Same sex unions

A few weeks ago Alternattiva Demokratika published its electoral manifesto. Among other things AD is proposing that cohabiting heterosexual and same sex couples should be looked upon and treated in the same way as married couples.

The Bishops lost no time in condemning these proposals with regard to cohabiting men and women and same sex couples, insisting that such a proposal is wrong as it goes against God's law and "fostered great social harm".

If Alternattiva's proposals were to be implemented it would mean that Malta will have followed other so-called progressive countries and practically legalised same sex marriages; something which the Church can never approve.

In a way, last Friday week's edition of Xarabank on gays was an extension of the debate sparked off by AD's manifesto. Not surprisingly, the programme was heavily slanted in favour of the views held by Alternattiva.

Of the six members on the panel, four were declared gays. Among the four was an English MP who let everyone know that he has been living with his male lover for 19 years.

This gentleman was allowed to dominate the discussion. He not only took his time to express his views, but also kept interrupting Fr Victor Shields, who put up a brave show in the face of strong opposition not only from members of the panel but also from the audience, which was manifestly pro gay.

An open discussion on such a topic would have been anathema not so long ago. Even more unthinkable would have been the admission by men and women that they are homosexuals.

The fact that such discussions are now held and that men and women are no longer scared to openly declare their orientation shows how much things have changed here in Malta.

This in itself is not bad. Intolerance, and worse, persecution is unacceptable in a truly free and Christian society. One should never be condemned for a natural disposition which one has inherited and for which therefore he or she cannot be answerable before God and the law.

That is why the Church has repeatedly taught, at least in recent years, that people with homosexual tendencies are committing no sin. They only do so when they indulge in homosexual activity.

Some 20 years before the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the declaration Persona Humana from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated unequivocally that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and can in no case be approved of".

This automatically rules out the approval of gay unions, which in any case can never be considered as marriages. Marriage as from the very beginning meant the union of man and woman, which leads to procreation.

It is good that society has dropped many of its centuries-old prejudices against gay persons which were unjust and at times also inhuman. But let us not go to the other extreme and declare that a union between two persons of the same gender is as valid as one between a man and a woman. It is not. And it can never be.