U.K. Roman
Catholic head says he opposes antigay discrimination but
fires gay staffer

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 The Times 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 The Times. (The Advocate)