'Gay kissing' protest as Pope defends 'traditional' relationships

Barcelona - LGBT-rights campaigners were succesful in staging their "gay kissing" protest during the Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Spain.

The protest was carried took place as the Pope, 83, preached about his belief in “traditional” relationships. The protest, which took place during the pontiff's tour of Barcelona, is said to have attracted up to 200 protesters. In Pink News, one of the organisers, Jordi Petit, is quoted as saying: “This [was] a peaceful act of protest to demonstrate that love is the same in the hearts of everyone.” Over recent years, and despite being a Catholic country, Spain, has been at the forefront within Europe at bringing equality to lesbian and gay people, and challenging the ideologies of the Roman Catholic Church – by, for instance, legalising gay marriage, allowing abortion on demand in the first trimester of pregnancy and changing the law to make divorce easier. These reforms have led Pope Benedict to warn that the country is at the epicentre of a battle between faith and modernity in Europe. Of so-called “non-traditional” relationships, i.e. gay and lesbian ones, the Pope has emphasised the Church's view: “Generous love between a man and a woman is the efficient framework and basis of human life.” Last month, ahead of the Pope's visit, Digital Journal reported that a Spanish Catholic printer had refused to release a magazine, Retranca, to its publisher bacause it poked fun at pontiff. His latest pilgrimage comes only weeks after his controversial State Visit to the England and Scotland, where several high-profile protests were organised to greet him. Campaigners are angry with the Roman Catholic Church, and Pope Benedict XVI in particular, for a number of reasons, including the Church's response to the ongoing child-abuse scandal and the Pope's views on the equality of women and gay people, and his stance on the use of condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV.