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Princess Stephanie of Monaco said the Roman Catholic Church’s
opposition to the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS is ‘a
shame.’
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI spoke in support of Christian marriage and traditional family values Oct. 8, urging couples to resist modern cultural currents such as gay marriage inspired only by a search for happiness and pleasure. “There is a need for families who won’t let themselves be swept away by modern cultural currents that are inspired by hedonism and relativism,” Benedict said as he delivered his traditional Sunday blessing from his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. Princess Stephanie of Monaco has come out against Benedict and the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to the use of condoms in the fight against AIDS. The church’s stance is regrettable, she said on her appointment as goodwill ambassador for the U.N. AIDS agency, the Associated Press reported Oct. 6. The princess said that during her two-year term as UNAIDS special representative she wants to make people realize what more needs to be done about the deadly epidemic, particularly on the prevention side. Speaking to reporters at the headquarters of the U.N. agency in Geneva, she called the church’s opposition to the use of condoms “a shame.”
Fiji officials allege smear campaign
in gay resort controversy
SUVA, Fiji — Five men are accused of a “smear campaign” against the Fiji Native Lands Trust Board and the lease holder of property in the Yasawa Group about developments of a gay resort, according to Radio New Zealand. NLTB general manager Kalivati Bakani said the five men used high-level technology to manipulate e-mail addresses and web sites to mislead the media, according to the Oct. 5 report. Bakani said the men did so to try to put pressure on the board to cancel the lease of the Champagne Resort. The Fiji Sun newspaper also reported that New Zealand private investigators have identified the five men, including one known as an international con-man who has spent time in jails in Britain, Australia and the United States but now lives in Fiji. Bakani said the board has lodged a complaint with the Fiji police to investigate the “smear campaign” and prosecute the five men, the radio station reported.
First gay civil wedding
held in Slovenia
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia —Two men who became Slovenia’s first married same-sex couple after a civil ceremony described the event as humiliating and awful, according to an Oct. 5 report by United Press International. Mitja Blazic and Niki Kern, residents of Ljubljana, legalized their partnership under a law passed in July that permits same-sex marriages, according to Serbia’s FoNet news agency. The couple were married by a Ljubljana municipal registration official in a state office and no friends or relatives were allowed to attend. Blazic criticized the law allowing same-sex marriages as discriminatory when compared with heterosexual marriages, according to the UPI report. “It looked more like a car registration, not a wedding ceremony,” Blazic said. According to Slovenia law, same-sex couples must report 30 days in advance to the civil registration office and submit documents testifying they are sane, healthy and unmarried.
Ukrainian Jewish leader
quits post over gay marriage
KERCH, Ukraine — Boris Kapustin, 70, founder and chair of the Reform congregation in the Crimean town of Kerch, quit his post in September and told the Jewish Times it was because he opposed the movement’s acceptance of same-sex commitment ceremonies. “I don’t want to participate in a movement that has organized a chupah for lesbians, which happened in Moscow this year,” Kapustin said, according to the Oct. 6 report. Kapustin was referring to Rabbi Nelly Shulman, who officiated at an April 2 commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple, believed to be the first Jewish, same-sex commitment ceremony in the former Soviet Union. The Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities, the largest group in the former Soviet Union, urged a boycott of the Reform movement. In August, a Reform congregation in the Ukrainian town of Pavlograd wrote to all Reform synagogues in the country, urging them to “renounce all religious contacts with the people who committed that crime,” a reference to the lesbian ceremony, according to the Jewish Times.
Protesters decry gay marriage
in South Africa demonstration
JOHANNESBURG, S. Africa — A group opposing gay marriage staged a protest march Oct. 7 in Pretoria with the message of supporting the “traditional definition” of marriage, South Africa news channel 24 reported. The Marriage Alliance, opposing the South ...
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