National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) has suspended the Legion of Mary student society following their association with homophobic posters which were distributed around the college recently.
NUIG Students’ Union President, Sean Kearns, said the group were associated with the “distribution of A4-sized posters which called on people with same-sex attractions to ‘develop an interior life of chastity’ and ‘move beyond the confines of the homosexual label to a more complete identity in Christ’.”
The University received over 70 formal complaints as a result of the posters, all of which have since been removed. The homophobic campaign was run by the Courage Community group. However, according to the posters, it was in association with the Legion of Mary society.
Kearns said: “the Courage Community group’s posters included a quote: ‘I’m a child of God, don’t call me gay’ and credited a ‘Purity Matters’ initiative in conjunction with the NUIG Legion of Mary society. [Because of this] NUIG suspended the Legion of Mary society this week ‘with immediate effect’.”
The Legion of Mary society was provisionally set up in September this year. With less than 100 members, only a small number of students were involved in this incident.
The Legion of Mary headquarters in Dublin has denied any involvement in the situation, saying that it “knew nothing” about the poster campaign and had “no contact” with the society regarding the issue.
NUIG released a statement saying: “NUI Galway is committed to protecting the liberty and equality of all students and does not condone such behaviour.”
The society has apologised for any upset caused by the poster and has said that it was not their intention to offend anyone.
Kearns added: “there will not be any further repercussions at this time.”
Suzanne Cooper
Image Credit: Flickr Via Creative Commons
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