Posted on 01/14/2006 2:26:31 PM PST by NYer
Tens of thousands of Italians protested on Saturday demanding legal recognition for gay unions and the right to abortion, two days after Pope Benedict condemned homosexual marriage and the use of the abortion pill.
Clutching banners reading "We will no longer be silenced," the demonstrators, many women and gay couples, crammed into squares in Rome and financial capital Milan.
"We thought the church had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics ... but instead there is a terrible resurgence. These are ugly signs for freedom of expression," Nobel literature laureate Dario Fo, a social campaigner, told reporters at the Milan protest.
Police said 50,000 people were gathered in the northern city's Piazza del Duomo overlooked by its giant Gothic cathedral. Organizers put the number at 100,000.
At the Rome demonstration, gay couples and a man in a strapless white wedding dress posed with Pope Benedict's picture.
Italy goes to the polls on April 9 and the Church's position on a host of issues could play a significant role in the result.
Gay unions are already legal in several European countries, including traditionally Catholic Spain. In Italy, the Vatican and many politicians are fighting the mere suggestion.
Pope Benedict in an address on Thursday said the defense of traditional marriage was "not a peculiarity of the Catholic moral teaching but part of an elementary truth regarding our common humanity."
He said it would be "a grave mistake" to legally recognize "other forms of unions."
Ministers from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition on Saturday ratcheted up the Vatican's condemnation.
"These protests have absolutely sickened me," Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, a member of the populist, right-wing Northern League party said.
"These filthy things have made absurd claims for privileges on the basis of unproductive sex .... These are out of place and revolting."
Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said Italy's responsibility was to protect young heterosexual couples to allow them to have children, not to look after gay couples.
"Without children, Italy will die," Buttiglione said.
The election will pit former European Commission President Romano Prodi's center-left group, "The Union," against Berlusconi's ruling center-right.
Italy's Catholic Church has already served notice to the center-left that it will fight any move to recognize civil partnership for unwed heterosexual couples and gay couples.
Prodi has promised some form of recognition for unmarried couples but has stopped short of supporting gay marriage. His refusal to take part in Saturday's protests has caused a rift with some of the smaller left-wing coalition parties.
A gay couple embrace during a gay march through Rome Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006, to push for legal recognition for homosexual couples.The Vatican and ministers in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government were scathing in denouncing the rally. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
When I was in Rome, I saw many Friends of Dorothy. Many of the (wealthy or bohemian) Italian emigres in Manhattan hit for the other team as well.
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Why even bother mentioning anything from this power house of a nation.
All the right people oppose the Holy Father.
It's encouraging.
Haha! Can you imagine how the American media would attempt to torch that guy to death? Good for him. Way to call it like it is.
But really, what, with that first picture posted, this could have used a barf alert. I didn't need to see that.
>>"Talketh to the hand, freakazoids!" sayeth Pope Benny.<<
Thou dost owe me a keyboard, Nave.
Would you mind removing that picture, it is quite unsettling.
My worketh is done. ; )
If it's not dead already. I read somewhere that they have the lowest birth rate in Europe.
Just thought I'd do my part to help the MSM with its objectivity problem.
This one as well could be done away with.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
In a nutshell. If Italy doesn't change it's ways soon, it will die. And the Muslims who take over will kill off any remaining perverts.
Ugh. At least put a barf alert for goodness sake!
We thought HOMSEXUALS had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics ... but instead there is a terrible resurgence
Maybe Iran would take in these homosexuals?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Human_buttocks.jpg
Click or don't click: it's your choice.
(You pays yer money, you takes yer chances . . .)
Why did my proctologist give away my photos! So much for Group Health.
Tens of Thousands in a gay and abortion protest.
Only 2% are queer. you believe that one I have a bridge to sell you.
"These filthy things have made absurd claims for privileges on the basis of unproductive sex .... These are out of place and revolting."
Absolutely Right. Men sticking their fudge paackers into other men's anus quite revolting....wasn't there an ancient city called Sodom/Gomorrah that God destroyed due to rampant homosexuality? Don't mess with the Almighty God and His principles..... arrogant perverts don't roam heaven.
"Unsettling" is not the word for it. Sickening, disgusting, nauseating, inappropriate...they all work. Just a reminder that this is a forum on which a lot of parents educate their kids on news and politics. They shouldn't have to be subjected to visual aids on perversion. Neither should adults, for that matter.
Or, at least put something in the heading.....sheesh.
Nails it.
That said, I am not keen on gay civil unions, gay church unions, gays/lesbians raising children, etc.
I know. I'm an old-fashioned bigot and need to get with the times. :-)
I don't know how long the tide will be stemmed. It's bad enough as things are now. I'm not against gay people, but preferred the days when things were more discrete and not so in-your-face, not that some heterosexual behavior in public can't be offensive at times.
There are trysting places (nice parks with scenery) where I like to take pictures and I can just imagine catching someone and getting harassed or worse. It's really become a local problem and has been building up for years. I don't let it stop me from going through those places, but now I think twice about going whereas I never gave it a thought before.
One of their websites listed my alma mater community college bathroom as one of the top places to cruise. I haven't checked that out, don't care to. If so, I'm not surprised as there was enough pot smoking during breaks in cars in the parking lot when I was an older student there in the 70's. Even that I could never get used to.
I wonder what the reaction would be if single heterosexuals who want to shack up, have promiscuous sex, etc., gathered in Rome to press for change. Sure haven't seen anything like that.
Monty Python skit? Mel Gibson or Dennis Quaid film? What's up with that?
I don't understand. They could join ANY other church and get all that they wanted and more. But NO, they want to change the one church that stands firm on moral grounds.
No, not the one church that stands firm ... but certainly one of the few. As a Protestant, I admire many of the stands the Vatican has taken. I think some American Catholics and many American Protestants don't hold to those standards.
 |
"Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said Italy's responsibility was to protect young heterosexual couples to allow them to have children, not to look after gay couples."
I'd love to see Rocco next in line for the Primiership.
The good man has been much maligned by the homo and diversity crowd. A through and through conservative.
I agree.
Could you please remove pictures at post #1 and #13.
Whole families read here on Free Republic.
Thanks.
""Unsettling" is not the word for it. Sickening, disgusting, nauseating, inappropriate...they all work. Just a reminder that this is a forum on which a lot of parents educate their kids on news and politics. They shouldn't have to be subjected to visual aids on perversion. Neither should adults, for that matter."
I couldn't have said it better myself and I didn't.
Those pictures at #1 and #13 are a disgusting indecency.
I'm out of here.
Ping!
B U M P
later double header pingout.
Gack.
Freepmail coming your way.
The thing on the right is obviously homosexual, but since I saw that happen after the Sox won the series I've been wondering if Ozzie Guillen is too, or was he just a victim of the pervert on the right?
Do you know? Anybody know?
Naw, the American Catholic Bishops are way out in left field. We must leave them out of the equation...
Let me get this straight. The Rump Rangers and FemNags are pissed at the Pope for being The Pope? Do bears do their business in the woods? This is news? What idiots are putting this drivel on the air or in print. HEADLINE WATER IS WET.
FemNags and the Homo On The Range crowd can pound sand. Who cares? Only the empty suits in the MSM.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
