Obama's "Faith Wrestling" When it Comes to LGBT Rights by Michael A. Jones

PUBLISHED JULY 07, 2009 @ 12:25PM PT

Well, count me puzzled here. President Barack Obama, traveling through Russia, Europe and Africa this week, gave a briefing to members of Catholic media in advance of his upcoming meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. In many ways, Catholic media tends to be a heck of a lot closer to the National Review than to The Nation, so it was fairly bold for Obama (seen by many Catholic leaders as someone who contradicts conservative Catholic teachings) to meet with this pool of reporters.

But....

Well, there's always a but when it comes to Obama and LGBT rights, isn't there.

Among the subjects touched on during the rendezvous with the Catholic reporters was the subject of LGBT rights. Here's Obama's comment:

For the gay and lesbian community in this country, I think it's clear that they feel victimized in fairly powerful ways and they're often hurt by not just certain teachings of the Catholic Church, but the Christian faith generally. And as a Christian, I'm constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.

Now, there's some juiciness in that statement that is certainly worth celebrating. The fact that Obama said that certain teachings of the Catholic Church hurt LGBT people is remarkable...and something you would never have expected from the myriad of Presidents before him…

It's a great thing that Obama spoke about LGBT rights from a framework that puts the Church directly at the center of hurtful language and rhetoric targeted toward queer communities. I just wish that instead of saying that his faith is calling him to "wrestle" with how to deal with LGBT people, Obama would have owned that as far as his faith goes, there's no debate needed when it comes to fully supporting the civil rights of LGBT people. Read complete article by Michael A. Jones Gay Rights

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