Dominican Republic’s
Catholic Church has rejected Washington’s nomination of a gay rights
activist as its ambassador to the Latin American country.
On Thursday, Catholic Church opposed the decision by US President Barack Obama to designate James "Wally" Brewster as Washington’s envoy to the Dominican Republic.
Vicar Pablo Cedano, the archbishop of the capital Santo Domingo, criticized the nomination as “a lack of respect, of consideration, that they [the Americans] send us that kind of person as ambassador.”
“If he arrives, he’ll suffer and will be forced to leave,” Cedano warned.
Rev. Cristobal Cardozo, who is the leader of the Dominican Evangelical Fraternity, described the nomination as “an insult to good Dominican customs.”
Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez showed similar sentiments, saying, “You can expect anything from the US.”
Obama has earlier nominated another gay James Costos as the US ambassador to Spain.
Costos raised 3.5 million dollars for Obama's reelection campaign in the 2012 cycle.
On May 9, 2012, Obama became the first sitting US president to publicly declare support for the legalization of same-sex marriage.