I have been thinking about this for absolutely years and wished someone more eloquent than I would address it. Tonight, praise God, so many things came together.
I think I started thinking about my old problem when I read this article about an interview Anne Rice gave to her gay son, Christopher, a bestselling author and former Lambda Literary Foundation Chair, where she discusses why she left the Catholic Church. I LOVEUH Christology, it's like one of my favourite parts of my study of theology, and I gotta give Anne mad props for Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana which are FANTASTIC studies of Jesus' childhood and coming of age. One of the best things about this series is Jesus' entire family already knows he's The Christ, they have hidden all of the treasures the Magi have gifted them, and they're waiting for the time when he will eventually become King. I love it especially as it's one of the only novels which explores the Holy Family in such a rich way when in other novels, like The Last Temptation of Christ, which I love everything about except for that fakakta ending, have Jesus as a troubled teen and the Holy Family frustrated and poor and scared of their son. (and p.s. if you too love the study of Christology, one of my darling galfriends, Elizabeth Kaeton+, is having quite an experience in seminary right now studying this very thing quite intently, so you may want to follow her too.)
Ms. Rice said something which I found naïve, which didn't surprise me as every time I watch an interview with her I'm always reminded of Chrissy Snow ... like she's completely fried. Here's the quote which started this whole thing:The main reason I think Christians and Catholics are going through this crisis with gay culture is they cannot face the reality … that good, wholesome, productive gay people exist in all walks of life…
and I thought what I've thought for years: you. are. wrong. They don't give a crap about us as people. All this talk of a full and balanced nuclear family is crap too. Seriously, how many two parent families can any of us point to. Oh, maybe possibly two parent families at this moment, but how many steps of steps of steps is this one, how many people are "just" living together raising kids and how does this rhetoric make beautiful ! loving ! single mothers I've worked with all my life who are like Action Figures to me as they make such dailry sacrifices to make the IMPOSSIBLE happen and raise some of the most beautiful children walking around today.
No. ALL they are doing is IMAGINING the sex that gay men are having with each other. Sorry. That's the bottom line. And it SCARES them. Because maybe it makes [them] feel funny where they go to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. NO ONE is thinking about us as people with souls walking around (and when they do they pull out that old "love the sinner/hate the sin" malarkey)
and then tonight on the way home I was listening to NPR and THE most remarkable and disturbing documentary came on (can you call an audio broadcast a documentary?) called State of Siege: Mississippi Whites and the Civil Rights Movement <which shines a light on the stories and strategies of the white opponents in Mississippi during the '60s, including their extraordinary tactics used to battle integration—and the legacy they left.>.
I don't know what I think about comparing the LGBT experience to a Civil Rights struggle. It's so touchy and while I know I did not CHOOSE to be homosexually oriented I CAN choose to live a closeted life, as we had to in the past, I could CHOOSE not to refer to Snoodles as my husband in my workplace (and anywhere else I'm flapping my yap) and these are not choices persons of colour have ... they must walk out the door wearing their difference (which begs the question difference from WHAT ! old WHITE men, THAT'S what lmao). But I DO know that I hoped, listening to this broadcast, that one day people will be as appalled by the anti-LGBT rhetoric which flows over us now as I was listening to these bigots.
AND THEN, bless God, I come home to a post from one of my faves bloggers. It's a video of John Corvino, The Gay Moralist. I'll let the post and the jump tell the rest. God bless us, everyone.
This morning I had a conversation with my former professor of Moral Theology at Saint John's Seminary. He shared with me this video that I, in turn, am now sharing with you. I hope that you find it helpful.>
