Facing Violence, LGBT People Deserve Human Rights Support from Vatican

A new report powerfully revealed the scope and intensity of anti-LGBT violence and discrimination that exist in the world. The realities of suffering and abuse necessitate renewed solidarity from Catholics, including human rights advocacy by the Vatican.

1421581520765-cachedZeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the U.N. report shows “pervasive violent abuse, harassment and discrimination” across the globe. The Guardian reported:

“The report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council circulated on Monday cites the murder of transsexual women in Uruguay and of black lesbian women in South Africa, and the killing of a gay man in Chile by neo-Nazis who carved swastikas into his body. In February 2015, it said, photos appeared to show several men, allegedly accused of homosexual acts, being pushed off a building to their deaths in Syria by militants of the so-called Islamic State extremist group.

“Brazil reported 310 documented murders in 2012 ‘in which homophobia or transphobia was a motive’, it said. The trans murder monitoring project, which collects reports of homicides of transgender people, lists 1,612 murders in 62 countries between 2008 and 2014. And the inter-American commission on human rights reported 594 hate-related killings of LGBT people in the 25 countries of the Organisation of American States between January 2013 and March 2014, it said.”

Non-lethal violence and other forms of discrimination were cited elsewhere, including the United States where hate crimes based on sexual orientation rank second among crimes against protected classes. More than 75 nations criminalize LGBT people and/or their relationships, including some where being convicted of same-gender sexual activity is punishable by death.

Catholic teaching clearly rejects discrimination–and, even more so, violence–against LGBT people, a point affirmed in a recent statement from the Network of Reform Movements. More than 40 Catholics from ten countries released that statement condemning all forms of violence and discrimination against LGBT people which said, per the Network’s press release:

“We, the representative of an international network of priest groups and reform organizations assembled in Chicago 2016, affirm that the dignity of the human person is clearly expressed in the Gospels and the social justice teachings of our Church. It is this dignity that should be the foundation of a truly Catholic response to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their families.

“We, therefore, commit ourselves to stand against violence in all its forms-physical, emotional, spiritual and temporal—toward LGBT people.  We encourage the Church’s leaders and individual members to make the same commitment.”

The mid-October meeting in Chicago was sponsored by FutureChurch, the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, and Voice of the Faithful. Both New Ways Ministry and DignityUSA  participated in the meeting. Representatives of lay and clergy organizations came from Argentina, Ireland, Slovakia, and elsewhere. The meeting’s purposes was for different reform organizations to come together for honest conversation about experiences and objectives, and see where collaboration might be possible or prudent, reported the National Catholic Reporter

Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery of the Association of Catholic Priests, an Irish reform group, credited Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SL, who suggested the resolution, as the central figure in the statement’s publication. He wrote on his blog:

“[Jeannine] was, as is her style, gently but persistently pushing the topic of LGBT people in the Church, and a resolution was drawn up calling for the Church to respect the dignity of every person, no matter what their sexual orientation, and in that way setting an example that might help reduce the violence and discrimination which is still prevalent in many parts of the world.”

Gramick commented:

 “We are pleased that the entire group felt it could support LGBT peoples with the . . .  statement.”

Elsewhere, Jesuit Fr. James Martin condemned discrimination and violence in his recent lecture at New Ways Ministry’s Bridge Building Award ceremony:

“Church leaders also need to stand for their L.G.B.T. brothers and sisters when they are persecuted. In many parts of the world, L.G.B.T. persons are liable, again in the words of the catechism, to appalling incidents of ‘unjust discrimination’—to prejudice, to violence and even to murder. In some countries, you can be jailed for being gay or having same-sex relations and murdered for being a gay leader. In those countries the institutional church has a moral duty to stand up for their brothers and sisters, publicly. Remember, the catechism says ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ must be avoided. Helping someone, standing up for someone when they are being beaten, is part of compassion. It is part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.”

Catholics have previously asked Pope Francis to condemn the criminalization of homosexuality through #PopeSpeakOut, but he has refrained from doing so, even during his apostolic voyage to three African nations with troubled LGBT human rights records. This silence was deemed a “missed opportunity” by LGBT advocates in Uganda. Elsewhere in the world, bishops have refused to defend LGBT people’s human rights. Bishops in Malawi even advocated re-criminalizing homosexuality in their pastoral letter for the Year of Mercy.

Even if Pope Francis cannot or will not offer positive words in defense of LGBT people, the Vatican could use its diplomatic efforts to ensure the human rights of these communities are defended and advanced. There are many, many issues between silence and marriage equality where common ground could be found.

Vatican diplomats have been central in efforts for justice and reconciliation in the world, such as facilitating development projects and aiding peace negotiations in the Great Lakes Region of Africa or in Colombia. The Holy See is influential as a Permanent Observer at the United Nations. The Vatican has no defensible reason not to expand its defense of human rights and promotion of the common good to LGBT people. And there are millions, indeed tens of millions of good reasons, why the Vatican should act–because every LGBT person’s life that is under attack is a good reason. Every person is a good reason. The United Nations’ new report is a poignant reminder of just how much the Catholic Church can and should be doing for LGBT human rights.

–Bob Shine, New Ways Ministry, November 2, 2016

 

 

 

2 replies
  1. Wilhelm Wonka
    Wilhelm Wonka says:

    I am not going to comment much on this article, except to say that it exposes the hypocrisy of the Vatican (including Pope Francis) on LGBT welfare globally.

    Reply

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