A young gay couple in Armenia tragically took their own lives because of “intolerance towards them”, according to an LGBTQ+ group.
The couple, reportedly named Tigran and Arsen, posted a series of Instagramphotos of themselves on Thursday (20 October) before their tragic deaths.
The photos showed the two kissing and appearing to show off engagement rings.
“Happy ending. The decisions about sharing the photos and our next steps were made by both of us,” the harrowing caption read.
The two then ended their lives in the country’s capital, Yerevan, reports Armenian LGBTQ+ group Pink Armenia.
The post has since been flooded with tributes and kind words to the pair.
Pink Armenia said in a statement: “The young men still had many years of life ahead of them, but because of intolerance towards them, they took such a tragic step.
“LGBT people are very familiar with the feeling of isolation and misunderstanding of family and society. This tragic incident proves once again that LGBT people in Armenia are not safe and not protected by society or the state.”
The organisation added that it provides professional support for LGBTQ+ people in crisis.
“Remember, you are not alone,” it said.
No protection from discrimination in Armenia
Homosexuality has been legal in Armenia since 2003, however as of 2022 the country is still sitting close to the bottom of the annual Rainbow Map ranking the best nations for LGBTQ+ rights in Europe.
At the bottom along with Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia was considered to have scored just an eight per cent safety score for LGBTQ+ people, with the scale considering equality, hate crime, legal gender recognition, and more.
As of 2022, there is no legislation protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in Armenia.
ILGA Europe, which conducts the Rainbow Map, said: “There remain significant gaps in terms of fundamental protection against discrimination and violence in nearly half of the countries.
“Currently, 20 countries out of 49 still have no protection against hate crime based on sexual orientation, while 28 countries have no protection against violence based on gender identity.”
Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk).
Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255, or The Trevor Project which provides 24/7 crisis support, 365 days a year. Text START to 678-678, or call: (866) 488-7386.
Growing up gay in Rwanda was like “living in prison” for Innocent.
As a child, he was singled out by children and adults alike because he was seen as “feminine”. Teachers who should have tried to put a stop to homophobic bullying instead encouraged it, saying Rwandan culture didn’t accept queer people.
Innocent fled Rwanda and arrived in the UK as a refugee. He’s built a new life for himself as an openly gay man. For the first time, he feels free.
That’s why he was so shaken when he heard that the UK government is planning to deporting asylum seekers it deems “illegal” to Rwanda. The plan, launched by previous home secretary Priti Patel, has been denounced as unnecessary, inhumane, racist, and a recipe guaranteed to result in the deaths of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.
It has been met with legal challenges – including those that grounded the first scheduled deportation flight – but a change in leadership hasn’t stopped ministers from pushing ahead. Patel’s successor Suella Braverman has been slammed for saying it’s her “dream” and “obsession” to get the plan up and running.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for LGBTQ+ Rwandans like Innocent – his experience of growing up in the country proved to him how dangerous it can be for queer people.
You feel like no one cares about your life – even God doesn’t like you, even God doesn’t love you.
Innocent knew he was gay by the time he was 13.
“Emotionally it was really challenging because all I wanted was just to change it,” he explains.
As a teenager, Innocent went to a priest to seek guidance about his sexuality. He hoped he would get support, but the response he received was “devastating”.
“At church they were preaching that God is love. I was naive and I was thinking, if God is love and this is a man of God, he’s going to be able to accept it – to at least see me as a human being.”
But the priest had the “opposite reaction” – he told Innocent that his feelings were sinful and that he must change if he wanted to avoid burning in hell.
“You feel like no one cares about your life – even God doesn’t like you, even God doesn’t love you. I felt powerless.”
At that time, Innocent was still reeling from the trauma of living through the Rwandan genocide. Over just 100 days in 1994, around 500,000 to 662,000 people – mostly from the Tutsi minority ethnic group – were murdered – Innocent’s parents were among them.
Because he was an orphan, Innocent was eligible to go to the UK as a refugee at the age of 16. He knew moving away would give him the chance to live openly as a gay man – something he would never be able to do in Rwanda.
“When I arrived in Europe, it was like getting out of hell,” he says.
Innocent has built a life for himself in the UK – he is now an out and proud gay man. He still keeps his sexuality from some of his relatives back home because he knows that attitudes have not changed.
