Catholic Cardinal tells homosexual ambassador to ‘take his pride elsewhere’

By Ben Johnson

Life Site News: SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The most influential religious leader of the Dominican Republic has strongly rejected the U.S. ambassador's decision to promote Gay Pride Month on the island. Santo Domingo’s Catholic cardinal has said a new video celebrating the homosexual lifestyle, which features Ambassador James “Wally” Brewster and his “husband” Bob Satawake, convinced him that Brewster “should take his pride elsewhere.”

"Diplomacy is not for that sort of thing, an absolutely negative propaganda."

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodríguez, who as Archbishop of Santo Domingo is known by Catholics as the “Primate of the Americas” because his see was the first erected in the New World, has said Brewster should focus on ways to facilitate peace, trade, and development instead. “Diplomacy is not for that sort of thing, an absolutely negative propaganda” against traditional morality, he told reporters Thursday after a Corpus Christi procession, according to Dominican Today.

“I am totally against that, everybody knows it,” the cardinal said. “My position is not new, not because this man with this kind of attitude has now arrived.”

The Washington Free Beacon has cited Brewster, one of eight openly homosexual ambassadors appointed by President Barack Obama, as one of the five worst examples of political favoritism among Obama's diplomatic appointees. He is a long-serving board member of the homosexual pressure group the Human Rights Campaign, is a national LGBT co-chair for the Democratic National Committee, and a major donor to Barack Obama.

Brewster and Satawake raised $1,121,027 for the Democratic National Committee in 2011-12. 

Vice President Joe Biden quoted Harvey Milk during the ceremonial swearing in of Brewster as ambassador last November 22. Brewster and Satawake were “married” just a few hours later at Washington's luxurious Hay-Adams Hotel.

But the tropical island gave this honeymooning couple an uncharacteristically chilly reception.

Even before his arrival, Dominican religious leaders led a day of protests dubbed “Black Monday” last July 15 against Brewster's appointment.

At the time, two-thirds of respondents to a poll conducted by Dominican Today said Brewster’s reception would not be positive. Another three percent said, “It will depend on his discretion.”

U.S. embassy spokesman Daniel Foote tried to tap down the criticism, saying, “Brewster arrives as an ambassador. He's not coming here as an activist for the gay community.” Brewster and Satawake soon posted a video discussing their relationship and promoting the normalization of homosexuality.

After Brewster’s appointment last year, Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Cedaño said, “In reality, it’s a lack of respect, of consideration, that they should send us a person of that type as ambassador” to the island nation, which borders Haiti. “I have the hope that he won’t arrive because I know that if he arrives he’s going to suffer and will have to leave.”

Satawake seemed to reference this statement in the new video, released this month. “People cautioned us prior to arriving that the Dominican Republic would not welcome us and might even make our lives uncomfortable. With the exception of a few people who promote prejudice and hate, our experience has been just the opposite,” he said.

Brewster then quoted the Pope. “When Pope Francis addressed the issue of gay people in July of 2013, his response was, 'Who am I to judge?'”

President Obama's decision to make LGBT political advocacy a cornerstone of his foreign policy has riled leaders across the world, from the Americas to Africa to the heart of Europe.

In 2012, U.S. Ambassador Norman Eisen took part in Prague Pride 2012, eliciting backlash from 120 pro-family leaders around the world.  The previous year, the U.S. ambassador to neighboring Slovakia signed an endorsement of that nation's gay pride parade in Bratislava.

Leaders in Nigeria's House of Representatives said they would sooner surrender U.S. aid than allow gay “marriage.”

The Deputy President of Kenya, William Ruto, rebuffed President Barack Obama's promotion of homosexuality in foreign relations during his $100 million African tour last July. “Those who believe in other things, that is their business,” Ruto said at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Maili Kumi. “We believe in God.”