Lieutenant Governor Josh Tenorio broke his silence on being rejected as a godparent candidate by the Catholic Church. Tenorio this morning on The Link said he was chosen to be a confirmation godparent - he is already a nino many times over - over the summer, but after attending a practice for the ceremony, he says a parishioner made a complaint about him taking part in that practice.

Tenorio, our island and nation's first openly-gay lieutenant governor, said he later was told by church officials he would not be allowed to become a nino again, and it wasn't necessarily just because he is openly gay.

"I think it's more because I'm in a relationship. So I think the church is fine if you're gay, but you're not supposed to do anything about it. So you know, pretend it's not happening. The church - they are entitled to discriminate the way they want to based on their belief systems," he commented.

Tenorio said the church has a different set of rules for straight persons in relationships, adding, "For unmarried straight couples who are in a situation to be godparents, they usually will let them do it because within the faith, there's a pathway to get married. The priests use this as an opportunity to minister to them so that they could get married in church. Unfortunately for the gays, that is not the case and it will never be the case, marriage in that context as a religious ceremony. But in the legal government context it is a civil right."

Tenorio added that with the new conservative complexion of the US Supreme Court, he anticipated local legislation may be in the works to reverse the legalization of same-sex marriages, and that he would fight such efforts every step of the way.