Tuesday, February 1, 2011

CATHOLIC | PERU: GAY MARRIAGE Becomes Presidential Election Issue – by Isabel Guerra, Translated by Stephen Cairns, February 1, 2011 – Global Voices


Español - Peru: Matrimonios homosexuales entran en agenda electoral

The issue of same-sex marriage has been discussed among the Peruvian public for some time, but only recently has it become a part of the political platforms of presidential candidates [es]…

Former president Alejandro Toledo (of the party Perú Posible), who leads the recent polls for President [es], confirms that his suggested political program is examining civil unions between homosexuals and working “toward an inclusive society…
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Peru|Toledo proposes legalization of same sex marriage, 
January 20, 2011 – Living in Peru

Former President Alejandro Toledo will push for legalization of gay and lesbian civil unions if he is elected, his campaign chief told daily El Comercio. The proposal is included in Toledo’s government plan under the eighth point titled “All Peruvians are Equal.”

Meanwhile, the leftist Fuerza Social party has also said it would promote gay and lesbian marriages..

Both proposals have come under attack by the Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani…
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CHICAGO - Gov. Pat Quinn 
 CATHOLIC Lawmakers Supporting GAY CIVIL RIGHTS – Adults & Children

Illinois Gov. signs historic civil unions law 
 By Tammy Webber, 
Associated Press, January 31, 2011 – The Washington Post



CHICAGO -- Gov. Pat Quinn, saying it was a "day of history," signed legislation Monday legalizing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, making Illinois one of about a dozen states that extend significant legal protections to same-sex couples.

About 1,000 people crowded into the Chicago Cultural Center to watch Quinn, a Democrat, sign the measure that supporters call a matter of basic fairness and opponents decry as a threat to the sanctity of traditional marriage.

"We believe in civil rights and we believe in civil unions," Quinn said before signing the bill to a roar of cheers and applause…

Cardinal Francis George and other Catholic leaders also vigorously fought passage of the law…
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Illinois governor signs civil-unions bill – is gay marriage next?
 By Mark Guarino
January 31, 2011 – The Christian Science Monitor


Gov. Quinn to 'follow conscience' on unions
by Dave McKinney,
December 2, 2010 - Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Senate Wednesday passed landmark civil unions legislation that is now headed to Gov. Quinn, who has pledged to sign it despite new church criticism he would not be a good Roman Catholic in doing so. Photo - Holy Name Catholic Cathedral - Chicago 

"Today was a great day for the people of Illinois, for the family of Illinois,'' Quinn said after the Senate's 32-24 vote for legislation that would make Illinois the sixth state to recognize civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.

Shortly after the Senate's move, the governor, who is Roman Catholic, got an earful from the head of Springfield's Catholic archdiocese, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, who questioned Quinn's adherence to church teachings…

…Told of the bishop's statement, Quinn shrugged.

"I follow my conscience. I think everyone should do that. I think that's the most important thing to do in life, and my conscience is not kicking me in the shins today,'' the governor told reporters…
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AUTHORITARIAN ≠ AUTHORITATIVE – June 27, 2009 | Well-informed Conscience | Benedict XVI UNSUBSTANTIATED Antigay Teachings - November 29, 2010 Photo

Well-informed Conscience
Any good Catholic knows that they are to follow their conscience, however, that is a well-informed conscience. No one is allowed to blindly follow anyone. Each individual is responsible for his or her actions. No one is allowed to say "I was just following orders." This excuse was not acceptable at the Nuremberg trials of the military and political leaders of Nazi Germany, what is known as Superior Orders (often known as the Nuremberg Defense or Lawful Orders).


CHAPTER ONE

THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
ARTICLE 6
MORAL CONSCIENCE Photo 

II. THE FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE
1783 Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject Authoritative teachings.

1784 The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens the child to the knowledge and practice of the interior law recognized by conscience. Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, resentment arising from guilt, and feelings of complacency, born of human weakness and faults. The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart.

1785 In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path,54 we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the Authoritative teaching of the Church.55 Catechism of the Catholic Church
  
Definitions

AUTHORITARIAN
1. favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom: authoritarian principles; authoritarian attitudes.

2. of or pertaining to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.

3. exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others: an authoritarian parent.

