At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior is just as important as saving the rain forest from destruction. The Pope warned that gender theory blurred the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the “self-destruction” of the human race.

Pope Benedict XVI: “We need something like human ecology, meant in the right way. The Church speaks of human nature as 'man' or 'woman' and asks that this order is respected. This is not out-of-date metaphysics. It comes from the faith in the Creator and from listening to the language of creation, despising which would mean self-destruction for humans and therefore a destruction of the work itself of God.”

Lesbian and gay Christians have denounced Pope Benedict’s comments. The Rev. Sharon Ferguson of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement described the Pope’s remarks as “totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form.” Ferguson said, “It is comments like that that justify homophobic bullying that goes on in schools, and it is comments like that that justify gay bashing.”