‘They need legal support from society’: Brazilian Church backs marriage equality

[DonViejo]

Source: Agence France-Presse

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, May 22, 2014 18:29 EDT

One of Brazil’s top Catholic bishops has spoken out in favor of legal unions for homosexual couples, an apparent shift in the Church’s stance on the country’s existing gay-marriage policy.

“There needs to be a dialog on the rights attached to shared life between people of the same sex who decide to live together. They need legal support from society,” Leonardo Steiner, the secretary general of the National Confederation of Brazilian Bishops, said in an interview with O Globo newspaper published on its website Thursday.

Brazil, home to the world’s largest Catholic population, has allowed gay marriage since May 2013, when a court ruled clerks could not reject marriage applications from same-sex couples.

At the time Brazil’s bishops opposed the decision, but Steiner said the Church was constantly evolving.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/22/they-need-legal-support-from-society-brazilian-church-backs-marriage-equality/

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. Misleading.

The church has not backed marriage equality (a bishop is not the "church&quot and civil unions aren't equal. Good step forward though.

[pnwmom]

2. This is not about civil unions. Brazil has had same-sex marriage since May 2013

(preceded by civil unions since 2004).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Brazil

Nevertheless on May 14, 2013, The Justice's National Council of Brazil legalized same-sex marriage in the entire country in a 14-1 vote by issuing a ruling that orders all civil registers of the country to perform same-sex marriages and convert any existing civil unions into marriages if such a couple desires.[1][2][16][17][18][19] Joaquim Barbosa, president of the Council of Justice and the Supreme Federal Court said in the decision that notaries cannot continue to refuse to "perform a civil wedding or the conversion of a stable civil union into a marriage between persons of the same sex."[3] The ruling was published on May 15 and took effect on May 16, 2013.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

3. I'm well aware of the law.

But again the bishop is not the church. And the church cannot recognize same sex marriages unless the Bishop of Rome says so, which isn't going to happen.

[pnwmom]

4. Then why did you bring up civil unions, as if that's all that Brazil has?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

5. Because that's what it sounds like the bishop is calling for.

We're not talking about the law, the law has been settled, we're talking about the church.

[pnwmom]

6. They've had civil unions for ten years, so I don't think that's what he's calling for. nt

[ForgoTheConsequence]

7. Ok.

When I hear Francis declare (ex cathedra) that gay marriages should be recognized, I'll be inclined to agree.

[pnwmom]

8. Popes have only made two statements ex cathedra in history, so that's not going to happen. n/t

[ForgoTheConsequence]

9. That history has only gone back 150 years.

....

That being said, I realize arguing on the internet is a hobby of yours (you don't get to 50000 posts any other way) so I'll leave you be to argue with someone else.

[Peace Patriot]

10. This is a startling development...

Whatever you may think of the Catholic Church--its misogyny, its institutional structure, its religious wars, its bloody crusades, its witchburnings, its modern rightwing politics, its bizarre theology, etc.--and I know that scene very well--this statement of Brazil's head Catholic prelate is very surprising to me and a good and positive indication of change within the Church hierarchy on this important subject: gays' right to marry.

I DON'T think that it will lead to marriages of gays in Catholic Churches in Brazil or anywhere else (any time soon, or ever). But I DO think that it is a remarkable statement--a complete turnabout from the intolerance and the fostering of hatred that Catholic prelates--those who have said anything about it publicly--have been guilty of, including, of course, the Pope and the Vatican, prior to Pope Francis. Pope francis' recent statement, in response to a question about gays, "Who am I to judge?", was a preliminary and not complete turnabout, but it perhaps set the context in which Leonardo Steiner in Brazil felt freer to speak his mind.

What he is saying is that he SUPPORTS gays' legal right to be married! And his wording--if the article is accurate--that, "They need legal support from society," means that that support needs to be public support from people of conscience. This is astonishing coming from a top Church figure in this extremely hierarchical, monolithic and very undemocratic institution, that has adamantly, to this point, maintained a public position of intolerance. Frankly, I don't think he could have said this without prior consultation with the Pope and other churchmen. It is a bombshell. It really is.

So, in summary, I DO think that this statement by Steiner is very likely the precursor of a big change in Church policy--a 180--away from public intolerance of gays' legal marriage rights, and toward, not just tolerance, but public SUPPORT for those rights.

One of the commenters above denies that Steiner's statement is significant. I can understand being skeptical, but I have to disagree. It is very significant.