That’s why he was “horrified” when he discovered the UK government was planning on deporting some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
“I was just wondering how that could happen,” he says.
“There’s a lot of evidence that sexual orientation and gender identity is still taboo and the government doesn’t want to do anything about that.
“People are still being bullied, being put in prison, being tortured almost, and rejected by the community wherever they go. That is how it is now for LGBT people who live there.”
If he had a chance to sit down with the prime minister and the home secretary, his message to them would be simple.
“The policy has to change,” Innocent says.
“You can’t do it. You can’t just send people to a place where they will face discrimination. They will be seen as criminals.
“What I would say is just do more research, understand how the LGBT community live in that country. Most of the people there – even some of my friends who are still there – they don’t exist. They live a lie, they get married, they have to lie to the police, they have to lie to their wives. You live a lie your entire life.”
He doesn’t think it’s right for asylum seekers to be sent away as part of the government’s wider effort to deter immigration.
“Even if it worked, do we really want to compromise human rights just to prevent people from coming to the UK? For me, that doesn’t sound like the UK values that I know.”
Rwanda refugee plan carries ‘disproportionately higher risk for LGBTQ+ people’
A spokesperson for Rainbow Migration, an LGBTQ+ asylum advocacy group, noted that the UK government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has been held up by legal challenges – but it is still planning flights for this year.
“We see that the risk is disproportionately higher for LGBTQI+ people, as Rwanda is a country from which people like Innocent flee and claim asylum because they are persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the spokesperson said.
While homosexuality is no longer criminalised in Rwanda, same-sex sexual relations is still seen as a taboo issue – public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people are not kind.
Even the UK government’s own website acknowledges that homosexuality is “frowned on” by many in Rwanda and that LGBTQ+ people may experience “discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities”.
In June, a gay man from Uganda told Africa Newsthat he was “beaten terribly” in Rwanda for king gay, while a trans woman told the publication: “I cannot go anywhere or apply for a job. Not because I am not capable of that, but because of who I am.”
A spokesperson for Rainbow Migration said there is “not much of a screening process that takes place” within the Home Office when a person’s asylum claim is being considered.
“This creates a high risk that they could be sent to Rwanda if the plan is eventually allowed to proceed.”
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the Home Office said its Rwanda scheme is a “world-leading” programme which will “see those who make dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys to the UK relocated to Rwanda”.
“Our assessment concluded that LGBT+ people did not face a real risk of persecution,” the spokesperson said.
“The overall findings were that Rwanda is fundamentally a safe and secure country with a track record of supporting asylum seekers, including working with the UN Refugee Agency which said the country has a safe and protective environment for refugees.”
A New Jersey high school tried to cancel an adaptation of the LGBTQ+ musical The Prom due to “community concern” over its themes.
Officials at Cedar Grove High School in Essex County, New Jersey planned to cancel a student production of The Prom – which sees a lesbian student try to bring her same-sex date to a school prom – but were forced to backtrack after opposition from the community.
The district’s superintendent Anthony Grosso told those concerned in a Friday (14 October) statement that the play would not be cancelled, but that students would perform a “High School Edition” of the play.
“After further inquiry with the licensing organisation, we were informed that a High School Edition of The Prom just became available,” he said in a statement. “Therefore, Cedar Grove Public Schools fully supports producing the High School Edition.
Cedar Grove’s music department issued a statement on Instagram after administrative officials initially told them that the play would not be going forward due to vaguely described “community concerns.”
The department called on members of the community to voice their concerns in a future meeting with the district’s Board of Education on 18 October.
“For a program that has run for over 20 years under the same director and never had a question of content for any show in the past, this is a first,” the statement read.
“After seeing [The Prom] a few years ago and learning that it was now available for schools to produce, the students themselves chose this musical as our next production. We would actually be the New Jersey high school premiere!
“We secured the rights, paid for the materials, and announced the show to students but have now hit a bump in our normal road.”
Supporters of the post included The Prom actor Josh Lamon, who replied to the statement saying: “Whatever we can do, I’m here for it.”
He shared the statement on social media, adding that the cancellation was “infuriating and deeply homophobic,” and that there is “nothing inappropriate in or about the show.”
