CHURCH leaders take note: the days when you could spout anti-gay rhetoric are fast disappearing.

The latest example of a Catholic leader coming under fire for hate speech comes from Mexico, where human rights activist Jeús Paúl Ibarra Collazo, President of Red de Diversificadores Sociales (Social Diversifying Network) has lodged an official complaint over remarks made by Archbishop Jesús Carlos Cabrero Romero after the state of San Luis Potosí in central Mexico legalised same-sex marriage on May 16.

In his complaint to the federal Secretariat for Domestic Affairs and its Office for Religious Affairs, Collazo, is demanding that Archbishop Cabrero publicly apologise and retract his statements or face a reprimand or even monetary sanctions.

After the state legalised gay marriage, Romero immediately went on the offensive, saying in a statement that:

The fact that a law has been passed by congress does not imply a priori that said law is good or morally right. Ever since the most ancient times, marriage has been understood as being between two different but complementary parties: a man and woman.

Never before, until recent years, and we don’t understand why, has this ancient institution been under judicial attack …

Claiming that the law sought to destroy traditional marriage, Romero, above, added:

At this point in history in San Luis Potosí we can respect, but we cannot approve something that according to our consciences as a church community we cannot accept.

La Razón newspaper quoted Collazo as saying:

The archbishop continues with his homophobic remarks, and these cases have been seen elsewhere: that when the Church places itself in opposition [to the redefinition of marriage], there will be seen a string of actions: first threats that then become violence, and we don’t want to reach those extremes.

According to a site called Rise Up, Red de Diversificadores Sociales is a network dedicated to defending the rights of the LGBT community.

Collazo is:

Deeply committed to fighting for equality for every person in his community. He is a writer for one of the most important digital media news sites in his locality, through which he has been able to put LGBT topics on the public agenda.

His life goal is to get everyone to see important issues through a gender, human rights, and sexual diversity lens, both in the public and the private spheres.  Je has a master’s degree in Human Rights.

Collazo told the Pulso news site that church leaders:

Sometimes forget that they are also subject to the law and should observe it, and contribute to an environment of healthy coexistence and respect to the rights of everyone.