Russian Church defrocks priest who married gays, Lebanese gay caught in Egypt

MOSCOW - Reuters

CAIRO - Alternative staff

The Russian Orthodox Church said earlier in October it had defrocked the priest who conducted Russia's first reported gay wedding amid fierce worldwide debate over the Christian church's attitude to homosexuality.

Denis Gogolev and Mikhail Morozov have said they paid Father Vladimir Enert 15,000 roubles ($490) to marry them last month in church -- an act the Church branded blasphemous.

"We defrocked him, prohibited him from serving and condemned the act itself, which we saw as pure blasphemy," said Father Igor Pchelintsev, spokesman for the diocese of Nizhny Novgorod, a historic city on the Volga river where the wedding took place.

He said the Holy Synod had confirmed the stand taken by the diocese in September.

"We have decided to expel Father Vladimir Enert from sacred office after he voluntarily carried out this blasphemous act," the Church said on its Web site www.orthodox.org.ru.

The Russian controversy comes as the 70-million strong Anglican Church faces one of the biggest crises in its history over the appointment of gay bishops. It is also torn over its attitude towards same-sex unions.

The Russian Orthodox Church not only bans same-sex marriages and homosexual priests, it advocates barring gays and lesbians from teaching jobs or senior positions in the army and prisons.

Debate over same-sex weddings is rare in Russia, which remains deeply homophobic although homosexual relations between men -- a crime in Soviet times -- were legalised in 1993.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese national was arrested in Egypt also in early October on charges of practicing “indecent sexual acts and offending religion,” according to Cairo’s police report.

The arrest prompted human and gay rights organizations to strongly condemn the state policy on homosexuality.

Homophobic Egypt has a negative record with homosexuals. Over the past few years, courts tried dozens of male citizens on charges of offending religion and tradition.

“It’s not the way to treat homosexuality,” according to Egyptian lawyer Ahmad Seif. “Parliament should meet and draft some new legislation that regulates gay and lesbian relations, that is parliamentarians should draw lines between what is public and what is private,” the lawyer told Alternative.

“Says who tradition was opposed to homosexuality. If they want to censor such relationships based on tradition, they better start by censoring pre and post-Islam Arabic poetry that is full with adulterous and homosexual images,” according to Seif.

On a final note, Seif said that progressive groups should line up against “repressive” groups that give themselves the right to interfere in all aspects of life including the individual’s private life.