Cruel New Policy of Diocese of Little Rock Attacking Gay Youth: More Discussion from Various Blog Sites

As I noted yesterday, the astonishingly cruel new policy forbidding students (and employees) in Catholic schools in Arkansas from even saying gay* is now being widely discussed in various places. I'm glad to see the discussion taking place. I'm grateful for two responses to what I myself have published about this cruel policy by two bloggers I highly esteem, Guy Lancaster and Alan McCornick.

"Catholic Schools in Arkansas Are Attempting to Erase the Identities of LGBT Students by Threatening Them": P.S. Still Not Getting Better Under Pope Francis

The new policy regarding gay* (in summation, they don't exist and can't exist in Catholic schools) students in Arkansas Catholic schools is getting more media attention. For New Civil Rights Movement, John Wright writes,

It's Not Getting Better Under Pope Francis: Report from My Own Back Yard, Where Catholic Schools Are Ordered Never to Say Gay

You know how I keep saying it's not getting better under Pope Francis — not for gay* Catholics? This is from my own diocese. This is the story we returned home to Arkansas yesterday to read when we clicked on the news this morning.

Word of Advice for Young Queer People Struggling with Sexuality Issues After Orlando: Avoid Catholic News and Blog Sites Online; They Are Not Healthy Places for You

Following what has just happened in Orlando, I have a simple word of advice for younger people, especially those raised in conservative religious contexts, who are struggling with issues about gender and sexual orientation:

Reported Spike in Suicides of LGBT Mormon Youth After LDS Church Enacts New Gay-Excluding Policy: Some Links for You

As Chris Morley notes in a series of comments here yesterday (this is his initial comment in the thread), a story has made the rounds this weekend about the new policy the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recently enacted punishing the children of same-sex couples (previous commentary on this story is here, here, and here). On 28th January, the Salt Lake Tribune published a report citing data from the group Mama Dragons, Mormon mothers supporting their gay children, which indicates that there have been 32 suicides of young LGBT Mormons following the church's adoption of its new gay-excluding policy.

Droppings from the Atheist-Agnostic Humanist Birdcage: A Review of Del Shores' Southern Baptist Sissies

From my friend (and mentor and fellow reader-scholar-retired teacher) Alan McCornick at his Hepzibah site, a review of Del Shores' Southern Baptist Sissies: 

Campaign to Assist Lucie's Place and Mission for Homeless LGBT Youth Raises $25,000

And we turned an antigay temper tantrum into a fundraiser for homeless #LGBT kids. @Martina http://t.co/VXlvrgGvWo pic.twitter.com/mgvg7ULWMn
— Scott Wooledge (@Clarknt67) November 28, 2014

Thanksgiving As Giving: Recommending to You Today a Local Group Supporting LGBT Youth

You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be (Deuteronomy 15:8)

For those celebrating a holiday centered on thanksgiving today (and I realize that much of the world isn't in that category), here's a story that may be of some interest — since giving thanks is about giving first and foremost. It's by giving to others that we open the spaces in our hearts and lives that enable us to be thankful, it seems to me.

"You're Suffering from a Mental Illness, and Rationality Is Not Something That You Can Really Handle": Oh, and Happy Palm Sunday! — Catholics and the Intrinsic Disorder Thing

Some of you may have noticed an interesting subtext that developed in threads here in the past several days, as we discussed the story of Sister Jane Dominic Laurel and Charlotte Catholic High School. The subtext: more than one person leaving comments here decided kindly to inform yours truly that he isn't sane, and that his mental illness causes him to be rationality-challenged.

Bridegroom: An Interview with the Filmmaker, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

A quick footnote to my posting last week about Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's wonderful new documentary Bridegroom, focusing on the love story of Tom Bridegroom and Shane Crone: 

Bridegroom: The Love Story of Tom Bridegroom and Shane Crone, a Primer about Gay Youth, Coming Out, and Religion in the Heartland

I mentioned several days ago that the Oprah Winfrey network had aired several programs about being gay in America. One of the films that OWN aired as part of that initiative was Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's documentary Bridegroom.

For GLAAD's Spirit Day, Melissa Harris-Perry on Marcel Neergaard, 11-Year-Old Fighting School Bullying

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NBA Player Jason Collins Comes Out, and Chris Broussard Spouts Bible Verses: Bible-Based Anti-Gay Bullying Ramping Up

It's interesting, isn't it, that the immediate and instinctual response of men like Chris Broussard to NBA player Jason Collins's choice to come out of the closet is to issue a blaring pronouncement that Collins is a sinner in "open rebellion" against God? The response of some people to the increasing openness of gay people in many cultures around the world is, in short, to ramp up the bullying. Using the choicest bullying weapons available to them as they engage in this campaign--which is to say, God, Jesus, the bible, etc. . . .

To Gay Youth Amidst Anti-Gay Demonstrations in France: You Are at Home in Our Society

Words of concern (and inclusion and welcome) to gay young people in France, as marriage equality is enacted in that nation:

Here Are Some Things Bullying Does to People

Here are some things bullying does to people:

More Commentary on Cardinal Dolan's Easter Musings: Dolan Still Unwilling to Smell Like the Gay Sheep

And still more commentary on the comments of Cardinal Dolan (and see here and here), president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Easter Sunday about loving gay folks, but:

In the News at Week's End: Messages to Provide Hope to Gay Youth

New Year's Advice to Young People Struggling with Questions about Sexual Orientation: You Are Not the Problem and You Count

Christmas came, and the year has turned, and something is on my heart to share. As I noted on Christmas day, the holiday times--the church-and-family-oriented holiday times--can be rough for gay and lesbian family members (and, certainly, for others living alone or demeaned by family). Holiday times can be times of turmoil and pain for younger LGBTQ people, and when the turmoil and pain attached to family gatherings are reinforced by homophobic religious pontificating, as they were this year in the Catholic context, the assault on the psyches of young gay or gender-questioning people struggling to find their way in the world can be acute.

Desmond Tutu Appeals to Ugandans' Conscience, and Another Gay Teen Commits Suicide

Josh Pacheco (1995-2012)

And (piggybacking on what I just posted about Justice Scalia and his recent response to a gay Princeton student re: homosexuality and murder) in contrast to Scalia the defender of Catholic orthodoxy, there's Desmond Tutu, the defender of humane values and human rights: at Box Turtle Bulletin, Jim Burroway publishes an editorial by Tutu in today's Daily Monitor.  The editorial appeals to the conscience of the Ugandan people as their parliament is poised to pass draconian anti-gay legislation as a "Christmas gift" to the people of this nation.

Jayden Cameron on Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles as Love Story for Gay Teens

At his marvelous Gay Mystics site, Jayden Cameron provides a thoughtful argument for why educational programs for teens should include Madeline Miller's prize-winning retelling of the Iliad as a classic love story between Patroclus and Achilles.  Jayden writes,