By Laura Sessions Stepp WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON - The Vatican has declared its support for discrimination against gay people in such areas as public housing, family health benefits and the hiring of teachers, coaches and military personnel. In a statement sent last month to US Catho- lic bishops, the Vatican described homosexuality as "an objective disorder" and compared it to mental illness. It said government should deny certain privileges to gay people to promote the traditional family and protect society. "There are areas in which it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into ac- count," it said, "for example, in the consignment of children to adoption or foster care, in employ- ment of teachers or coaches, and in military re- cruitment." The statement, designed to counter gay- rights initiatives such as domestic partners laws, said Catholic authorities should not confine their views to Catholic issues or institutions. "The church has the responsibility to promote the public morality of the entire civil society on the basis of fundamental moral values," it said. Catholic officials said the document was com- piled from several earlier papers by the Vati- can's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was leaked to the media this week by New Ways Ministry, a national organization that works with gay Catholics. New Ways leaders criticized the Vatican's arguments as "based on several crucial misconceptions, unfounded as- sumptions and unproven claims." John Gallagher, theological consultant to New Ways, called the pronouncement "unadul- terated homophobia." The Vatican is dredging up "all the hard-core myths about gays and les- bians, playing to everyone's fears," he said. The Vatican's pronouncement comes at a time of stepped-up advocacy for gay rights na- tionwide. It says that "sexual orientation does not constitute a quality comparable to race, eth- nic background, etc., in respect to nondiscrimin- ation." The statement urges church authorities to lobby against legislation that might encourage homosexual behavior because such behavior de- bases traditional family life. It says Catholic au- thorities should consider proposed measures and ask, "How would they affect adoption or fos- ter care? Would they protect homosexual acts, public or private? Do they confer equivalent family status on homosexual unions ... in re- spect to public housing or by entitling the homo- sexual partner to the privileges of employment which might include 'family' participation in the health benefits given to employees?" -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer