NY Dispatch: This week Pope Francis made international headlines, not for the red carpet rollout of his documentary, Francesco, which celebrates the tradition-breaking pope, but for a scene in the film. In an interview that the Vatican had previously suppressed the pope endorsed same-sex civil unions. He said, “Homosexuals have a right to be part of the family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. What we have to create is a civil union low. That way they are legally covered.”
LGBTQ+ Catholics celebrated the news. Our community has long been unwelcome in the pews. LGBTQ+ people are attacked, arrested, beaten, and executed, their attackers believing their actions are vindicated by their religion. LGBTQ+ teens, facing intolerance as they discover their sexuality or gender, are more likely to attempt suicide. To have one of the world’s largest religions recognize same-sex unions could establish a more embracing doctrine, not just for Catholics, but for society as a whole. Countless lives could be saved and our community might be able to live, and worship, without as much fear. This could be a major step toward recognizing that homosexuality is on the spectrum of human sexuality and validate our relationships.
Francis has continued to buck tradition to bring the church into the modern era, but he faces steep opposition not just from conservatives parishioners, but from those who have long controlled the order. The organization has had one scandal after another brought out into the open over the last two decades. Many have critiqued its opaque inner workings that permitted and covered up these atrocities. This latest division between the conservatives and their leader may continue to fracture the religion, which has been hemorrhaging members for decades.
What has not been questioned is why the church, which is founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, has made its intolerance of homosexuality central to their agenda. Jesus, a radical North-African Jew, embraced everyone and did not stand in judgement. There is no documentation on his views of homosexuality, so their active discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community does not square with their doctrine; it stands in opposition to the teachings of their savior. Their stance on homosexuality is also hypocritical considering that they have had more than a century of systemic child abuse. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
We must ask how the church can continue to justify intolerance of LGBTQ+ people and why they feel the need to teach that homosexuality is morally wrong. Why should they fight so hard to retain this prejudice at their core? At what cost? At the cost of alienating not just our community, but our parents, siblings, and children. Hatred should never be taught in church.
Today I am grateful for The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren. The 1974 novel centers on Billy Harlan, a gay runner with Olympic aspirations, and his romantic relationship with his coach, Harlan Brown. The novel was the first work of gay fiction to appear on the New York Times Best Seller List and has sold over ten million copies. It was one of the first times I saw a gay commitment ceremony; the men, surrounded by friends, promise themselves to each other in a simple but poetic outdoor ceremony. I had the opportunity to meet the author at a Saints & Sinners literary festival, where she was treated like a celebrity. A question was raised, why would a lesbian write a romance between two men? She had originally intended for the central characters to be women, but didn’t think anyone would believe a woman competing in track in the Olympics. She was a runner and one of the first women to compete in the Boston Marathon just a few years before the publication. Warren changed the genders, showing us that love is love.
The Green Economist 