UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Sam Jones
The Guardian, Monday 25 February 2013
Even Keith O’Brien’s friends and admirers would probably admit that he has a regrettable tendency to deploy the heavy artillery of rhetoric whenever the public debate touches on matters of homosexuality, abortion or secularism.
As befits one of the most outspoken churchmen of the already outspoken Roman Catholic church in Scotland, he has never been slow to condemn what he sees as immorality whenever and wherever he sees it.
His vigorous opposition to same-sex marriage – “a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right” – his comparison of the abortion rate to “two Dunblane massacres a day” and his description of the implications of the human fertilisation and embryology bill as “grotesque” and akin to “Nazi-style experiments” earned him the respect and gratitude of conservative Catholics pleased to see a cardinal taking a stand.
His language and intractability also infuriated liberals, progressive Catholics and equality campaigners. Last year, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall decided to reward his “vitriolic campaign against equality in Scotland” with its bigot of the year award. “If Roman Catholics don’t approve of same-sex marriage,” said its chief executive, “they should make sure they don’t get married to someone of the same sex”.
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