Bishops criticize
E.U.'s protections for gays

The Council of European Bishops' Conferences has criticized the European Parliament for calling on states to help stop homophobia and recognize same-sex unions, Agence France-Presse reported Friday. On Wednesday a large majority of E.U. lawmakers adopted the pro-gay resolution, which showed "an aversion for certain values of our tradition, notably religious values," said Aldo Giordano, secretary-general of the bishops group. "Such resolutions risk delegitimizing the European Parliament," he said in an interview broadcast by the Catholic Church's Radio Vatican. "It should be clear that certain subjects, especially those relating to the family, are not within the direct competence of the European Union but are the recognized competence of nations." E.U. lawmakers passed the resolution after the Polish prime minister said that "if anybody tries to contaminate others with his homosexuality, the state should intervene against such an infringement of liberty," the news agency reported. A statement on the parliament's Web site said: "Following a series of worrying events which has recently taken place in a number of E.U. member states...from banning gay pride or equality marches to leading political and religious leaders' inflammatory/hate/threatening language, [members of the European Parliament] strongly condemn discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation." (Advocate.com)