Spanish Priest Makes Extreme Proposal to Prove He Isn't Gay
A Spanish priest, separated from his Catholic parish after questionable pictures surfaced of him, is offering to go to extreme lengths to prove he is not a homosexual in order to salvage his position within the church.
Andreas Garcia Torres, 46, was a priest in a city fifteen miles south of Madrid called Fuenlabrada. In an extravagant attempt to prove that he is not gay, Torres, according to the Huffington Post, has said, “I have told them (the diocese) to measure my anus to see if it is dilated.”
The photo in question is of Torres with a 28-year-old Cuban seminary student. Both men are seen shirtless with Torres’ arm around the student.
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Torres has an explanation for the picture: “I have a normal friendship with this boy. There is nothing. This was the only day I’ve been with him. And we took a photo of ourselves with no shirts, and that is what started all this.”
The diocese has gone to extreme lengths in its investigations and has demanded that Torres be tested for HIV and that he undergo psychiatric treatment.
Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain on July 3, 2005; making it the third country in the world to do so. The Catholic Church was adamantly opposed to the ratification of this law, and at that time demonstrations for and against same-sex marriage drew thousands of Spaniards from all over the country.
According to andalucia.com it is estimated that up to 10 percent of Spanish people are in same-sex relationships, which if true would equate to 4 million gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered people in Spain.
The Spanish Catholic Church remains strongly resistant to the influence of homosexuality in society, and Torres feels that he is being treated unfairly.
“What Rome decides, then that is what I’ll accept,” Torres said of his planned appeal to authorities in Rome. Torres has received 3,000 signatures in a petition to support him, according to Spain’s El Pais.
