Pope Blasts Gay Marriages

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 1, 1999 / 10:21 AM EST / CBS

Pope John Paul II on Wednesday repeated his "no" to gay marriages, saying they were one of several practices threatening the family.

Also on World AIDS Day, Israel's Health Minister Shlomo Benizri, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, drew fire for saying homosexuals and lesbians needed medical treatment.

Speaking at his daily general audience, the pope said the concept of the family "as a community founded on marriage between a man and a woman" was under attack by an ethical relativism gaining support in public opinion and legislation.

"The crisis of the family becomes the cause of the crisis of society," the pope said. Many of society's ills, the pope said, can be traced to the fact that many families have lost their identity.

In the past, the Vatican has contested legislation aimed at recognizing homosexual marriages and giving homosexual couples equal rights in society.

In Israel, Benizri told Reuters "These people have a mental problem, they are deviant. Instead of giving them legitimacy, we need to treat them."

Benizri denied making comments attributed to him in Maariv newspaper that gays and lesbians required separate medical facilities. But he said he favored psychological treatment.

"It is a sickness. They say they are like normal people. Psychologists have to encourage them and help them," he said.

Israel's lesbian and gay community dismissed his remarks.

"Every time a religious minister wants to push us into a corner...we hear these comments again and again and again," Hadar Namir of the Lesbian and Homosexual Organization said on Israeli Radio.

"After 5O years of education we should talk about our subject," she said.

Israel prohibited workplace discrimination in 1992, after decriminalizing homosexuality in 1988. In 1993, the army adopted a policy of allowing openly homosexual soldiers to serve in any capacity.

Last month, Benizri sparked controversy by banning AIDS awareness advertisements from featuring pictures of condoms.

"I am proud I have the values of our Bible and God ... It's not the people I dislike, it's the phenomenon. And you know, I have friends who are homosexual too," he said.