Joan Frawley Desmund at National Catholic Register interviewed Georgetown University’s Thomas Farr several days ago, with a focus on the administration’s promotion of gay rights abroad. Farr discusses the open letter, drafted and signed by Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, and Sikhs, entitled “ Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together ,” and addresses Clinton’s recent claim that “gay rights are human rights”:
Secretary Clinton’s speech, however, suggests a much broader agenda. Although she did not say it explicitly, it seems clear that the LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered] initiative will ultimately push for same-sex “marriage.” It may even encourage the criminalization of preaching against homosexual acts. Homilies by Catholic priests that reflect longstanding Catholic teaching — i.e., that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved” (Catechism, 2357) — could be construed as “hate speech.” In fact, this administration has invested a great deal of energy and resources in preparing the ground work for their LGBT foreign-policy initiative. Not long after the inauguration, the State Department established an LGBT working group. Among other things, this group explored the possibility of including LGBT rights in the department’s “Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.
Read the entire interview here
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