Chișinău, June 26, 2024
Photo: gagauzvedomosti.md
A hierarch of the Moldovan Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has been ordered by a Chișinău court to pay compensation for moral damages for “homophobic” statements he made in 2022.
His Eminence Archbishop Marchel of Bălți and Fălești was ordered on June 11 to pay $1,123.60 (20,000 Moldovan leu) to two members of the LGBT community for “incitement to discrimination based on sexual orientation,” after he referred to LGBT people as “sodomites,” “lost,” and “sinners,” in a statement against the so-called Solidarity March in 2022, reports esp.md.
In his address, the hierarch said that “sodomites want to hold a parade of shame in our municipality,” referring to the city of Bălți. He later called on locals come to the cathedral “to hold a religious procession and to reject, to resist this shameless invasion that wants to march through the center of our city.”
GenderDoc-M, which represents the LGBT community in Moldova, filed a complaint against Abp. Marchel during a meeting of the Equality Council in November 2022. During the meeting, the hierarch reiterated his stance.
Two members of the LGBT community then sued the Archbishop. The decision against him can be appealed within 30 days.
The Moldovan Church and hierarchs have condemned the LGBT agenda many times. In January 2023, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Chișinău and All Moldova issued a statement against attempts to impose gay marriage on Moldovan society.
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