US Congressperson Patrick Kennedy says discrimination against gays in marriage is "bigotry." The Rhode Island representative's comments came last week, after Pope John Paul II signed off on a Vatican document that calls on Catholic politicians to fight against secular laws that would allow same-sex marriage and labels GLBT relationships evil.

A member of the country's most legendary Roman Catholic political family, representing the most Catholic state in the nation, Kennedy said he refuses to follow the Vatican's edict, issued last week, imploring Catholic lawmakers to oppose same-sex unions.

"I see the policy of opposing same-sex marriages or unions, whatever you call it, as bigotry or discrimination," Kennedy said yesterday in an interview.

"We are talking about the law here and whether the law is going to treat people equally here. I don't see where the church or anyone else dictates what the policy is going to be with respect to treating people equally," he said.

Kennedy is the most vocal member of the Rhode Island delegation in both his support for same-sex unions and his willingness to defy the Catholic Church on the issue.

Kennedy dismisses the distinction between civil unions and gay marriage as merely semantics. But other members of the delegation say it's a significant difference in the eyes of many Americans, saying marriage should remain exclusively between a man and a woman. ...

Kennedy sent out a news release last week, announcing his position. Other delegation members, while supporting same-sex unions, said the debate in Washington should focus more on high unemployment and the war in Iraq than a divisive issue such as gay marriage. ...

On the issue of gay rights, Kennedy said the church has strayed from its teachings. "The church has its doctrines. I don't agree with this doctrine. I don't agree with many others," he said.

Kennedy continued a short time later: "The very foundation of the church is about love," he said. "This notion of discrimination is so far afield of what Jesus' life was all about."

"It is one thing to disagree with the Vatican's latest statement on marriage, quite another to brand it bigoted. Patrick Kennedy has some explaining to do.

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