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| Europe |
| EU in crisis over 'gay sin' chief |
| 2004-10-23 |
| THE furious row over Europe's new "anti-gay" commissioner has plunged the European Union into a full-blown crisis with MEPs threatening to reject the entire commission unless he is fired. Incoming commission president Jose Manuel Barroso yesterday defied calls to ditch his chosen justice commissioner, the Italian Rocco Buttiglione, for his views on homosexuality and marriage. His decision to stand by Mr Buttiglione enraged political leaders wielding a majority of votes in the European Parliament. They have pledged to veto Mr Barroso's entire commission when it is put to the vote next week. Mr Buttiglione, a conservative Catholic and friend of the Pope, is due to be given responsibility for the EU's anti-discrimination policies. But he caused outrage by describing homosexuality as a "sin", suggesting women should spend more time having babies and less time working, and that single mothers "weren't very good". |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #12 Agreed, but none of them are driving to where Buttiglione and I want them to go. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-10-23 2:39:37 PM |
| #11 Tom> "I think that in this case there are more than just two directions." Perhaps. Still, let's atleast agree that there's more than *one* direction. And that pro-gay rights people aren't driving towards where the Islamofascists want to go. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-23 1:04:04 PM |
| #10 Aris: "Islamofascists want to drag society back, gay-rights supporters want to push society forwards." I think that in this case there are more than just two directions. Ultra-liberal is not the only alternative to ultra-conservative. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-10-23 12:52:11 PM |
| #9 Completely agreed with you, TGA. As I had mentioned a couple days ago, this is a truly sweet "scandal" for me. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-23 12:47:32 PM |
| #8 Funny, that seems so queer for them to react that way. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-10-23 12:34:18 PM |
| #7 If there ever was a EU "scandal", this is one I like. It would be perfect if the EU parliment rejected Barroso's commission. This would strengthen the power of the parliament which is democratically elected, while the commission members who hold most of the power are appointed. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-10-23 11:31:14 AM |
| #6 Similar to how one must fight the Islamonuts we must also fight/defend against the destruction of institutions which have helped form the glue of civilization in the Judeo Christian West. Sorry, but I can see no "similarity" whatsoever between the fight against a tyrannical murderous ideology that has killed and enslaved millions upon millions of people worldwide, and the so-called fight against the legitimization of homosexual behaviour or same-sex marriage. The still expanding virtues of the "West" are what have *allowed* tolerance towards homosexuality and the beginnings of instituting same-sex marriage, a tolerance which isn't yet found in either the Islamic countries nor the Third World, nor other tyrannical regimes. Islamofascists want to drag society back, gay-rights supporters want to push society forwards. So, even if Conservative christians oppose both, wanting to remain where they are instead, don't even pretend that their reaction to both impulses is the same battle. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-23 11:04:28 AM |
| #5 Aris, the issue is how the elite of both the U.S. and the E.U. have attempted to make this perverted behavior "mainstream" and to make those defending centuries-old values the evil ones. Similar to how one must fight the Islamonuts we must also fight/defend against the destruction of institutions which have helped form the glue of civilization in the Judeo Christian West. |
| Posted by: Constitutional Individualist 2004-10-23 10:22:09 AM |
| #4 As a sidenote, however, the problem wasn't the guy's views about same-sex marriage so that's irrelevant one way or another -- when the article says "his views on homosexuality and marriage", it means his views on two different issues, not in connection with one another -- a) homosexuality b) marriage. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-23 8:45:06 AM |
| #3 Sockpuppet> What is telling I think is that homosexual marriage is only legal in the Netherlands I believe. Same-sex marriage is legal in Netherlands and Belgium, soon to be legal in Spain as well. But several other countries already have "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships" -- Denmark, France, Germany I believe. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-10-23 8:38:55 AM |
| #2 What is telling I think is that homosexual marriage is only legal in the Netherlands I believe. It's not even an issue in the rest of Europe that is open for debate. The only persons who are worked up are the MEPs and their parrots in the EU media. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-23 1:04:11 AM |
| #1 into a full-blown crisis Does any editor read this stuff before it goes out on the wire? |
| Posted by: Doc8404 2004-10-23 12:56:05 AM |