France: Stand taken against proposed law on homophobia

A law suppressing homophobia constitutes an “attempt to intimidate” against any kind of debate on homosexuality. This has been denounced by the Catholic Church in a document entitled “homosexuality and marriage”, published by the secretariat of the Conference of French Bishops, and signed by the priest and psychoanalyst Tony Anatrella.

The text recalls that the Catholic Church is opposed to marriage of couples of the same sex. It notes, furthermore, that the “media talk” on the homosexual demands is acting as “a veritable corrupter of social standards which is destabilizing society”. “All that is said which calls into question the claims of homosexuals regarding the ‘right’ to marriage, the ‘right’ to adoption, etc., is considered as homophobia,” complained Fr. Anatrella. In his opinion, a law “permitting condemnation of all critical remarks concerning homosexuality would prohibit all discussion and result in an obligatory revision of a great number of texts.”