Demonstrations in Hong Kong and Paris, against bills overly in favor of gays
Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Tens of thousands of Protestants demonstrated yesterday in front of government buildings to express their opposition to proposed legislation that would make it impossible to speak against or criticize gay rights.
The Evangelical Free Church of China Yan Fook Church, which organized the event, estimated at least 50,000 people in the demonstration-concert-prayer service that was held at the Tamar Park, in the area of the Admiralty. According to the organizers, if the proposals become law, the freedom of opinion of anyone who is opposed to standardizing rights for gay couples with that of love between man and woman will be affected. In addition, as has happened in some countries - the United States and Europe - there is a risk that the negative judgment of Christians regarding the practices of homosexual and gay couples would become a crime punishable by law. The Rev. Jayson Tam, one of the leaders of the event, emphasized the very real risk of a "reverse discrimination".
Homosexuality is far removed from the idea of family in traditional Chinese culture. Some famous gay singers such as Anthony Wong Yiu-ming and Denise Ho Wan-sze, along with radical or gay parliamentarians, such as Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, have launched a campaign in the territory to push the government to affirm all gay rights legislation . The campaign will last at least 18 months. They are seeking that from the first official speech of the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, which will take place on January 16, a consultation on gay rights be launched.
The global pressure of the gay
movement is leading many countries to deal with issues regarding discrimination
against homosexuals to the point of demands for gay marriage and adoption of
children by gay couples.
Yesterday
in Paris, there was a demonstration of hundreds of thousands of families, men,
women and children, against the proposal of President Francois Hollande to
legalize gay marriage and adoption of children. The
huge demonstration, which converged near the Eiffel Tower, was attended by
Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, Muslims and homosexuals against gay marriage.
The proposed bill is seriously affecting Hollande's popularity rating, already hampered by the inability of his executive to respond to unemployment and the economic crisis. The marriages between partners of the same sex are legal in 11 countries including Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway and South Africa and in 9 U.S. states, as well as in Washington.
The Catholic Church is often seen and attacked as "the enemy" of gays. In reality, the positions of Catholics are shared by many other religious communities, which while respecting homosexuals, do not accept the equivalence of gay marriage to traditional marriage between men and women, also because of the consequences that this could have in the lives of children adopted by gay couples.
In his address
to the Roman Curia on 21 December, Benedict XVI spoke of an "attack"
to "authentic form of the family, consisting of father, mother and child"
and cited his agreement with a study by the Grand Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim.
Yesterday,
in connection with the event in Paris, four activists - two French and two
Ukrainian - from the Femen group stripped topless during the Pope's Angelus in
St Peter's Square to demonstrate for gay rights. The
unusual protest took place near the big Christmas tree in the square. The
four, who had drawn on their bodies the words "In Gay We Trust" were
detained briefly by police.
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17/11/2016 08:50
02/10/2020 09:24
