Accidental hero

13 November 2004

Rocco Buttiglione talks to Daniel Hannan about homosexuality, homophobia and ‘the morbid totalitarianism of the Left’

Moving from the sacred to the profane, then, would he ban the rap singers whose lyrics are said to stoke violence against homosexuals? ‘Any invitation to violence should be prosecuted. We need a society in which we can all respect each other. I use that word precisely. I don’t mean that we all agree with each other — no such society can exist — but that we value one another as human beings and citizens.’

Some of my angrier email correspondents are perhaps by now reconsidering their support for the man. In an attempt to draw him on to more contentious ground, I asked him how he would have voted in the US election. ‘For Bush, I suppose. Like most churchgoers.’

But doesn’t this sit uneasily with his insistence that there is a distinction between public and private spheres? After all, his stated position is surely closer to that of John Kerry, a fellow Catholic who did not want to impose his own ethical code on individual states. Or, to put it the other way round, if it is wrong for Brussels to lay down the law on gay rights, is it not equally wrong for Bush to propose a federal ban on same-sex unions rather than leave the question to individual states?

‘That is a question for an American constitutional lawyer. I draw a distinction between Caesar’s realm and God’s, not between federal and state jurisdictions. But, by the standards on which we are now evidently operating, neither Bush nor Kerry would be acceptable as a European Commissioner.’

Talking of rendering unto Caesar, would he object to Catholic bishops telling people to vote ‘yes’ to the constitution? ‘Even a bishop, even the Pope, is entitled to free speech as a citizen. But of course they should not say these things as doctrine.’

Once the wretched constitution comes into force, we shall all enjoy rather less free speech — even the Pope. The ludicrously named ‘anti-discrimination’ provisions actually lay down a great deal of legal, indeed compulsory, discrimination. L’affaire Buttiglione is a mere canapé: just wait until Euro-judges start to decide, for example, which Eurosceptic opinions qualify as ‘xenophobia’. Indeed, the strongest argument for rejecting Buttiglione is that, despite everything, he still backs the constitution. He, of all people, should know where it will lead.