Pope John Paul II and other Vatican officials have been speaking out against legislative proposals to legalize same-sex marriages.
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Friday, August 01, 2003
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican, alarmed by growing legal acceptance of
same-sex unions in Europe and North America, is seeking to enlist politicians
and worldwide public opinion in its campaign against gay marriages. Instructions
calling on politicians to oppose extending rights granted to traditional couples
are in a document prepared by the Church’s guardian of orthodoxy, the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican officials said Monday. The document — “Considerations
Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons” — was
scheduled to be released Thursday, the Vatican said. A Vatican official familiar
with the document called it a “practical reflection’’ for both
Catholic and non-Catholic politicians and public opinion in general. “It
asks that the legal recognition accorded the traditional marriages not be extended
to same-sex unions,’’ the official told the Associated Press, speaking
on condition of anonymity. Pope John Paul II and top Vatican officials have been
speaking out for months against legislative proposals to legalize same-sex marriages.
Catholic teaching says homosexuals must not be subjected to “unjust discrimination” but
should be chaste.
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — A Christian group has filed a petition with the Arizona
Supreme Court arguing that Gov. Janet Napolitano overstepped her authority
when she issued an executive order barring employment discrimination based
on sexual orientation in some state agencies. Rep. John Allen (R-Scottsdale)
is one of three state legislators involved in the suit, which was filed by
the Alliance Defense Fund. “She is trying to circumvent the system for
expedience and for political purpose ... she’s legislating through executive
order,” Allen said, referring to Napolitano. Tim Nelson, Napolitano’s
general counsel, said the governor acted within her authority and will fight
the lawsuit.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a 24-year-old man with killing
a 61-year-old former Greek Orthodox priest with whom he was having an affair,
and a former in-law. Tu Luong Hua, of Panorama City, allegedly shot to death
his lover, Stanley Adamakis, a former cleric who was jailed for molesting Southern
California teen males more than a decade ago, police said last week. Adamakis
was found dead July 20 in the parking lot of Adamakis’ apartment complex
in Panorama City. Later that same day, police detectives found the body of
Yu Huynh, Hua’s former brother-in-law, in the Panorama home Hua and his
former in-law shared. Detectives have recovered an assault rifle allegedly
used in the murders. Hua, who is being held without bail, was charged this
week with two counts of murder and the special circumstances of lying in wait
for Adamakis, and committing multiple murders. Prosecutors have not decided
whether to seek the death penalty. The motive for the brother-in-law killing
was unclear, but investigators said the killing of Adamakis may be related
to an ongoing relationship between him and Hua.
BOSTON (AP) — The Rev. Paul Shanley paid to rape and molest teen males
and sometimes shared them with other men — including at least one fellow
priest, according to court documents filed Monday by attorneys for Shanley’s
alleged victims. The filing outlines in graphic detail the scope and breadth
of the claims against Shanley, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal
that has overwhelmed the church and now awaits Boston’s incoming archbishop,
Sean Patrick O’Malley. The documents include 21 affidavits from alleged
Shanley victims and a roughly 220-page brief previewing the civil case that
attorneys for Gregory Ford and his family plan to present at trial in their
lawsuit against the archdiocese, Cardinal Bernard Law, New Hampshire Bishop
John B. McCormack and other key figures in the scandal.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Troy Perry, who is the founder of the gay Metropolitan
Community Churches, married his longtime partner Phillip Ray De Blieck in Toronto
on July 16, and now intends to file a lawsuit to force the government to recognize
their union, according to a PlanetOut.com report. “To not recognize my
marriage and the marriages of thousands of other same-sex couples, would be
discrimination — and we will not stand for that any longer,” Perry
said last week. Marriages in foreign countries have traditionally been recognized
by the United States under a concept called “lex loci contractus.” Perry
believes failure to recognize his marriage would be a violation of international
treaty law and the equal protection clause of the Constitution’s 14th
Amendment.
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