I didn’t notice that in the proposed bill and I have no idea how to find out something about Ugandan bills, so I will have to ask you to provide some evidence for this statement.
Full text of the bill (including preamble mentioning “and related matters”) at
wthrockmorton.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/anti-homosexuality-bill-2009.pdf You really have to look at the way existing law has been interpreted though, and use that as a guide.
Could you link to the speech or article in which he made this statement?
Original Italian do?
212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23093.php?index=23093&lang=en
Official Vatican press release
212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/e5_en.htm
National Catholic Reporter
ncrcafe.org/node/2342
Literal translation:
Poiché la fede nel Creatore è una parte essenziale del Credo cristiano, la Chiesa non può e non deve limitarsi a trasmettere ai suoi fedeli soltanto il messaggio della salvezza.
As the faith in the Creator is an essential part of the Christian Creed, the Church can not and should not be confined to convey to his people only the message of salvation.
Essa ha una responsabilità per il creato e deve far valere questa responsabilità anche in pubblico.
It has a responsibility for creation and must rely on this responsibility even in public.
E facendolo deve difendere non solo la terra, l’acqua el’aria come doni della creazione appartenenti a tutti.
And he must defend not only the land, water and air as gifts of creation belong to everyone.
Deve proteggere anche l’uomo contro la distruzione di se stesso.
It must also protect humans against the destruction of himself.
È necessario che ci sia qualcosa come una ecologia dell’uomo, intesa nel senso giusto.
It is necessary that there is something like an ecology of man, understood in the right direction.
Non è una metafisica superata, se la Chiesa parla della natura dell’essere umano come uomo e donna e chiede che quest’ordine della creazione venga rispettato.
It is not a metaphysical exceeded, if the Church speaks of the nature of man as man and woman, and calls for the creation of this order is respected.
Given His Holiness’ native tongue is German, the German text is particularly illuminating, as any subtle nuances could be expected to be expressed most clearly in that language.:
Weil der Glaube an den Schöpfer ein wesentlicher Teil des christlichen Credo ist, kann und darf sich die Kirche nicht damit begnügen, ihren Gläubigen die Botschaft des Heils auszurichten. Sie trägt Verantwortung für die Schöpfung und muß diese Verantwortung auch öffentlich zur Geltung bringen. Und sie muß dabei nicht nur die Erde, das Wasser und die Luft als Schöpfungsgaben verteidigen, die allen gehören. Sie muß auch den Menschen gegen die Zerstörung seiner selbst schützen. Es muß so etwas wie eine Ökologie des Menschen im recht verstandenen Sinn geben. Es ist nicht überholte Metaphysik, wenn die Kirche von der Natur des Menschen als Mann und Frau redet und das Achten dieser Schöpfungsordnung einfordert
It’s really difficult to interpret this in any other way than the following.
Things that blur the lines between male and female are against God’s Natural Order of Creation - that’s not just some outmoded idea. Just as we must protect the rainforests, we must respect a kind of human ecology in a limited sense. The Church must guard against Humanity’s self-destruction by anything that upsets this and goes against the natural order of male and female.
While the main thrust of the speech has been widely interpreted as against homosexuality, that’s not what he actually said. He said that the Church must protect the natural order of Man and Woman. no talk of violence, just that Humanity risks self-destruction if this natural order isn’t respected, and that the Church has a duty to speak out on the issue.
Later on he goes on to attack “Gender Theory”, the concepts that ones innate gender may not match the external appearance, or that gender is entirely a social construct with no connection to biological sex. (A proposition I consider to have been thoroughly falsified too)
I mist emphasise that I’m absolutely certain that this was not meant to be “dog whistling”, a call for the Intersexed, Transsexual, and Homosexual to be exterminated as vermin. That is just one possible interpretation, the least charitable one, and one that is unreasonable despite the unfortunate wording. Unfortunately, it’s been one that has been adopted by Catholics in Uganda and elsewhere. Even the best of wording could have been twisted by the malicious, and this wasn’t the best of wording. I’m certain that the whole concept of Intersex never entered His Holliness’s head on this issue, it was more of a “Kuche Kinder Kirche” thing. Nonetheless, by not mentioning Homosexuality explicitly, probably in an effort to prevent their persecution while still expressing the strongest possible disapproval, he caused some “collateral damage” shall we say.
I must admit this was a particularly difficult and ambiguous task of translation. It reads as if it was originally written in German, translated clunkily into Italian, then the Italian translated back into German.
Zoe
I’m against this bill. I’m honestly not sure what you’re trying to say here. Related activities to what?
