Kindness needed

The recent pronouncements of the senior members of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland on the health and life expectancy of gay men may be considered a reflection, as required by the teaching of the current Pope, of their “respect, compassion and sensitivity” for those who have a “tendency” to homosexuality, even though the same Pope has declared that such a tendency is “toward an intrinsic moral evil” and that merely such an “inclination is an objective 
disorder”.

On the other hand, others will assume the recent utterances lack any evidence of compassion and sensitivity, but are opportunistic lobbying and interference in the political process and driven by the arguments about same-sex marriage.

What is without doubt is the fact that the Roman Catholic clergy and their public relations staff are not likely to be an 
accurate source of up-to-date, peer-reviewed public health data.

Life expectancy research and mortality statistics cannot be cherry picked.

They are complex and require experience, rigorous scientific honesty and an understanding of the pitfalls and complexities of such studies and data.

There is no place in this 
for prejudice or preconceived ideology.

Nor can a single example anecdote based on misinformation or guesswork be used to prove any hypothesis, no matter how well it fits what an individual wants to prove.

Perhaps we need to see a return to “respect, compassion and sensitivity” by some who have the privilege of speaking out and being heard and sometimes being listened to, and less dabbling in a science they know nothing of.

(Dr) Alan Rodger

Clairmont Gardens

Glasgow

As he continues to describe “gay sex” as very, very hazardous one can only but imagine what literature Peter Kearney, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Scotland, has on his bedside table.

But to suggest that there is a “vast” amount of evidence to 
support his claim that it “greatly reduces [the] life span” of it 
participants is just laughable.

Mr Kearney and the Church authorities really must now 
publish a full list of all the academic sources they have in support of this claim – and while they do so, perhaps they may wish to review the many published papers from around the world which consistently show that two people, happily married, tend, to live long and richly 
fulfilled lives.

One has to wonder then why they do not appear to support such a right for LGBT people.

Peter Warren

Western Harbour Midway

Edinburgh