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Diocese of Havana Denounces Cuban Government's Promotion of Homosexuality

Makes headlines across Latin America with ringing affirmation of sexual morality and the family

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

HAVANA, Cuba, June 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic Diocese of Havana has issued a scathing denunciation of the Cuban government's campaign to promote homosexuality, transsexualism, and "sexual diversity" that is making headlines across Latin America.

Responding to over a month of television campaigns and newspaper articles that proclaim, "the norm of sexuality is diversity", and that deny the immorality of homosexual acts, the diocese says, "We are walking on the edge of the knife when the same government institutions promote programs that could undermine the foundations of society."

"Homosexual conduct isn't new," writes the author of the editorial, Orlando Márquez. "But the international agenda that promotes homosexualism at every level is. Not even the Greeks and Romans, so dedicated to homosexual practices as 'distinguished' during their years of preeminence, dared to equate homosexual unions with heterosexual unions, because they were convinced that the latter were the guarantee and sustenance of society."

The editorial appears in the current edition of Palabra Nueva, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Havana, which is led by Cardinal Jaime Ortega (see Spanish text at http://www.palabranueva.net/contens/0806/0001014.htm).

In response to the recent airing on Cuban state television of the movie "Brokeback Mountain", which featured two "cowboys" engaging in sodomy, Márquez approvingly quotes a concerned viewer who stated, "In the face of such barbarity and lack of respect for TV viewers, among which, in this country, there must have been young men, adolescents, and others who had never seen or participated in a sexual act, I felt disgusted and turned off the television."

"The reality," writes Márquez, "is that the reaction of Hilda is not exclusive to Catholics, or other Christians who, based on their faith, reacted in a similar manner.  Many Cubans were surprised by this television feature, in a relatively early time slot for children and young people who don't get up early on Saturday to go to school."

The editorial notes that, despite the American Psychiatric Association's controversial decision in 1973 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder, many psychiatrists continue to recognize it as such.  "In fact there are many psychiatrists, in Cuba as well, who continue to consider homosexuality as a disturbance that originates, in many cases, in a damaged affective relationship between fathers and sons in the first years of life."

While acknowledging that homosexuals should be respected as human beings, the editorial blasts the Cuban National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) for prioritizing such respect over respect for the family.

"If the purpose of CENESEX is to educate, it is not sufficient to show respect for homosexuals," the editorial states. "Why not promote, with greater and more evident effort, the value of the family as society's primary institution, so damaged and divided today, the cause of so many social ills?  Why not strengthen the family and help it to bring forth and care for children who are necessary in a country that is rapidly aging?  Why not develop programs that demonstrate the social benefits of solid families and marriages that stay together until death?"

Cuba's recent campaign to promote the social acceptability of homosexual behavior is the result of efforts by Mariela Castro, daughter of the island's current dictator, Raul Castro.  As head of CENESEX, Castro has vigorously promoted homosexual causes, including homosexual "marriage" and has recently succeeded in securing free "sex change" operations for Cuban transsexuals.

Related Links:

¿Llegamos o nos pasamos? (Editorial by Nueva Palabra, Archdiocese of Cuba)
http://www.palabranueva.net/contens/0806/0001014.htm

Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Cuba's New Leadership Opens Doors to Sodomy, "Sex Changes", and Consumerism
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08040208.html

Communist Cuba Government Seeks to Secure Homosexual "Right" to Adoption
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07062806.html

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