Nobel laureate: ‘Troglodyte’ Pervuian bishops rejection of gay unions like ‘Nazi racism’
LIMA, Peru, April 25, 2014 – In a press release published two days ago, the Peruvian Bishops denounced “insulting” and “disrespectful” statements made by Nobel-prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa against the Catholic Church as he voiced his support for same-sex civil unions, an initiative being considered by the Peruvian National Congress.
Mario Vargas Llosa
Vargas Llosa was responding to a recent statement by the Peruvian Episcopal Conference in which the bishops called Peruvians to stand up for the “inalienable values of family,” and called civil unions an “attack against the human dignity of Peruvians.”
Family, they said, “is not a human creation but an institution in natural law that is inscribed in human nature.” The bishops noted that “the proposition of civil unions between persons of the same sex is contrary to natural order, [because] it distorts the true identity of family.”
“Its defendants invoke the right to equality but forget the reality of the undeniable, natural differences which are precious and complementary in human beings,” they said.
The bishops were then attacked by Vargas Llosa in a column he titled “Coming out of barbarism,” published in Peru’s La Republica and Spain’s El Pais, in which he said the bishop’s calling to defend family was “cavernous and crassly ignorant.”
He went on to call the bishops “raging homophobes” and referred to them as the “troglodyte sector of the Catholic Church on sexual issues.”
The writer also compared the rejection of homosexual behavior to “Nazi racism,” and cited Pope Francis’ statement “Who am I to judge?” claiming the Pontiff’s remarks “seemed to foretell profound reforms in the Church that would integrate it into the life and culture of our time.”
Vargas Llosa’s article also implied that 60 countries around the world have legally recognized homosexual unions. The global polling house Pew Research only lists 19.
The initial debate started after congressman Carlos Bruce proposed an initiative to legalize homosexual unions last month, using the notion of “civil unions.”
It was then when the Peruvian Episcopal Conference released its first statement calling all Catholics to stand up for traditional marriage.
The polling house Ipsos Peru conducted a survey from April 13 to the 16 in which it found that 61 percent of all Peruvians rejected the notion of same-sex civil unions, with 62 percent saying they feel uncomfortable when seeing two people of the same sex holding hands, and 77 percent feeling uncomfortable when seeing them kiss.
Peru has also received pressure from international organizations to grant homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual ones.
The United Nations published a press release on April 7 in which it claimed the Peruvian government had an “obligation to protect people from discrimination.” According to the UN, “homosexual couples should be treated in the same way and have the same rights and benefits of heterosexual couples.”
The proposition will be discussed in the Peruvian Congress during the following weeks. The bishops have asked legislators to defend “the sentiments of the majority of Peruvians whom you represent.”