Several users, including fellow Broadway stars, agreed with Lamon that this was “literally the reason they need to be doing this show!!” while others asked if they should “tell Stephen Colbert” since the talk show host is close by.
After the superintendent announced the change, department member Rebecca Altschul posted on Instagram thanking those who spoke out in support of the play.
Mexico’s senate has voted to ban all conversion therapy that aims to alter sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression – putting the UK to shame.
On Tuesday (11 October), 69 lawmakers voted for the bill, with two against and 16 abstentions. It will now head to Mexico’s chamber of deputies for a final vote.
The vote has been years in the making, with the bill first introduced by senators from the parties Citizen Movement, Morena and the Green Party in October 2018.
LGBTQ+ human rights organisation Yaaj Mexico said in a press release: “The eyes of the world are today on this historic advance in human rights, hoping that it will become an international benchmark.”
The group said that conversion therapy’s “main victims are young LGBTQ+ people, causing irreparable damage to their mental health throughout their adult life and in the worst cases, driving them to suicide”.
“For the survivors of these practices who have raised their voices, making the political personal, this legislative advance it means the integral reparation of the damage that was once done to them.”
In its press release, Yaaj noted that if the bill passes in the chamber of deputies, Mexico would join countries around the world in legislating against the abhorrent practice, including Germany, Malta, Canada, Australia and Ecuador.
One country notably not mentioned was the UK.
The Conservative Party had been promising a UK conversion therapy ban since 2018, and last year finally produced a consultation document.
However, the consultation was littered with red flags, comparing affirmative medical treatment for trans kids to conversion therapy, providing religious exemptions, and even stating that adults could freely consent to conversion therapy.
The comprehensive report was welcomed by the LGBTQ+ community, centering survivors in all areas, and laying out key principles for legislating against conversion therapy.
These included a future ban which must cover any treatment, practice or effort that aims to change, suppress or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, expression of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, and providing specific guidance on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of colour – and survivors from minority ethnic faith groups.
A young gay man has been shot dead by the Taliban in Afghanistan because of his sexuality.
Hamed Sabouri, from Kabul, was killed in August, local activists have told PinkNews. He was just 22.
He was reportedly kidnapped by the Taliban and a video showing his murder sent to his family days later.
Bahar, another gay Afghan who knew the victim personally, told PinkNews Sabouri had dreams of becoming a doctor, but his hopes were stolen from him when the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
He described Hamed as a “shy” gay man with an infectious laugh.
“Life is hell for every LGBT Afghan,” Bahar said.
“Taliban terrorists are worse than wild animals.”
Bahar, who is a member of Afghanistan’s growing LGBTQ+ organisation the Behesht Collective, deleted all the pictures and videos he had of Sabouri on his phone after he learned of his murder.
Bahar lives in fear of being stopped and searched by the Taliban – he’s afraid that he would also be killed if they found out about his sexuality.
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, PinkNews has spoken to a number of LGBTQ+ Afghans who have had their phones searched by the Taliban.
Many have resorted to deleting their social media accounts in a desperate bid to stay safe, while many others have crossed the border into Pakistan where they are less likely to be killed.
Taliban wants to ‘eradicate’ LGBTQ+ people
Nemat Sadat, an Afghan activist who is fighting to have LGBTQ+ people evacuated from the country, told PinkNews that Sabouri’s death is the result of inaction from western governments, many of which have failed to take in adequate numbers of fleeing Afghans.
“The death of Hamed Sabouri is further proof that the Taliban will not stop until they eradicate all gay people from Afghanistan,” he said.
“His execution was deliberate and outside of any legal framework. I don’t understand how people in good conscience around the world sit idle while the Taliban continue to rule with a total disregard for human life.”
Sabouri’s killing is just the latest blow to Afghanistan’s embattled LGBTQ+ community.
Since the Taliban seized power, reports have circulated about queer people being beaten, raped and murdered as the regime ramps up its persecution of those who fall foul of Sharia law.
Most recently, it was reported that the Taliban had started using the monkeypox outbreak to harass and detain LGBTQ+ people.
Anthony Rapp testified in federal court about an “incredibly frightening” encounter, in which Kevin Spacey allegedly climbed on top of him when he was a teen.
