Kenilworth, 1 February 2010 — The gay humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has reacted angrily to the statements made by the Pope concerning his impending visit to the UK.
Referring to the UK’s commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society, the Pope said: “The effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.”
The PTT’s secretary, George Broadhead, said: “This is a thinly veiled attack on the anti-discrimination legislation concerning LGBT people. His claim that our equality laws undermine religious freedom suggests that he supports the right of churches to discriminate in accordance with their religious ethos. He seems to be defending discrimination by religious institutions and demanding that they should be above the law.
“This pope has shown himself to be paranoid about homosexuality. His opposition to LGBT rights knows no bounds. He has declared that saving humanity from homosexual behaviour was as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. This must be the most outrageous and bizarre claim yet made by someone who has already got a well-deserved reputation as one of the most viciously homophobic world leaders on a par with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
“But his entrenched homophobia is not the only reason for criticising the visit,” continued Mr Broadhead. “The taxpayer in this country is going to be faced with a bill of some £20m as the visit will be paid for by the Government, not the Vatican. We therefore call on all freethinkers, humanists and like-minded people to sign the petition launched by the National Secular Society whose president, Terry Sanderson, said: ‘We have a petition online where people can make clear their opposition to the state funding of this visit. If the Catholic Church wishes its leader to come here, it should pay for the visit itself.’ ”
Mr Broadhead concluded: “It is imperative that the strongest possible protest be made when his so-called holiness visits the UK. This is not without precedent. During the last papal visit to the UK, by John Paul II in 1982, a protest called POPE (People Opposing Papal Edicts) was instigated by the Gay Humanist Group. It had the support of other gay and secular organisations including the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the National Secular Society. On the occasion of the impending visit we must pull out all the stops to demonstrate our opposition.”