British gay
rights groups are crying hypocrisy upon learning that the
head of the Roman Catholic Church in the United Kingdom, who
has publicly expressed opposition to
antigay discrimination, apparently fired a
staffer for being gay. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the
archbishop of Westminster, dismissed press secretary
Stephen Noon in 2003 after Noon's partner visited him
at work, but the firing became public knowledge only
recently, after the cardinal said the Catholic Church does
not discriminate against gay people, The
Times in London reports.
In a letter he wrote to TheTimes in support of Britain's embattled new
equality minister, Ruth Kelly--a Catholic who will not
divulge her views on homosexuality--Cardinal
Murphy-O'Connor wrote: "The church has consistently
spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual
persons and will continue to do so." Yet, according to
The Times, the cardinal felt he had to dismiss
Noon because his being gay was in conflict with church
teachings that homosexuality is a sin.
Activists like Terry Sanderson, spokesperson for
the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, are
predictably outraged. "The sickening hypocrisy is
almost unbelievable," Sanderson told TheTimes. (The Advocate)
