Manifestazione nonviolenta dei gay americani in Vaticano


By FRANCES D'EMILIO
( The Associated Press )


VATICAN CITY (AP) - Carrying teddy bears, toys and a message for Pope John
Paul II, a small band of gay Christians from the United States gathered
Wednesday at the edge of St. Peter's Square to protest Vatican teachings on
homosexuality.

The group, numbering 18, staged a brief, mostly silent demonstration outside
the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica. Arriving about two hours after the
pontiff finished his weekly public audience with tens of thousands of
pilgrims, they were barely noticed by the crowd.

Wearing sweatshirts with the slogan: ``God's Gay Children Bring Gifts ...
Bless Them,'' they softly sang ``We Shall Overcome,'' and hoped a Vatican
priest might come out and bless them. None did.

``I don't think they love God's gay children like they love God's straight
children,'' said Mel White, executive director of Soulforce, Inc., based in
Laguna Beach, Ca.

John Paul has repeatedly denounced attempts to legalize same-sex marriages or
adoption by gays. Last summer, he bitterly denounced a gay pride festival in
Rome as an ``insult'' to Christians and said homosexual acts were ``contrary
to natural law.''

A second group involved in the demonstration was Washington D.C.-based
Dignity/USA, which describes itself as the largest organization of
homosexual, bisexual and transgender Catholics in the United States.

Toys carried by the protesters were destined for Italian orphans. They also
planned to take gifts to AIDS sufferers and battered women in Rome.

AP-NY-01-03-01 1550EST

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