Legal Attaché for the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See at the U.N. spoke at a human rights panel discussion in New York.

            The purpose of the panel discussion was to "explore grave and extreme human rights violations and discrimination occurring on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  Such violations include attacks on the security of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the practice of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, and arbitrary arrest or detention."

            This panel discussion on "Opposing grave Human Rights Violations on the basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity" was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

            Fr. Bené stated, "The Holy See continues to oppose all grave violations of human rights against homosexual persons, such as the use of the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment."

            "The Holy See," he added, "also opposes all forms of violence and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons, including discriminatory penal legislation which undermines the inherent dignity of the human person." According to the Holy See representative, the statement virtually repeated what was said last December before the UN General Assembly.

            In a communication with Life Site News (LSN), Fr. Bené said, “While referring to our position on the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity, our statement focussed only on the above-named violations."

            He added, "Certainly the Holy See does not advocate that lifestyle, and it certainly is against same-sex adoption and same-sex pseudo-marriage, as I would call it. Discrimination is not a bad thing in itself, but it has been interpreted that way.” (John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com, Dec. 15, 2009).

            As mentioned above, he pointed out that the Catholic Church continues to affirm that just restrictions on the homosexual lifestyle remain necessary.