Unkosher Jesus- Red Meat Commentary With a Side of Cheese: Homophobic

Monday, December 22, 2008

Pope Makes Totally Gay Analogy Between Gays, Trees

Oh. My. GOD! Pope Benedict XVI, did you really say this today? With a straight (Ha ha, get it? Straight!) face??

The Church should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed. The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less.

Um, uh, where to start, where to start?... Is the pope implying that homosexuals are being harvested so that there is more and more land available to grow soy beans which are then processed and fed to the birds that eventually become McDonald's Chicken McNuggets? Or that homosexuals, like lush rain forest fauna, help regulate CO2 emissions and serve as a buffer against global warming?

Or, has the pope actually, simply lost his mind? I pose this question in light of his comments today, as well as in the broader context of Catholic Church priorities that have been brought to the fore under his papacy, including...

...to name a few.

The pope went on to say that we need to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. Apparently, the Church views the intended roles of man and woman is to be available to have sex with each other and make little Catholic babies, the little ones without whom there is no other conceivable (ha ha, get it? Conceivable!) reason to have sex, The End.

Oh, Lord, this is just embarrassing. Honestly, the science exists demonstrating that whatever the cause of any person's homosexual orientation may be, it is a natural state of being and is not an elective choice. Jesus himself says nothing- NOTHING- about the subject of homosexuality anywhere in any of the four canonical gospels. Maybe the pope and his Church need to stop and listen more carefully to what Nature is saying about the intended roles of man and woman. If he clears his mind of all of his preconceived notions about what homosexuality is, he might hear Nature calling all people to live in peace, to support equality and justice, and to make room for the wide range of human possibilities that Nature Herself provides for. As such, he might also hear the voices of homosexual members of his own Church, voices that are as filled with the pain caused by the Church's position on homosexuality as with the hope for inclusion as full members of the Church just as they are, just as God made them. Stop this preoccupation with sex and sexual orientation, put an end to the need for special ministries for homosexual Church members, and minister to them as people who have the same spiritual needs as all other people and allow them to enjoy equal standing as Church members among their straight brothers and sisters.

Gay Catholic Youth Forum, Clip 1 of 10 (World Youth Day 2008, Sydney, Australia)

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

Is The Pope a Homophobe?, by Damian Thompson (Spectator.co.uk, October 1, 2005)

What the bible says and means about homosexuality (ReligiousTolerance.org, December 13, 2007)

Dignity USA

Gay Catholic Forum

Gay Catholics Implore Pope to Listen and Love, by Jonathan Rubin, Religion News Service (The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, April 10, 2008)

Human Rights Campaign

Monday, October 15, 2007

Homophobic Hall of Hypocrisy

It's a big world, and I'm the first to acknowledge that everyone is entitled to his or her own personal opinion on any topic. The one thing I ask is that a person back up his or her opinions with the appropriate corresponding behavior. For example, if you are a high ranking Vatican Monsignor who is in full support of the Catholic Church's teaching that homosexuality is inherently disordered, please don't let yourself get caught on camera hitting on a young gay man. Or, if you are a member of Congress with a long history of publicly opposing any bill offering any legal protections for members of the BGLT community, please do not tap dance your way into a police sex sting in the men's room of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

If you are detecting a theme here, then you've got more on the ball than certain hypocrites serving as public figures. I'm specifically referring to the growing number of prominent conservatives, religious leaders and public servants, who rant and rail against homosexuality in order to agitate voters and members of their congregation. Recreationally speaking, though, it seems as though they have more than a passing interest in this "sin" that they constantly flog in public. As the line from one of my favorite songs goes, "My father was a deacon who would often wake up reekin' of the sins he had condemned the day before."

Unkosher Jesus Homophobic Hall of Hypocrisy: Fall Edition, 2007

SENATOR LARRY CRAIG (R-IDAHO):

What can you say about a public official who has a
100% Homophobic Voting Record while leading a double-life as an airport bathroom hustler. In the past ten years, Sen. Craig has voted on bills affecting the lives of gay Americans as follows:

1996: Voted YES on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibiting same-sex marriage.

2000: Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation.

2002: Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes.

2006: Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage.

2006: Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage.

His wide stance notwithstanding, he has taken a very narrow stance when it comes to the question of gay rights. Then, after stating that he would resign his Senate seat in the wake of the scandal, Craig switched positions again, vowing remain in the Senate and fight to clear his name. Oh, really? Maybe I'll let Amy Poehler and Seth Myers have the last word on that one...

MONSIGNOR TOMMASO STENICO (RC-VATICAN)

SITUATION: Responded to an Internet solicitation for a gay sex encounter that turned out to be a sting operation to out gay clergy.
BEST LINE: Stenico's claim that he engaged gay men in sexual banter "to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people-- among them some priests -- is doing so much harm to the Church."

This stuff is funny only in the sense that it is somehow satisfying to see a hypocrite suffer public humiliation for his own actions. It is not funny, though, because, in the case of the careers of these two men, the real victims of their hypocrisy are the gay men and women whose lives have been so negatively impacted by the actions of these men and their like-minded colleagues. Vilifying gay people for any reason, political, religious or otherwise, is sinful. Vilifying gay people from a position of power while you yourself are gay- that is just sad and loathsome.

The root of the word humiliation is humiliare, or "to humble". Sometimes the good that can come from painfully humiliating public scandals such as these is that the humiliated party comes away from his experience a little wiser, a little more humble. Looks like the value of these "teachable moments" have been wasted on Senator Craig and Monsignor Stenico. As Jesus Himself said, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet." I guess some piggies never learn.

- Doug L.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE (UPDATED, November 10, 2007):

The Windy, Windy Night, by Sycamore Smith