Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez of the Dominican Republic made anti-gay slurs in a news interview regarding the nominee of openly-gay James “Wally” Brewster as the U.S ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
Cardinal Rodriguez is also the Archbishop of Santo Domingo, the largest city in the country. According to TheHuffingtonPost, Rodriguez referred to gay people as ‘faggots’ when asked by reporters what he thought of the new U.S. nominee.
Rodriguez is not the only Latin American who disagrees with the possible new ambassador. Catholic leaders and evangelical groups even wrote a letter to Dominican President Danilo Medina asking that he refuse to accept Brewster as their ambassador if he is chosen. According to BuzzFeed, a Dominican Republic Monsenor, Pablo Cedano, threatened Brewster to reporters.
“I hope he does not arrive in the country because I know if he comes he is going to suffer and will have to leave,” Cedano said.
Brewster, a senior managing partner at a Chicago consulting firm, was recently nominated by President Obama along with five other gay men. As reported by BuzzFeed, Daniel Foote, a spokesman for the embassy, supports Brewster with a statement he made to reporters on Friday.
“Brewster arrives as an ambassador, he’s not coming here as an activist for the gay community.”