Alejandro Toledo of the Peru Possible
Party has been knocked out of Peru's presidential race.
Toledo, who backed the legalization of
gay marriage, came in fourth place in Sunday's first round vote for
president. The two top vote-getters, leftist ex-army officer Ollanta
Humala and right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the jailed
ex-president, advanced to the second round.
Toledo outraged the Roman Catholic
Church when he said that gay marriage was part of his party's
political agenda. Toledo, however, advocated for civil unions,
saying marriage remained out of reach.
While not directly mentioning any
candidate by name, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima urged
Catholics to reject gay marriage.
“Marriage is a life-long union
between one man and one woman, despite attempts by some to propose
other things,” he said during a Mass commemorating the anniversary
of the founding of Lima.
More radical was Archbishop Luis
Bambaren who told reporters that politicians “are just looking for
votes when they propose useless things like gay marriage.”
“I do not know why we talk about
gays. Let's speak in Creole or Castilian: They're fags. That's how
you say it, right?” he added.