The Catholic Church Knows No Depths in Fighting Against LGBT Rights

categories: Gay Marriage, Gay Rights and Religion, HIV/AIDS, Marriage Equality, Religion and LGBT Rights

Published September 02, 2009 @ 04:29PM PT

Archbishop Donald Wuerl

Seriously, if it wasn't for their efforts to advocate discrimination against gays and lesbians, I'm not sure what the Catholic Church would be doing nowadays.

We've got efforts by the Catholic Church in Maine to spend boatloads of money taking away civil rights from gays and lesbians, despite the fact that the Church is closing parishes. We've got Catholic bishops in New Jersey saying that gay people are a threat to the public good. And now we've got the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Donald Wuerl, circulating a letter to 300 local priests telling them that LGBT people and same-sex marriage pose a danger to children and families.

Archbishop Wuerl wants D.C. to put the question of same-sex marriage on a ballot, so that voters can decide whether gays and lesbians ought to have equal rights. There's some of that good-ole religious compassion for ya'. According to Wuerl, only straight people getting hitched can provide the type of loving relationships that keep families and children stable.

To that, here's a big cry of bullshit. Why? Because as Massachusetts has shown in their state, gay marriage has simply no detrimental impact on marriage or the family. In fact, five years after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, the state has some of the lowest divorce rates. And by low, we mean as low as they were 80 freakin' years ago.

You'd think the Church would stop for a moment and recognize that. Or you'd think the Church would look up from it's navel and see that in Washington, D.C., one out of three children live in poverty; the District has some of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the country; or that high school graduation rates in some areas of Washington stagger around the 55-60 percent mark. Surely those issues have to be more important that whether gays and lesbians have the right to marry, right?

Not if your faith runs as hollow as Archbishop Wuerl's.

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Comments (13)

The Catholic Church, to leave their path of intolerance, must push forward tolerance, including LGBT rights. As listed in the blog, Washington, D.C. doesn't have a high graduation for high school. It's a shame that the Catholic Church is so for oppression, that they've shut down churches in Maine. There are progressive Catholics, but the overall Catholic Church is an organization of intolerance. All people must know that the Catholic Church is not the same as it was decades ago.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 09/02/2009 @ 06:04PM PT
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I disagree mr. bonilla...

I dont think they ever changed...At all.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/02/2009 @ 07:30PM PT
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The catholic church will wind up going the way of the dinosaurs if they keep their shit up...

I can hardly wait...

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/02/2009 @ 07:29PM PT
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its sad they are still killing trees printing bibles. hopefully they switch to hemp bibles until they actually do go extinct. bankruptcy for both the mormon & catholic church would be inevitable if they continue to fund the opposition if this somehow ends up being 50 states left to decide who can marry.

Posted by jeffrey C oldman on 09/03/2009 @ 02:12AM PT
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LEGALIZE MARRIAGE...& HEMP & MARIJUANA across the nation NOW. OBAMA, it's time for 2 new amendmants! our nation is evolving.

Posted by jeffrey C oldman on 09/03/2009 @ 02:13AM PT
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the catholic church should immediately return all of the gold they stole from south america. and then they should just fold up shop. a failed attempt @ figuring how & why the world works.

Posted by jeffrey C oldman on 09/03/2009 @ 02:15AM PT
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You know mr. newman...

It occurs to me that if the bible thumpers got high on marijuana once in a while then maybe they wouldnt be so uptight about others being different from them...

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/04/2009 @ 08:12PM PT
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Its comments like that that make this website necessary. Do you realize how prejudiced you sound right now? You are saying that Catholicism=bad. That's the same as Catholics saying gay=bad.

~Catholic and proud supporter of LGBT rights

Posted by Caitlyn Nason on 09/12/2009 @ 02:57PM PT
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Its comments like that that make this website necessary. Do you realize how prejudiced you sound right now? You are saying that Catholicism=bad. That's the same as Catholics saying gay=bad.

~Catholic and proud supporter of LGBT rights

Posted by Caitlyn Nason on 09/12/2009 @ 02:57PM PT
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My apologies miss nason...

I usualy try to distinguish between true christians who dont discriminate and the bible thumpers who do...Unfortunatly, my being human sometimes means that I fumble the ball on that score.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/07/2009 @ 03:50PM PT
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Good point, Thomas!

Posted by Ioan Lightoller on 09/09/2009 @ 07:09AM PT
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Thanks loan.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/08/2009 @ 06:37PM PT
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It has been my observation that most religious organizations favor discrimination. Also in my observation, most people that are for equality and other good things are non-religious or not very active within their religion.

I think that religious people that discriminate are morons. They say that god creates us and that god loves everyone, god loves you. Then they find out you're "different" and all of a sudden god hates you and you should burn in hell. Therefore the primary statement is an oxymoron.

In all of religious history I have only seen hate, seperation, and discrimination. For the Catholic Church to pursue this type of activity in the 21st century, I only forsee a slow death of the church.

Posted by Bryan Butler on 10/10/2009 @ 11:15PM PT
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Author

Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.