A seminar sponsored by the French bishops’ conference withdrew its invitation to a feminist philosopher after about 1,100 traditionalist Catholics signed a petition denouncing her as a proponent of gender theory, which claims that sexual identity is determined socially rather than biologically, writes Tom Heneghan.
The conference’s Family and Society Council had invited Bordeaux University Professor Fabienne Brugère to address a seminar for diocesan family pastoral workers on a different topic, care for the vulnerable. Gender theory, developed by the US philosopher Judith Butler, a specialist in lesbian and gay studies, has become a bone of contention in France since being introduced into some state school curricula in 2011. French bishops have denounced it as a denial of natural sexual differences used to justify same-sex marriage and to undermine the family.
The petition started by the blog Le Salon Beige appealed to bishops’ conference head Archbishop George Pontier of Marseilles to cancel Brugère’s participation. Several bishops reportedly were lobbied and made this known to Le Havre’s Bishop Jean-Luc Brunin, organiser of the seminar.
Loading ...
