LGBTI activist Riccardo Simonetti, who is a special ambassador for the cause in the European Parliament, snapped a photo for a German magazine in which he appeared dressed as the transgender Virgin Mary.
employment Cover photo for the December issue of Siegessäule (We didn’t put the photo in this article to not make room for this kind of disrespect for religion), bearded Simonetti wears a blue hijab and white jacket holding a baby representing infant Jesus. Another picture shows a version of the Holy Family with a gay couple, where Simonetti, still dressed as the Virgin, appears to be embraced by another man.
The activist posted the photos on his social media sites on Wednesday. The posts’ caption read: “If we ignore the fact that Jesus wasn’t white, we can believe the Virgin Mary had a beard, why not?”
The disrespectful training of Catholicism by a European Parliament official sparked criticism on social media and requests for Simonetti’s resignation.
The head of the Spanish right-wing “Vox” party delegation in the European Parliament, Jorge Buxadet, demanded the “immediate dismissal” of the activist, after he “offended millions of Catholics in Europe.”
The Spanish party criticized the fact that a “new insult to Christianity by European institutions” occurred shortly after Cancel the ‘global language’ guide which recommended replacing the greeting “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” as a way of not offending non-Christians.
Simonetti, a German citizen, became a special envoy for LGBT issues in the European Union Parliament in 2021, according to his website.
A number of Christians and political commentators responded negatively to the images on social media.
“Awesome. Very transgressive. Very brave. Now do this to Muhammad. I challenge you.” he wrote Pascal Emmanuel Joubry, Center for Ethics and Public Policy (USA), on Twitter.
“Otherwise, how does a remarkably tolerant and respectful rainbow community celebrate the coming if not by provoking senseless blasphemy?” question Conservative Hungarian columnist Petr Hiltay defended Simonetti’s expulsion.
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