50+ Colorado Springs Clergy Issue Letter Calling for End to Religion-Based Homophobic Hate Speech — No Catholic Clergy Sign the Letter

Detail from Rogier van der Weyden's "Descent from the Cross," 15th century, Prado Museum, Madrid, at Wikimedia Commons

Mark Wingfield writes, "Colorado Springs clergy speak out against religious hate speech that leads to violence":

Another Mass Shooting in an LGBTQ Club: Stochastic Terrorism and Eliminationist Rhetoric

Detail from Rogier van der Weyden's "Descent from the Cross," 15th century, Prado Museum, Madrid, at Wikimedia Commons

Daniel Victor reports ("Drag events across the country have often faced threats in recent years") that Club Q in Colorado Springs, where the mass shooting has just occurred, was scheduled to host a drag lunch on Sunday in commemoration of Transgender Day of Remembrance. He writes, 

If I Were a Young Person Seeking a Church Home for Myself, Why Would I EVER Want to Consider a Church in Which….

If I were a young person seeking a church home for myself, why would I EVER want to consider a church in which

Jeff Chu on Meeting the Woman Who Fired Him Because He Was Gay: Valuable Twitter Thread for #RiseUpOct8

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on whether LGBTQ people are protected by existing anti-discrimination law. I've been thinking about this topic. On Saturday at #EvolvingFaith19, I came face-to-face with a woman who fired me from a freelance gig because I'm gay.

— Jeff Chu (@jeffchu) October 7, 2019

The Twitter thread Jeff Chu shared yesterday, which begins with the tweet above, is very important to read today, as the Supreme Court hears more arguments about the "right" of people to appeal to religious belief as their basis for discriminating against LGBTQ citizens in the workplace, in schools, in public services, in housing, in the marketplace, etc.

"The Saint of Dry Creek": Story Corps Remembers Stonewall Uprising

Watch “The Saint of Dry Creek,” as part of our #StonewallOutLoud initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Learn more at https://t.co/b57SPaI7GY pic.twitter.com/qaGJVe3dBQ

— StoryCorps (@StoryCorps) June 15, 2019

I shared this "Saint of Dry Creek" video back in October 2015. I'm very happy to see Story Corps circulating it again on social media this week as part of its #StonewallOutLoud initiative.

It's a keeper, in my view.

Bishop Gene Robinson to Matt Shepard: "Welcome Home"; Catholic Youth Synod to LGBTQ People: "You Will Not Be Named in Our Heterosexual Church" — Questions for Synod Participants and Voters

In his sermon at the interment of Matt Shepard, Bishop Gene Robinson says the following (these excerpts are from about 1:13:48 and 1:19:32 in the video above):

My Twitter Conversation with Catholic Democrats about "Tremendous Push Back" Against Viganò Crowd's Homophobia: Where Is That Push Back Taking Place?

Here's an exchange I had on Twitter yesterday with Catholic Democrats:

My "Final" Take on the Viganò Narrative: I Am Frankly Not Sure That Catholicism Can Be Cleansed of Hatred of Queer People

One possible explanation of Pope Francis's silence on Viganò: to respond to the accusations would require him to directly critique the conduct of his immediate predecessors.
For the record, I think that should happen. But one can see why he would want to think carefully first.

— Brian Flanagan (@BrianPFlanagan) September 2, 2018

Plus, one has been canonized as a saint, which makes it...complicated.

— Brian Flanagan (@BrianPFlanagan) September 2, 2018

I don't know about you, but I'm worn out from trying to make heads nor tails of the Viganò story — and most of all, from the cynical post-truth, fake news games being played by him and his co-conspirators, and the ugly use being made of his narrative by some very nefarious groups of people. Here are a few late-breaking tidbits for you to chew over: 

Developing Meme re: Supremes' Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision: It's "Narrow" — A View from the Bible Belt

The developing meme about the Supremes' Masterpiece Cakeshop decision is that it's very "narrow" and won't militate against existing civil rights laws. What that meme totally ignores is that large swathes of the country have no civil rights laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. None at all. Because "religious" people oppose those laws.

LGBTQ Catholics and the Conversation About Staying or Leaving: 15 More Theses About Truths That Need to Be Heard in This Conversation

My last posting was an attempt to tell truth that is, in my view, often obscured and even barred as Catholics discuss the "problem" or "challenge" of welcoming LGBTQ people within Catholic spaces, or as LGBTQ Catholics discuss the question of staying in or leaving the church. As that posting indicated, some of us who are LGBTQ and Catholic have never had any choice in the matter: we were shoved from the church when our vocations were shattered without explanation, our livelihood removed, our daily bread taken from our mouths, our healthcare coverage yanked from us — as we were shown the door and it was slammed in our faces.

LGBTQ Catholics Are Asked, Why Stay in the Church? My 15-Question Response

A recent conference at Boston College asks LGBTQ Catholics, Why stay? Why do you stay in the Catholic church?

