Brody's Notes... Facebook Censors Spanish Queer Page Protesting Papal Visit

By Brody Levesque & Mark Singer (Washington DC) OCT 25 | An organiser of a Barcelona, Spain based queer flashmob, Marylène Carole, told the Spanish news outlet The Reader that a Facebook page the group had set-up to protest Pope Benedict the Sixteenth's November visit to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia was mysteriously deleted.
Carole, in another interview with a journalist from El Periodico published Sunday, said that the group had 1,500 confirmed members and had sent invites to another 12,000 when its group page and profile were deleted. A new page was created yesterday, which so far has not been eliminated, has regained approximately 600 members and re-sent another 1,000 or so invitations which have been confirmed according to Carole.

"When Benedict passes before us, we'll kiss, man with man or woman with woman. It is curious to note how an act so noble as a kiss can still be considered revolutionary in the 21st century," she said. "We'll send a beep indicating the start of the protest and then there will be another signal when two minutes have passed. After the kiss, we will withdraw as if nothing had happened," she said. "This act is intended to be peaceful and the organisers ask that participants do not respond to any provocations or insults."

Pope Benedict has severely criticised the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party,  who dominate the Spanish government as the ruling party, and whom have legalised same-sex marriage in Spain. Last month, the pontiff reiterated the church's opposition to same-sex marriage in a speech in Rome, warning that such marriages leads to confusion of society's values and are contrary to Catholic teachings and doctrine.