NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      A homosexual will not become an ambassador this year. The U.S. Senate effectively killed the nomination of James C. Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg when the Republican leadership decided not to act on the nomination before adjourning for the year, The New York Times said. Hormel, 65, a San Francisco philanthropist, would have been the first openly gay U.S. ambassador. The action also allows the nominations of Kent M. Wiedemann to be ambassador to Cambodia and Diane E. Watson as ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia to die in the Senate.

      ...Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate majority leader, refused to allow a vote by the full Senate. Earlier this year he described homosexuals as sinners who, like alcoholics and kleptomaniacs, could overcome their lifestyle. Hormel's nomination was opposed by conservative organizations, including the Traditional Values Coalition, which provided senators with copies of sexually explicit material available in a gay-research center named for Hormel at the San Francisco Public Library. President Clinton will consider renominating Hormel next year, news reports said. This information comes from ReligionToday.com.