Dominican Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez’ ongoing homophobic attacks against gay American ambassador James “Wally” Brewster continued on Tuesday when he told reporters “This man needs to go back to his embassy. He should stick to housework, since he is a man’s wife.”
López has a history of using antigay rhetoric to denigrate the ambassador. In 2013, he referred to Brewster as “a faggot” and claimed the United States appointed Brewster as a way of promoting LGBT rights in the predominately Catholic country.
Brewster, who married his husband, Bob Satawake, on the same day he was sworn in as ambassador, shrugged off López’ latest attacks. The two say living their lives openly as a loving gay couple is their best defense to López’ continual homophobic slurs.
“One of the key things that I want to continue to focus on as Bob and I have is to show that we’re a loving couple and we are gay,” Brewster told the Washington Blade in June. “We are out there talking about relationships, talking about our faith and really representing the American people in a way that I think continues to promote our values.”
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Deivis Ventura, a candidate for the Santo Domingo Municipal Council, took a sharper tone to the latest insult, telling the Blade, “He uses rhetorical expressions to demonstrate his opposition to the U.S. ambassador’s pronouncements. [His] insulting words show his lack of understanding of his role as a pastor in the Catholic church.”
