PUERTO RICO: Episcopal Bishop Opposes Legislation Establishing Heterosexual Marriage
Alvarez Accuses Opposition Christian Leaders of "Fundamentalism"
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
1/14/2008
The Episcopal Bishop of Puerto Rico, David A. Alvarez, has started a campaign on the island opposing Joint Resolution 99, approved by the Senate and being considered by the House of the Puerto Rican legislature, establishing marriage as solely between one man and one woman.
A referendum will be held later this year, on Election Day, allowing the people to vote on a constitutional amendment establishing marriage as a heterosexual union between a man and a woman only. The bill was already approved in the Senate, by a two thirds majority, and has strong support in the House.
A huge Evangelical sector also backs the bill, according to Dr. Dennis Paris an Anglican priest, Psychologist and Professor at the University of Puerto Rico.
"Alvarez believes the Civil Cod, and not the churches, should decide the social order and he has branded evangelicals and other groups who oppose his position as fundamentalists", Paris told VirtueOnline.
An article in El Nuevo Dia, the largest Spanish language newspaper in Puerto Rico, reports that Alvarez wrote to the president of the joint commission dealing with the project in the House, opposing the amendment saying it would discriminate against the rights of certain groups. Alvarez also stated that the Episcopal Church was in favor of including civil unions between homosexual couples in the proposed Civil Code that has not been approved.
Opposition to the draft of a new Civil Code, that would include same sex unions, has been so strong on the island that the Senate has decided against approving it for now, Dennis told VirtueOnline.
Bishop Alvarez was the only bishop in ECUSA's Province IX who voted in favor of V. Gene Robinson's consecration and confirmation as the first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church.