Rapp, who is suing Spacey for $40 million in a civil trial over alleged sexual misconduct, described to the court on Friday (7 October) how he first became acquainted with Spacey as a teenager on the New York City theatre scene.
He testified that Spacey invited him to a party at the actor’s loft in 1986 when Rapp was 14 and the disgraced actor was 26.
Rapp, now 50, told jurors he decided to go because he was “honoured” to “join a colleague at a gathering” and was eager to show some independence from his mum.
The Star Trek: Discovery actor described feeling uncomfortable because he didn’t know the other guests, so he decided to go into a bedroom to watch TV. Rapp told jurors that Spacey later appeared in the doorway, seemingly intoxicated, and approached him.
“It felt very wrong,” Rapp said. “I didn’t want him to do it, and I had no reason that made any sense of why he would do it. I felt like a deer in headlights.”
Rapp testified that he was able to “wiggle” his way out from under Spacey and hide in a bathroom. Rapp recalled later running to the front door of the loft when Spacey stopped the teen and asked him: “Are you sure you want to leave?”
After the alleged encounter, Rapp said he contemplated how he would “recover from this incredibly upsetting and frightening experience” during his long walk home.
“I was this 14-year-old child, and I had no desire to have any kind of this experience in my life,” he said. “It was incredibly frightening and very alarming and totally antithetical to anything else that I had ever experienced.”
Kevin Spacey, now 63, has denied Rapp’s claims. His lawyer Jennifer Kelley claimed Rapp invented the incident as she said it resembled a scene in Precious Sons, a play that Rapp starred in at the time.
Kevin Spacey initially apologised on social media to Rapp for what he said “would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour” but said he “honestly” didn’t “remember the encounter”. He has since denied the allegations.
Rapp is one of several individuals who have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against Spacey in recent years.
Rapp is expected to continue his testimony and then face cross-examination from Kevin Spacey’s lawyers when the civil trial resumes on Tuesday (11 October).
More than half of trans and non-binary people are misgendered in death by officials, new research suggests.
Research, published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, found that between 2011 and 2021, more than half of transgender and non-binary people who died during this time period were misgendered on their death certificates.
Kimberly Repp, chief epidemiologist for Washington County and one of the study’s authors, noted that this could impact the allocation of resources like social services and public health programs, which can change depending on a region’s vital statistics.
She said: “What we learned will likely alarm anyone who identifies as transgender or non-binary – or anyone who cares about the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming people.”
“When a population is not counted, it is erased.”
The HRC, which trans violent deaths of trans people, has often warned that many trans people are misgendered in death, and therefore go uncounted.
The research was conducted by public health officials from Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas, and focussed on the Portland, Oregon, metro area, and looked at the recorded deaths of 51 trans and non-binary people.
It revealed systemic gaps in coroners’ ability to accommodate trans and non-binary people.
The majority of medical examiner case management software does not include a field for gender identity, and there is no national requirement for death investigators to be trained about how to verify a deceased person’s gender identity.
Next-of-kin also have unilateral power to declare a deceased person’s gender and have it changed on a death certificate, which can lead to what the study calls “nonconsensual detransitioning” – when the next-of-kin rejects the deceased’s trans identity.
Kimberly DiLeo, chief investigator with the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office, said that while it has been “proactive in training our staff to record gender identity… without adequate tools to collect this data and changes at a national level, we are limited in what we can do”.
in 2019 the American Medical Association made attempts to tackle increasing violence among transgender people by establishing a more consistent way to collect data on trans identity.
Despite this, the report noted that no agency regularly collects information about gender identity at death.
A young gay man, who fled to Israel to escape persecution in Palestine and was seeking asylum abroad, has been kidnapped and brutally murdered in the West Bank.
Ahmed Hacham Hamdi Abu Marakhia, 25, fled Palestine two years ago after his sexual orientation was revealed. He had been living in Israel after authorities acknowledged his life would be in danger if he returned to Palestine.
He was about to begin the process of seeking asylum abroad – potentially in Canada – at the time of his death.
Ahmed was killed Wednesday (5 October) in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, Makoreported. A horrific video of his decapitated body lying on a roadside was circulated on Palestinian social networks.
Authorities have opened an investigation into Ahmed’s death, but his friends and activists in Israel believed the reason for his death was his sexual orientation.
