Church assails state-funded sex changes

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Havana has taken strong issue with the recently promulgated law that allows state hospitals to perform sex-change operations. An article in the Archdiocese's monthly magazine, New Word, decries the government's apparent magnanimity toward transsexuals, saying that "it rather has the appearance of atonement" for the government's homophobic attitude in the early 1960s. "Hooray for atonement and respect, but there is danger if the campaign for respect becomes the promotion and presentation of homosexuality as something 'normal,'" the article says. "How soon before we approve polygamy or incest, meeting places for swingers and other 'sexual diversities'? [...] Respect for homosexual persons, yes; promotion of homosexuality, no. We walk on the razor's edge when, from the very institutions of the state, we promote programs that can undermine the foundations of society. [...] To convert the [sex-change] program in a priority of the state when there are other urgent needs, no. [...] Perhaps we have touched bottom with the approval of sex-change and identity-change operations. [...] When institutions of the state send messages that seem to shake our social foundations and family values [...] in a country already rattled by the uncertainty of the present and the future, the results of those messages can be counterproductive." To read the entire article, in Spanish only, click here. See also a Herald story here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.