On the ninth anniversary of the suicide of post Alfredo Ormando in St. Peter's Square, the gay rights group Arcigay held a protest against at the Vatican, condemning the church's policy toward gays. Approximately 150 people participated, according to reports.
Ormando died nine days after drenching himself in gasoline and lighting himself on fire in a similar protest in 1998.
Despite the fact that gay culture appears to have infiltrated its holy walls, nine years later, things are no less tense between gays and the Vatican:
“Men and women from the Italian gay association Arcigay and other groups waved rainbow flags and banners saying ‘No to the Taliban! No to the Vatican!,' according to a Reuters witness. Other banners urged Italy to offer legal recognition to gay and unmarried couples, an issue dividing the current centre-left government and stoking tension between leftists and the Vatican. Pope Benedict has said in recent addresses that such changes would support ‘those ruinous theories that strip all relevance from the masculinity and femininity of the human being.'”
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