Quote (and Reality Check) of the Day

He might be the darling of the media, but let’s make no mistake: Pope Francis is no friend of the LGBT community, and we need to start saying so.

Despite early rumblings, his symbolic gay rights reforms have entirely evaporated – much-praised proposals to ‘reach out’ to gay people were ditched at the first hurdle last year. There were promises of a Jesus-style rebirth at this year’s Synod, but it’s since become clear the [hierarchy] has no plans to discuss the matter again.

On the flipside, the Pope has, if anything, gone further than his predecessors, rallying against same-sex marriage – and even inviting representatives from listed hate groups to a ‘traditional marriage’ conference.

He [has also] urg[ed] Slovakians to vote against equal marriage, which he claims “disfigures God’s creation”, and [frozen] out France’s plans to appoint a gay ambassador to the Vatican.

The real stinger, though, is that he is yet to lift any of the actively homophobic and transphobic policies of his predecessors – or even attempt to.

Shady Catholic donations to anti-gay groups continue. Catholic groups and charities still routinely persecute same-sex couples. Catholic schools around the world continue to harm children by teaching homosexuality is wrong. And the Pope hasn’t lifted a finger, or spoken a word, to stop it.

. . . His infamous ‘Who am I to judge?’ comments are as prevalent as ever – but context-free snippets omit his endorsement in the same sentence of the existing Church Catechism, which says gay people are “disordered.”

. . . The Pope is not an ally of LGBT people. And it’s about time we all stop pretending he is.

– Nick Duffy
Excerpted from "The Pope’s ‘Gay Friendly’ Image is a Con,
and It’s Time We Stopped Falling for It"
Pink News
September 1, 2015

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – October 31, 2014
• LGBT Catholics Respond to Synod 2014's Final Report
• Why I Take Hope in Pope Francis' Statement on Gay Priests

Related Off-site Links:
Vatican Intervention Causes Bishop to (Again) Reject Trans* Man as Godparent – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, September 3, 2015).
Those Catholics and Their Sex-Having Ways – Emma Green (The Atlantic, September 2, 2015).
U.S. Catholics Like Pope Francis, But They Differ With Him on Marriage Equality – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, August 31, 2015).