Food for thought:
We know that some of the most virulent homophobes turned out to be gay, but in severe denial. Case in point: Roy Cohn.
To me Pope Benedict is in the same ball park. The man loves his flair for fashion…Silky dresses, red velvety capes lined in ermine, baubles, walking stick. The man wears Prada slip-ons, m’kay! I’m just SAAAAYIIIN’!
Gays are religious peoples next lesson. This interference in our rights is like a man holding on to rope for his life, making one last hard clench before he weakens his grip from fatigue and falls.
I was raised Catholic, and part of my heart grieves for “a member of my family." But I learned a long time ago that there is the world wide face of the church, and the singular moments of my experience that nobody can argue away as homophobic. It was anything but.
The man and woman who helped me reconcile my Catholicism and being gay while coming out were part of the church. They were a bit more liberal than some Catholics, but they taught me IT was part of God’s mystery, and He will always love me. Man is filled with hatred based in fear and ignorance. They taught me that gay people are the next lesson in the love Jesus charged us with spreading, and I do believe that. They NEVER spoke down to me or disrespected my dignity. But they did tell me the churches stance on premarital sex and that "acting out” was against God’s law. But they said to “play safe and wise.” It was all love. That is my story of my experience with being gay and Catholic.
You can shoot insults at her…she’s a big target. But I’ve experienced differently. Shoot insults at me, I don’t care.