Israeli Labour Party MK Ibtisam Mara’ana mourned Ahmed’s death in a message posted on social media.
“Ahmad, who stayed in an Israeli shelter due to his sexuality, was murdered by a vicious and twisted killer,” she wrote.
“In the next government, we intend to complete the Palestinian LGBT revolution.”
Tomer Aldubi – a volunteer in the Different House, an organisation that helps LGBTQ+ Palestinians find asylum abroad, and a journalist for Mako – told PinkNews Ahmed had left his hostel in Israel to travel to his job on Wednesday.
But he said Ahmed’s friends and people at the hostel became concerned later in the day when he “did not answer his calls”.
He said there were rumours that Ahmed was killed because the “video was already out”. He got a call from Ahmed’s social worker at about 11pm about the story because “people were 90 per cent sure it was him”.
Aldubi, who is also a theatre director, briefly met Ahmed when he produced a play titled Sharif about gay Palestinians fleeing from the West Bank to Israel. He described Ahmed as a “good person” who had built a community of friends.
“He came all the way from Tel Aviv with his best friend, and I talked with him,” Aldubi said. “I met him just once. He was very nice, very quiet – actually did not talk a lot.”
“He seemed to be intelligent, and it was only a brief discussion but I know that he had many friends here.”
Aldubi said Ahmed’s friends and Rita Petrenko, the CEO of the Different House, believed the 25-year-old had been kidnapped or forcibly taken back to Palestine.
He had been told by others that there was “no reason for [Ahmed] to go back independently” as he knew it was “dangerous for him back there”.
“All he wanted to do was eventually immigrate to another place,” Aldubi said. “He was on the list.”
“He was going to be the next one, according to Rita – who was in charge of his permit and visa bureaucracy with the Canadian authorities. He was waiting for that.”
LGBTQ+ Palestinians face direct opposition imposed by a conservative society, as well as the external conflict Palestinians face with Israel.
In Palestine, the state is fractured by war and diplomatic division so there is mixed legal recognition of LGBTQ+ lives. Being gay is illegal in the Gaza Strip, and sentences for male same-sex sexual activity can include a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment.
Homosexuality is not illegal in the West Bank, but LGBTQ+ people face discrimination and violence in the region.
LGBTQ+ Palestinians can flee into neighbouring Israel, where support for queer rights is on the rise.
Activists told PinkNews that queer Palestinian people fear potential retribution from Palestinian authorities or their families while also facing discrimination while awaiting asylum abroad in Israel.
Aldubi explained many people in Israel “don’t want to work with them or to give them a job” because they “cannot hide” their Palestinian, Arab or LGBTQ+ identity.
“It’s very difficult for them,” he said.
“They prefer not to be in mixed cities or mixed places like Arab cities or Palestinian cities.”
“So they do go to places – to Tel Aviv or other communities – and it’s very dangerous for them. They succeed in managing or surviving, but it’s not easy. It’s very difficult.”
He added there were concerns the PA police will “close the investigation fairly fast” if they believe the reason he was killed was that he “insulted the family” due to his sexual orientation.
‘We don’t feel safe’
Eran Rosenzweig, an LGBTQ+ activist in Israel, told PinkNews that the news of Ahmed’s death was particularly devastating because he was “part of the gay community”.
“It’s much less traditional in the gay community in Israel than in other communities,” he said. “They [Palestinian and Arabic LGBTQ+ people] are a part of us.”
“There is solidarity between us. It’s very hurtful for us to know there are people, who are in Israel, that are facing violence – and it was such brutal violence.
“We don’t feel safe because we have attacks on gay clubs and people in mixed areas. There is a direct effect, and we don’t feel safe.”
Rosenzweig said LGBTQ+ Palestinians “are not safe here” in Israel because they are in constant fear of persecution from their families and the Palestinian Authority as they face lengthy wait times for asylum abroad.
“And now you see, it’s too late for them – it was too late for [Ahmed],” he said.
“I want the embassies in Israel and authorities in Europe, North Africa, America to notice them and to try to help give them refugee status to help save them.”
Iceland has published its action plan on LGBTQ+ issues for the years 2022 to 2025, which includes an end to discrimination for queer blood donors, training in LGBTQ+ issues for police, “appropriate and unbiased” healthcare for trans people, and more.
