This weekend is Rome’s EuroPride festival, and the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups have reached out to the Pope to condemn homophobic violence (PDF):
We appeal to Your Holiness to condemn acts of violence against Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people, and for Your Holiness‟ cooperationin lifting the penalisation of homosexual acts worldwide.
Silence from Your Holiness is interpreted by people engaged in violence,torture and murder as consent to their actions.
Pope Benedict has previously said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was as important as saving the rainforest from destruction, adding that behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations is “a destruction of God’s work.”
Despite the Catholic Church leadership’s condemnation of the LGBT community, American Catholics strongly support LGBT equality. A march poll found that 74 percent of them support recognizing same-sex relationships, whether through marriage (43 percent) or civil unions (31 percent). Additionally, 73 percent support workplace discrimination laws and 60 percent support adoption by same-sex couples.
The full letter is below:
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