VATICAN CITY -- 150 people participated when
gay rights group Arcigay held a protest at the Vatican condemning the
church's anti-gay policies. The protest marked the ninth anniversary of
the suicide of Alfredo Ormando at St. Peter's Square,
Towleroad reports.
Ormando died nine days after drenching himself in gasoline and lighting
himself on fire in a similar protest in 1998.
The
protesters waved rainbow flags and banners saying 'No to the Taliban! No
to the Vatican!'
Other banners urged Italy to offer legal recognition to gay and
unmarried couples, an issue dividing the current centre-left government
and stoking tension between leftists and the Vatican.
Pope Benedict has said in recent addresses that such changes would
support 'those ruinous theories that strip all relevance from the
masculinity and femininity of the human being.'
The
protesters waved rainbow flags and banners saying 'No to the Taliban! No
to the Vatican!'
The Hunk
