World News for Students of English

18-06-2019 07:00

The Vatican released a 31-page paper which explains in detail how Catholic schools, parents and others should talk about ‘gender theory’.

The document says that ‘radical’ forms of gender identity are based on ‘nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the [area] of feelings and wants’. The paper goes on to say that the idea of being transgender or gender neutral is not real.

Some LGBTQ groups were quick to criticise the Vatican, as they see the matter differently. People wrote the document in February 2019 but they released it now in June, which is Pride Month.

Such timing also raised some questions. People chose june to be the LGBT Pride Month to remember the Stonewall rebellion, which took place at the end of June 1969. The rebellion was a demonstration against police attacks on people in a gay bar in New York.

It is important to say, though, that the document also calls for respect for everyone. It says: ’No one should suffer bullying, violence, insults or unjust discrimination based on their specific characteristics.’

Difficult words: bully (do bad things to somebody), violence (being violent – attacking somebody), insult (saying something which makes another person feel very bad).

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