UN Attempts to Impose LGBT Orthodoxy on All Religions

By | June 21, 2023

Victor Madrigal-Borloz

NEW YORK, June 23 (C-Fam) Religious freedom ends where LGBT rights begin. This is the conclusion of a new UN report on the right to freedom of religion and belief.

The report calls on governments to threaten and punish religious leaders and organizations that do not comply with LGBT orthodoxy, and, in a novel and unprecedented way, it calls on government to destabilize religions from within by supporting pro-LGBT factions within religious denominations.

The UN independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the nominal author of the report, does not hide his intention to create “a new normative space” where governments impose acceptable LGBT standards for religion.

“The limits established in the very design of Freedom of Religion and Belief – including the fundamental rights and freedoms of LGBT persons – are the key to full compatibility of Freedom of Religion and Belief and all actions that are necessary to combat violence and discrimination against them,” he concludes at the end of the report.

Clergy and other faith-based actors should be threatened to comply with the official LGBT-friendly religious standards or face the consequences, according to the conclusions of the report. Governments should “encourage religious institutions to consider the ways in which representatives will be held responsible in cases in which they promote discrimination against LGBT and other gender diverse persons.”

When religions teach that homosexual conduct is a sin or that sex is an immutable biological reality they run afoul of human rights law.

“There are dark corners where LGBT people are regarded as sinners and second-class citizens who should be scorned and abused,” the report says.

Madrigal-Borloz urges UN member states to use favorable religious leaders and institutions to promote homosexual and transgender ideology. He expressly endorses several dissident religious groups: Catholics for Choice, which promotes abortion, and Muslims for Progressive Values, which promotes homosexual and transgender issues. He also praised the views of non-religious humanists about sex as “an evolved trait, with no intrinsic meaning.”

Madrigal-Borloz argues that individuals who identify as homosexual or transgender have a “right to access spirituality on equal terms with everyone else.” He concludes therefore that unless all religions endorse pro-LGBT ideas, individuals who identify as such will be alienated and excluded, causing them pain, mental health issues, and potentially leading them to suicide, and ultimately violating their human rights.

“For many individuals, their religion is part of the foundation of their sense of self, the source of truth,” he explains.

At the heart of the report is the belief that sexuality and gender identity are fundamental rights on the same plane, if not higher, than freedom of religion.

“All believers, including religion and belief leaders, have a sexual orientation and a gender identity, and all LGBT persons have beliefs,” the report states.

The report makes pronouncements regarding scriptural interpretation and theology.  It disparages interpretations of Judeo-Christian scripture that condemn homosexuality as “dogmatic” and modern “homocolonialist” inventions and asserts that the morality of homosexuality is a “matter of theological debate.”

The report denies that religious health workers and institutions may object to providing abortions or transgender “affirming” treatments and surgeries, including to children. It also denies that providers of services and goods, such as bakers and florists, can deny service to persons and events based on their conscientious objection. It claims that parochial schools may not fire teachers based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Ultimately, Madrigal-Borloz promotes homosexual marriage as a higher right than religious freedom. He even hints at forcing clergy to conduct homosexual marriages at the cost of losing their privilege to conduct legally-recognized marriages.

“A human-rights-based approach directly challenges family conceptions that are exclusionary of LGBT persons,” he explains.

The report’s multi-pronged attack on religious freedom will be presented at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday afternoon.