BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — While the appointment of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope fills many in Argentina with pride, members of the gay pride community are somewhat aghast.
Nearly three years before Argentina became known as home to the first Latin American pope, it made history as the first country in the region to approve gay marriage — an action that then-Cardinal Bergoglio actively opposed.
Esteban Paulon is president of the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals. He says Bergoglio waged a “war of God” against a gay-marriage proposal headed for Congress.
But Paulon also acknowledges that Bergoglio first tried to reach a compromise.
Paulon and Pope Francis’ biographer, Sergio Rubin, note that Bergoglio urged his bishops to accept gay civil unions as a compromise to gay marriage. They rejected the idea.
