On October 27, an opinion piece was published in this newspaper relating to homosexuality and its place in the Catholic Church.

This was largely a retaliation to the recent news where Pope Francis stated his support for civil unions of LGBTIQ+ people.

However, in this article one can’t help but notice the disrespect the author has for the LGBTIQ+ community. It is blatantly visible in some of the author’s statements, as well as disrespect towards the reader where the author fails to provide well-founded scientific evidence to support his claims. It is time to set the record straight.

The author cites Cardinal Raymond Burke in pointing out how, according to Catholic tradition, “homosexual acts are wrong” and that they are “contrary to natural law”. 

However, contrary to popular belief, LGBTIQ+ people are not some craze that came about in the 20th century.

Homosexuality has been in existence throughout history, way before the Catholic Church was established. Ancient Greek artwork and literature, such as Plato’s Symposium, provide such evidence. Boswell (1980) showed Plato equated the acceptance of homosexuality to the acceptance of democracy.

The author of the article also claims that homosexuals are unnatural as “they cannot produce new life”. While homosexual couples alone cannot produce new life, neither can sterile or infertile heterosexual couples. Does this mean that they too are unnatural? Should such a couple seek another sexual partner with the aim of creating new life?

The author continues with an unfounded statement and provides no proof: “Homosexual acts are not only harmful to the individuals who engage in them but also to society at large.” Firstly, homosexual acts are not harmful in any way to the individuals who engage  in them and more harm is caused to individuals who suppress their sexuality.

Secondly, the actions of LGBTIQ+ people that are a result of their sexuality has no effect on the rest of society whatsoever. The gender and sexual identities of the people involved make zero difference to society as a whole.

LGBTIQ+ people are indeed people and not an ideology- Mark Said Camilleri

The Regnerus Study, which the author uses to argue that “children brought up in same-sex households are disadvantaged”, is not only wrong but it has been discredited by the American Sociology Association in their brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States .

They not only start immediately by saying that “the clear and consistent social science consensus is that children raised by same-sex parents fare just as well as children raised by different-sex parents” but they also conclude by saying that the claims held by opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples with regard to children being raised by same-sex parents being disadvantaged is simply unsupported by any social science.

The author concludes his article with a call-to-arms. It may not sound like much but it definitely is a call to arms. A call to “Catholic parents” towards “protecting that which gave them the benefits of love and security when they were young”, which the author claims it is now “being attacked from all sides, both from within and outside the Church”.

LGBTIQ+ people are indeed people and not an ideology. Therefore, LGBTIQ+ people must all be granted the same human rights as straight people and every state and government has the duty to see that such fundamental human rights are protected for everyone, irrespective of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.

It is the state that must be separate from any religious institutions in applying such legislations logically, rather than based on religious dogma. If a person is gay and every person has the right to marry, then a gay person also has the right to marry.

Imposing a restrictive religious teaching on a whole country is not only disrespectful to those who are not part of the congregation but it also contradicts the fundamental human right of freedom of religion.

Meanwhile, allowing human rights to LGBTIQ+ people has no detrimental effect on people who believe in a more restrictive set of rules since nobody is forcing them to partake in a non-heterosexual marriage.

Mark Said Camilleri is a software engineer, researcher.