The US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that same-sex married couples in the US are to be granted the same rights under federal law as heterosexual couples – even in states where gay marriage is not permitted or recognised. In a move hailed as a legal landmark by rights campaigners, Holder said all justice department employees – “in every courthouse, in every proceeding” – would be required to give same-sex marriages full and equal recognition under the law. Those rights include the right to refuse to testify against a spouse; the right to visit a spouse in prison; the right to file jointly for bankruptcy; and the right to federal benefits for the surviving spouses of police officers.

Epicureans welcome this belated granting of a basic human right. In their preoccupation with increasing population (and their own adherents) the world religions anethematized homosexuals, who are born thus, not made. Can I say that again? Born, not made! The discrimination against non-heterosexuals, still nastily current in countries like Uganda and Nigeria, is unjust. The Catholics in particular should be ashamed of their outdated and (yet again) un-scientific proscription of homosexuality.

I know someone who thinks that we need many more homosexuals, not less, because of the over-population of the world. Over-population actually presents the greatest threat – barely debated – to continued occupation of the planet by humans. We are wrecking it, and what organised religion should be doing is promoting family planning, not banning it, welcoming same-sex marriage not anathematizing it. As for Uganda and Nigeria – words fail me.