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Pope Francis meets with gay rights campaigner in Paraguay
Pope Francis met with an LGBT activist in Paraguay on Saturday. It’s said this was the first such meeting in history.
He met with Simón Cazal, executive director of Somosgay (‘We are gay): a prominent LGBTI rights group in Paraguay.
Cazal told CNN prior to the meeting: ‘We have to go. Ninety percent of the country is Catholic; they all love the Pope.’
But the longtime activist admitted to some doubts about whether this was simply a PR move from the papacy. He decided to go, saying: ‘We have to take this step because otherwise we are the ones who are closing the doors.’
Cazal joined 1600 other civil organisations in a meeting with the pontiff in the capital, Asunción.
The meeting was ‘productive’ according to Cazal, who said the Pope stressed the importance of diversity, including saying: ‘There are no people of first, of second or third class. Dignity is for everyone.’
“No hay personas de primera, de segunda o de tercera, la dignidad es de todos”
— Simón Cazal (@scazal) July 11, 2015
The pope has a mixed history for supporting of the LGBTI community. He backed anti-marriage equality legislation in Argentina and Slovakia, for example.
However, he met with transgender and gay people in past private meetings. He famously said of gay people, on a flight back from Brazil: ‘If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?’
The phrase has been captioned on a recent anti-homophobia campaign in Paraguay.
Frase del Papa Francisco @Pontifex en campaña contra la homofobia durante su visita a Paraguay t.co/KSjq1P8jey pic.twitter.com/IbMVNk7Bjs
— SOMOSGAY (@SOMOSGAY) July 11, 2015
Cazal said, regardless of what comes from the meeting, it should send a positive message to all of South America. ‘The invitation is already serving a purpose: It sends a symbolic message of inclusion and respect,’ he said.
The post Pope Francis meets with gay rights campaigner in Paraguay appeared first on Gay Star News.
Jack Flanagan
www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-francis-meets-with-gay-rights-campaigner-in-paraguay/
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