The country’s parliament is also pledging 40 million Icelandic Króna (around £250,000) to support ministries’ LGBTQ+ projects within that time period.
The UK used to have an LGBTQ+ action plan, established in 2018 under Theresa May’s Conservative government, which included meaningful reform of the Gender Recognition Act and the banning of conversion therapy in all its forms.
Iceland, which already has strong LGBTQ+ protections in place, and in 2017 was found to be the least homophobic country in the list of members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), pushed forward the 21 progressive measures in June.
A statement about the programme says it is the “first one that focuses solely on LGBTI matters”.
“The purpose of the action should be to abolish the discrimination which blood donors have been subject to on account of their sexual orientation,” the plan reads.
Particular focus was made on wellbeing in the action plan, with steps to help ensure the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth, elderly people, and disabled people, as well as tackling LGBTQ+ domestic violence.
The plan states: “The well-being and situation of this group [LGBTI disabled people and LGBTI elders] in society should be considered in terms of isolation and expression.”
It added that it would also study the “well-being of LGBTI people in regions outside the capital area… should be given special consideration, where people are in proximity to a great extent and economic life tends to be undiversified.”
‘All of our people are accepted’
Ahead of a visit from the UN’s independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity on 26 September, Ambassador Bergdís Ellertsdóttir said: “Human rights are a key priority in Iceland’s foreign policy, and LGBTQ+ rights are a particular focus at home where, as a society, we ensure that all of our people are accepted and enjoy full rights.”
Iceland remains high up on Europe’s “Rainbow Map” of LGBTQ+ friendly countries in 2022, however it was beaten to the top spot by Malta and Denmark, with ILGA Europe noting that Denmark is “taking the lead in filling in anti-discrimination gaps in current legislation”.
Pope Francis reportedly encouraged an LGBTQ+ Catholic group to build a church “that excludes no one.”
According to L’Avvenire, the pope met with Italian LGBTQ+ Catholic group The Tent of Jonathon in a Wednesday (21 September) conference to discuss the organisation’s plan to build a hospitable church that would cater to LGBTQ+ people.
The group, which was founded in 2018, works with various religious organisations to provide “sanctuaries of welcome and support for LGBT people and for every person affected by discrimination.”
In an effort to convince Pope Francis, organisation members gave him a collection of letters from the parents of LGBTQ+ children who have faced “isolation and suspicious within the Christian community.”
Having urged religious parents to “never condemn your children” in a 26 January address, adding that parents should “not hide behind an attitude of condemnation,” the conferences appeared to convince him as he told the organisation to continue with the church’s construction.
Despite upholding traditional church teachings that claim homosexuality is “intrinsically disordered,” the pontiff has been surprisingly forthcoming about introducing LGBTQ+ members into Catholic proceedings.
In 2013, he famously said: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
But there is still a long way to go for LGBTQ+ acceptance in the Vatican. During the same address, he condemned what was cryptically described as lobbying by the LGBTQ+ community.
“The problem is not having this orientation,” he claimed. “We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem.”
Pope Francis has also repeatedly shut down any hope of same-sex marriage in the Catholic Church, most recently in 2021 when he said he “doesn’t have the power to change sacraments.”
“I have spoken clearly about this, no? Marriage is a sacrament. Marriage is a sacrament. The church doesn’t have the power to change sacraments. It’s as our Lord established.”
Excommunications for LGBTQ+ positive paraphenalia is still incredibly common in local Catholic communities. In June, a middle school was kicked out of the Catholic fold after officials refused to remove Pride and Black Lives Matter flags from school grounds.
In a statement, Massachusetts bishop Robert J. McManus, who chose to excommunicate the Nativity School of Worcester, said: “I publicly stated in an open letter…that ‘these symbols (flags) embody specific agendas or ideologies (that) contradict Catholic social and moral teaching
“It is my contention that the ‘Gay Pride’ flag represents support of gay marriage and actively living a LGBTQ+ lifestyle.”
In response, school president Thomas McKenney said that the flags “represent the inclusion and respect of all people” and that they simply state “that all are welcome at Nativity and this value of inclusion is rooted in Catholic teaching.”