A Contrast that Speaks Volumes

Here are a pair of developments worthy of comparison: Moscow's first gay rights parade and Anglicanism's latest santification of homosexuality.

Item one: Dateline Moscow. (N.B. how the Washington Post tries to associate religion with certain unsavory elements):

Riot police broke up an attempt by gays and lesbians to stage Moscow's first gay pride parade. Gay activists who attempted to lay flowers near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin wall and then assemble across from city hall were heckled and assaulted by skinheads, Orthodox Christians and radical nationalists.

This was not merely some mob action: the gay rally was illegal, because most of Moscow wanted it that way.

The city had banned the parade on the grounds that it was anathema to the values of most residents and therefore presented a threat of violence. A city court upheld the ban Friday. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said in a radio interview Friday that a gay parade "may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia." He added: "As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades to be conducted."

Item two: Dateline Ottawa, Canada. There, Anglican Church Bishop Peter Coffin had this to say about blessing same-sex unions:

I cannot see [homosexuality] as a sin...We have swept this under the carpet and made people live in fear and in silence. I may be called a liberal and unorthodox, but I firmly believe that people need to be treated with respect and dignity and that loving someone faithfully and in total commitment until death do them part is a blessing regardless of sexual orientation.

Draw your own conclusions.