Monsignor Victor Masalles has criticized US Ambassador James Brewster’s attempts to impose what he described as US-style gay policies on the Dominican Republic. He said that these policies mostly favor wealthy gay people and not the general public, pointing to the gregarious and very sociable nature of Latin Americans and their more inclusive attitude towards gay people.
In an op-ed in Listin Diario, Masalles states:
“We have an ambassador of the United States in our country who is also a fervent gay activist. I do not criticize him for being gay; on the contrary, I greatly respect it.
What I do criticize is his abuse of his privileged position as diplomat of a powerful country to violate cultural codes, local laws and international conventions.
I believe that the Ambassador wishes to promote, by any means, his agenda in a country like ours, where local authorities and society at large have remained silent about it.”
Masalles points out that in his work as a priest he has encountered the pain, fears, needs and issues affecting gay people. “I am convinced that the laws that Ambassador wishes to impose on the country would not be of great help for most of this group which he supposedly seeks to influence.”
He said that gay culture in the United States engages perfectly within that individualistic society where citizens can immerse themselves in anonymity in big cities like San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and stay in the anonymity and / or live in neighborhoods, areas or establishments that favor the development of a normal social life for them.
He added, however, that this is not the case of the Dominican Republic, with its Latin culture and where there are wide gaps in economic status between individuals, which he said makes them vulnerable to being exploited by wealthy gay people.
He said that the US Ambassador was not interested in the poor, and the double exclusion they suffer. “What he is interested is in creating the legal and social environment where rich gay people can have their chamber of commerce, their exclusive spaces and gay tourists can come with money to enjoy this tourist paradise. ”
He commented that “poor gay people felt used, excluded and their opportunities amounted to being waiters, employees of hotels and businesses approved by the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and some may have the opportunity to engage in prostitution with foreigners and offer extravagant sexual favors.”
Instead he proposed fewer laws and more inclusion. “I believe that the Dominican church soon needs to create the Pastoral for Care of People with Same-Sex Attraction, based on Pope Francis’s vision that no one should be marginalized. This would allow for closer accompaniment for these people to properly integrate them into society and the Catholic community.”
“Many people believe that when the Church attacks the LGBT agenda it is attacking gay people. That’s not true. Specifically, my frequent pronouncements have never been anti-gay, but to expose the lies surrounding all this and to local and foreign frauds that take advantage of it,” he stated.
Masalles was responding to US Ambassador James Brewster, probably the most controversial of ambassadors appointed to the Dominican Republic in recent years. Ambassador Brewster is better known in the DR for his gay activism than for other diplomatic activities.
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2016/03/07/410660/que-necesita-realmente-la-comunidad-gay
http://eldia.com.do/gestion-del-embajador-eeuu-en-el-pais-cargada-de-controversias/
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/am/cuentas-claras-EL2951886
