Rome's gays welcomes Benedict's exit
2013-02-19 22:13
Rome - Across the road from the Colosseum, the ancient
Roman stadium consecrated as a holy Christian site, clients at a busy bar are
raising a glass to the pope: Toasting the departure one of the worst church
leader they can imagine.
For drinkers in Rome's best known gay bar, Benedict's
abdication is a blessing.
"He was less human than the last one," said
Flavia Servadei, co-owner of Coming Out a small bar in Via San Giovanni in Laterano,
which has been so successful since it opened in 2001 that the road has been
renamed Gay Street.
In warm Roman summers, the bar attracts scores of men and
women, spilling onto the pedestrianised street.
On the chilly February day when Benedict announced his
abdication, drinkers huddled inside to absorb the news, unprecedented in the
past 700 years.
"This was the most reactionary pope ever, who made
homophobia one of his battle cries," Franco Grillini, founder of Italy's
biggest gay advocacy group Arcigay, said in a telephone interview. "So his
resignation was good news."
Italian gays and lesbians resent the influence that the
Catholic Church, from its headquarters in a walled city state on the other side
of Rome, continues to have on politics, despite dwindling congregations and a
largely secular society.
‘Cowardice’
While Britain, France and several US states have allowed
or are considering allowing gay marriage, in Italy attempts to create some
limited form of civil partnership for same-sex couples have failed.
"In Italy, politicians are much more servile to the
Vatican, they are very obedient, there is an element of cowardice," said
Grillini.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts
are a "grave depravity" and "do not proceed from a genuine
affective and sexual complementarity".
Homosexuals
themselves, however, should be "accepted with respect, compassion and
sensitivity".
Although remembered by many people as a gentler figure
than his successor, John Paul II criticised an international gay pride parade
through Rome in 2000 as an "offence to Christian values" and
reaffirmed that the church considered homosexuality "objectively
disordered".
Benedict, 85, who in his youth was considered a liberal
theologian, made the battle against Western secularism a central part of his
papacy and called gay marriage a threat to "human dignity and the future
of humanity itself".
"I'm not even talking about marriage," said
Servadei, one of three women who co-own the bar, instantly recognisable by the
rainbow logo above the door which has become an international symbol of gay
rights.
"Just the right to visit my partner if she is ill in
hospital. In Italy they can stop me doing that... I want the recognition of
equality between people that is in our constitution."
The 41-year-old accepts that no pope is ever likely to
endorse her views on many issues - "He's a pope!" - but said she was
shocked when he received an African politician who is pushing anti-gay law
through parliament, something she saw as a papal stamp of approval.
Social issues
In December, the pope welcomed Ugandan Parliament Speaker
Rebecca Kadaga, one of the proponents of a bill that, in its first draft,
sought to impose the death penalty on gays.
At the heart of Africa where Catholicism is thriving, the
Ugandan parliament is still debating the bill, which no longer has the death
penalty clause but would still punish anyone who "abets
homosexuality".
The Catholic Church is totally opposed to the death
penalty but Grillini blames Benedict for encouraging the developing world to
make laws that oppress gays.
Under Benedict, Grillini says, the Church has gone to
more conservative "extremes" due to the "fierce
competition" from radical Islam and evangelical Christianity.
"They are trying to stem the competition posed by
the religious radicalism of Islam or Christian fundamentalism by adopting the
same message... The Catholic Church is squeezed by competition from new
religious extremes that I believe represent the real danger in today's
world."
As the pope retires to a convent in the Vatican gardens,
anyone hoping that his successor will be more liberal on homosexuality or other
social issues such as contraception or divorce, is likely to be disappointed.
All 117 men who will enter the conclave next month were
appointed cardinal - giving them the right to vote in the secretive papal
election - either by Benedict or his predecessor John Paul.
"The College of Cardinals is made up of very old
people - a male chauvinist gerontocracy," said Grillini.
"So we have no illusion about a new pope having more
moderate views about civil rights and homosexuality."
