The diocese of Cuenca has finally decided to back down and cancel the talk of the ultra-Catholic movement ‘Courage International’, scheduled for this Tuesday, January 21 in the provincial capital. He did so with a brief statement, and after a protest rally, organized by the transfeminist association NosOtras de Cuenca.
The Cuenca Bishopric justified the event, now cancelled, on Sunday, ensuring that according to ‘Courage International’ it was “a pastoral action” that excludes “any type of reparative or behavioral therapy” and that it only sought to “accompany people who freely do so.” desire and who want to live their faith coherently in their own situation.”
That is something very different from what different experts from around the world maintain, who reject the practices of this association and groups such as the NosOtras Association. “It is an ultra-Catholic organization born in the United States in the 70s that proposes chastity as a specific path for LGBT people.”
Its spokesperson Estefanía Prior celebrates the decision of the Bishopric of Cuenca, but warns: “Fundamental rights are either fought or lost.” “It cannot be taken for granted that our rights will be maintained, especially with the reactionary wave that has been growing in recent months. We cannot take our rights for granted, either we defend them or we lose them,” Prior points out. elDiarioclm.es.
Sources from the Ministry of Equality have indicated to this medium that talks of this type “have no place either morally or legally.” The regional government is studying what happened in Cuenca and Guadalajara to continue working to ensure that “the rights of LGTBI people are respected.”
‘Courage International’ is a movement founded in 1978 in the United States to “treat” homosexuality, which has received criticism around the world, since it has come to compare homosexuality with alcoholism. It has a presence in several countries, including Spain, where it is present in the dioceses of the Canary Islands, Toledo, Getafe and Alcalá. The talk they were going to hold in Cuenca was going to be the first step to also have a presence in this province.
Some of their practices appear in the complaint for the alleged promotion of ‘conversion therapies’ in seven Spanish dioceses that are already being processed by the Ministry of Equality and that, for bishops such as José Ignacio Munilla of the Orihuela-Alicante diocese, “do not exist.” but rather they are “an ideological construct of Marxism to prevent the Church from pastorally accompanying people with homosexual inclinations, helping them to live the virtue of chastity.”
The cultural association NosOtras organized on Sunday ua rally to protest against the talk that has finally been canceled. They read a statement in which they denounced the “constant instigation suffered by LGTBIQ+ people by the reactionary sector of the ecclesiastical institution.”
“We want to remember that we are normal people, that we do not need treatment or conversion or to live a more or less chaste life than other people,” they stated. The Catholic Church admits that it cannot “support or participate in or recommend treatments of this type,” since they are prohibited by the Holy See, a decision that Cuenca, “logically, fully accepts and shares.”
Estefanía Prior, from the Cuenca association, explains that now what they hope is that the Bishopric of Cuenca can speak out against “any type of effect” on the sexuality of LGTBI people, “including chastity.” “Another thing is that it is enacted for its community, in general, but not specifically for LGTBI people. This is what we need to know.”
Although they “grate” that the diocese finally decided to speak out against conversion therapies, they remember that the Holy See and the Pope already did so “a long time ago.” “We have to say that the Cuenca mobilization works, it is successful and we are congratulated, because we have achieved this training that should never have taken place,” highlights Prior.
However, they will maintain the call for this Tuesday, in front of the San Fernando parish, in which other groups such as Families TRANSforming Castilla-La Mancha will participate. “We have felt frustration, anger and concern. Because the message that is conveyed, once again, is that LGTBI people have some kind of problem. But we are normal and we do not need any type of treatment or action regarding our sexuality. We have to convey the message that we are not sick, that our lives and our sexuality are perfectly normal,” Prior emphasizes.
For this reason, they have decided to maintain this protest on Tuesday, January 21, to emphasize that the LGTBI community “has no choice but to continue in the streets.” “Human rights are defended or lost,” concludes Prior.
This medium has contacted the Episcopal Conference to find out its position regarding these ‘conversion therapies’ and, in particular, regarding the event planned in Cuenca, without obtaining a response in this regard, for now.
#diocese #Cuenca #cancels #talk #movement #calls #treating #homosexuality #social #protest
