Isn't heterosexual abstinence the same as homosexual abstinence?

Then, what's up with this:

Vatican Speaks Against Gay Seminarians

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.

...

Critics of the policy warned that, if enforced, it will likely result in seminarians lying about their orientation and will decrease the already dwindling number of priests in the United States. Estimates of the percentage of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a research review by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, an author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."

...

What in the world is the difference between abstaining from gay sex or abstaining from straight sex? And, why can't the Catholic church simply form a policy against pedophilia instead of mixing homophobia where it doesn't belong? Or at least where it isn't helpful?

At least all churches are not so narrow-minded:

Methodist Church apologizes for anti-gay rulings

The largest Methodist church in Minnesota held a service of protest last Sunday, nearly doubling the normal attendance to over a thousand worshipers. The Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis used the occasion to make a statement in opposition to two rulings last month by the denomination's highest court, the Judicial Council.

...the [council] defrocked lesbian minister Irene Elizabeth Stroud, a Philadelphia cleric who was open about her life partnership with another woman. ...That decision was overturned on a technicality by an appellate court before the high tribunal gave her the final boot. Stroud will continue as a lay pastor.

...the council admonished two liberal regional bodies on the West Coast, both of which came out with pro-gay resolutions during the last year. The council ruled that church law trumped those regional policies.

...the council reinstated minister Edward Johnson of South Hill United Methodist in South Hill, Virginia. Johnson was suspended for a year without pay by his bishop after he refused to allow a gay parishioner to become an official member of the church.

Technorati tag(s): GLBT, liberal politics