Vatican trashes first UN declaration of LGBT human rights

International human rights groups are denouncing the Vatican for condemning a proposed United Nations declaration which would - for the first time - call for civil rights for gays, lesbians and the transgendered.

The proposed declaration condemns “discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity” and will be presented at the General Assembly on Dec. 10 by France.

The document has been signed by the member states of the European Union. It was drafted by France, which currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.

Dec. 10th was chosen to present it to the General Assembly because the date marks the 60th anniversary of the UN declaration of human rights.

More than 80 nations have laws denying or limiting LGBT civil rights. Some Moslem countries impose the death penalty on homosexuality while others have lengthy prison sentences.

The Vatican in a statement said the declaration would force countries to legalize same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN, said in the statement that the declaration would discriminate against states which support traditional marriage.

“If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations … For example, states which do not recognize same-sex unions as ‘matrimony’ will be pilloried and made an object of pressure,” Migliore said.

Franco Grillini, founder of Italian LGBT rights group Arcigay, called the Vatican position “total idiocy and madness.”

“The French resolution, which is supported by all 27 members of the European Union, has nothing to do with gay marriage. It is about stopping jail and the death penalty for homosexuals,” Grillini told the Reuters news service.

The Vatican has long been an opponent of LGBT rights - especially marriage.

It fought hard against same-sex marriage rights in Holland, Belgium, Spain, Canada and South Africa, all of which went on to legalize gay unions. In the U.S., the Catholic Church was heavily involved in the fight against gay marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut, both of which now allow gay marriage, and was instrumental in the passage of Proposition 8, which overturned the California Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage in that state.

In October, the Church said it was considering psychological testing for prospective priests to screen out candidates “with strong homosexual tendencies” and heterosexuals “unable to control their sexual urges.”