Gay Community Press Charges against Mexican Cardinal for “Inciting Violence”

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Gay community organizations of the Mexican State of Jalisco lodged a criminal complaint on Thursday against Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez for “discrimination and inciting violence” by declaring that same-sex marriages are an “aberration.”

“We are asking he complies with the rule of law. With his statements he is fomenting homophobia and transphobia,” said Carlos Becerra, a member of “Union Diversa,” one of the 12 associations that filed the complaint with the Attorney General of Jalisco.

In a nearly six-minute video released on social networks and the Catholic channel Maria Vision, Sandoval Iñiguez said “according to the Christian revelation,” marriage is between a man and a woman, and that “the rest is deviant.”

“What you get out of this divine institution is an attack against it. It is an aberration and cannot fit in the mind of a Catholic,” he said.

The emeritus Archbishop of Guadalajara lashed out at the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision to declare unconstitutional those state laws that limit marriage to the union between man and woman, and said the highest court always legislates “against morals.”

The organizations that are pressing charges believe that these statements not only discriminate against the gay community, but also violate the Mexican and Jalisco Constitution, Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination, Penal Code of Jalisco and the Act of Religious Associations and Public Worship.

“The cardinal believes marriage between people of the same sex is not a matter of human rights, but human rights are for everyone,” said Becerra.

Although he retired as head of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in 2011 after 17 years of service, Sandoval Iñiguez has continued to be in news with his strong opposition to abortion and same-sex marriages.

Last week he confirmed to have performed a “great exorcism,” along with other priests in the San Luis Potosi Cathedral, to rid Mexico of the evil that entered it after abortion was decriminalized in Mexico City.

When the Supreme Court in 2010 approved the reforms to the Civil Code of the Federal District to allow same-sex couples to adopt children, the Archbishop said the then head of government of the capital, Marcelo Ebrard, of bribing court ministers.