Recommended Commentary: White Evangelicals, U.S. Culture of Violence, "Pro-Life" Politics, Intersectionality, Etc.

All of this rhetoric about white evangelical Protestantism “losing its way” makes me wonder what you think white evangelical Protestants did during the civil rights movement, each wave of feminism, and this era of #blacklivesmatter.

— Broderick Greer (@BroderickGreer) March 7, 2018

I'm now over the hump of having my bad tooth removed and am thankfully on the mend. Because I've been distracted by all of that, I haven't been able to follow the news as systematically as I usually try to do — but I still do have bits and pieces of commentary from recent days to share with you today, commentary on many different topics that interest us here, which I think is worth sharing. I hope you'll agree. Here goes:

Catholic-LGBTQ Dialogue: "Catholic Theology Today Has Much Listening to Do" — But Where? When? How?

[T]heologians need to pay attention to what is going on in queer Catholic communities. They need to listen closely and respect the long histories of struggle that continue inside and outside the academy and public debate. If they do listen, they will find that reflections on queer experiences call the Church to dialogue that goes far beyond the bounds of traditional Catholic teaching. . . . Ultimately, listening to queer voices will challenge theologians to move beyond Building a Bridge to the mountains and valleys of queer experience.  

~ Jason Steidl

As Neo-Nazis Celebrate Murder of Gay Jewish College Student, Where Are the Churches? (When They're Not Firing Queer Employees and Supporting Anti-Queer Discrimination, That Is)

Members of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division have been linked to five murders—most recently the stabbing death of a gay Jewish college student in January. They also have a secret chatroom.

Here's our story: https://t.co/nZPTHUvNGP pic.twitter.com/cOUTqIZzNK

— ProPublica (@ProPublica) February 24, 2018

In an article entitled "Inside Atomwaffen As It Celebrates a Member for Allegedly Killing a Gay Jewish College Student," A.C. Thompson, Ali Winston, and Jake Hanrahan report on behalf of ProPublica:

Yesterday, Yes Means No re: Blessing Gay Couples; Today, Diametrically Opposed Statements about Papal Commission on Abuse: Why Does This Happen in Catholic Conversations?

Why is it that, when issues such as whether same-sex couples can be blessed by Catholic officials or how child abuse by clerics is handled by church officials are discussed in the Catholic church, the discusson immediately descends into he-said, she-said allegations in which yes becomes no?

The Bridge-Building Metaphor, the LGBTQ Community, and the Catholic Church: You Want to Build a Bridge to THAT?!

As a metaphor, the image of building bridges from the LGBTQ community to the Catholic church and vice versa does not work for me. A primary reason it does not work: it's not clear to me what is "over there," on the church side of the bridge. 1)

— William D. Lindsey (@wdlindsy) February 20, 2018

For Religion News Service, Jacob Lupfer Reports on Georgetown Lecture by Father James Martin: Queer-Bashing Trolls Go Wild

Most of you readers are no doubt smarter learners than I am. So you will have figured this out long before I did: it's an absolute waste of time to wade into the filthy fecal waters of discussions about Christianity and LGBTQ human beings at religion-themed websites. The discussions of these matters in comboxes at religion-themed websites are not about gaining clarity or promoting understanding of how the churches have failed and keep failing LGBTQ folks.

No Cake for the Gays and the Libertarian + White Catholic + White Evangelical Erosion of Civil Rights for All Minorities: Truth-Telling about Having Your Cake and Eating It, Too

All these pieces fit together: 

Jeffrey S. Trachtman, "Preserving LGBTQ Equality In The Supreme Court: No Piece of Cake": 

Bishop William G. Curlin: Some Last Words (about Pastoral Image and Pastoral Substance)

I don't like beating dead horses — and could not bring myself to beat a live one, either. I do think it's important to make one final statement about Bishop Curlin and why I posted a series of pieces about my dealings with him over the years, and about his record in the Catholic abuse cover-up, at the time of his death.

"Bishops Like Curlin and Cardinal Law, What They Have Done Is Criminal": A Church That Wants to Be Pastoral Must Listen to Testimony of Abuse Survivors

In a 27 April 2002 letter to the Charlotte Observer entitled "In Eyes of Abuse Victims, Bishop Curlin Is No Hero,"* Neal Evans of Asheville, North Carolina, reports that after an initial 1995 meeting with Bishop William G. Curlin to discuss his abuse at the hands of a diocesan priest and after Curlin came to Asheville to issue a public apology to victims of clerical sexual abuse, Evans heard nothing — not a single word — from Curlin in the ensuing seven years. According to Evans, when Evans met with Curlin, Curlin made promises that he failed to keep, including a promise to form a lay advisory committee to advise him about clerical abuse of minors, a committee on which he would place Evans.