AUTHORITATIVE
1. having due authority; having the sanction or weight of authority: an authoritative opinion.

2. substantiated or supported by documentary evidence and accepted by most authorities in a field: an authoritative edition of Shakespeare; an authoritative treatment of a subject.

3.having an air of authority; accustomed to exercising authority; positive; peremptory; dictatorial: said with an authoritative air.
  
AUTHORITARIAN ≠ AUTHORITATIVE

The section above from the Catechism of the Catholic Church clarifies the responsibility of each individual to actively educate him or herself in the life long process of maintaining a well-informed conscience. A key principle in the Catechism is the understanding of the authoritative teachings of the Church. Authoritative authority is based on “substantiated or supported by documentary evidence and accepted by most authorities in a field: an authoritative edition of Shakespeare; an authoritative treatment of a subject.” This is a major difference from authoritarian authority “favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom: authoritarian principles; authoritarian attitudes.”

Benedict XVI is an authoritarian leader, which goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Benedict XVI history of homosexual activity is an authoritarian approach, he demands complete obedience to his teaching on homosexuality, though his teaching is not “substantiated or supported by documentary evidence and accepted by most authorities in a field.” With all due respect, Benedict XVI describes homosexual orientation using terms as “intrinsically evil,” “intrinsically disordered,” “condemnation of homosexuality,” "deep-seated," "objectively disordered," or to “sublimate one’s sexuality” none of which are substantiated or based on any accepted authorities in the entire world. This makes Benedict XVI and all those who blindly follow him who publicly speak against homosexual orientation totally liable for the psychological and physical harm they cause to millions of children and adults. Benedict XVI and all who blindly follow his teaching on homosexuality are being unfaithful and disobedient to Catholic teachings. A true Catholic, a follower of Jesus Christ, requires that every individual be personally responsible to put in the effort of acquiring a well-informed conscience on homosexuality and human sexuality. By not doing this and then speaking against homosexuality is a grievous sin against God and all of humanity. "They are blind guides of the blind and if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit" Matt:15:14. What makes this sin worst is that it harms millions of children. Jesus was most clear about the importance of children, so before anyone speaks out publicly against homosexuals be sure, be very sure you have done and are continually doing your homework thoroughly studying both the science and biblical understanding of homosexuality. Photo more

Catholic school paper deletes student editorials on Catholic DVD,
gay teens
by Sasha Aslanian,
November 16, 2010 - Minnesota Public Radio

St. Louis Park, Minn. — A student newspaper at a suburban Catholic school has sparked a debate over free speech by criticizing a Catholic DVD and defending gay teens. The DVD denouncing same-sex marriage was sent by Minnesota's Catholic bishops to parishioners prior to the Nov. 2 election.

The student newspaper of Benilde-St. Margaret's in St. Louis Park deleted two student editorials over the weekend and shut off the online comments.
The Knight Errant student newspaper published a news story last Thursday about the bishops' "Preserving Marriage in Minnesota" DVD.

But it was the two editorials that accompanied it -- and the online comments they inspired -- that created the uproar. One staff editorial challenged the bishops' arguments against same-sex marriage and called the DVD "unsubstantiated."
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400,000 Anti-gay marriage DVDs - $1 million Nienstedt - Minnesota October 29, 2010 - RELIGION & ETHICS PBS – video (NP)


July 2010 

President of the United States
United States Congress
United States Supreme Court
50 United States Governors 

Dear -- --------, 

My name is Fr. Marty Kurylowicz, a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Grand Rapids Michigan ordained June 16, 1979. 

In March 1997, after attending a National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry that was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I learned that children as young as 4 and 5 years of age know that they are different. This feeling "different" is only identified in their adult years as being gay. However, the harmful influence of antigay social and religious norms -- in particular, for Catholics, the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings -- are severe and last throughout a child’s lifetime. The harmful effects are not isolated only to these children who grow up to be gay, but also affect their families, siblings, friends and anyone whom they might consider special in their lives. They are a prescribed societal sentence of implicit isolation, which place at risk of suicide so many innocent adolescents and young adults. They stifle an enormous amount of human potential in the world that otherwise could be put to use for finding cures for diseases, offering better ways of maintaining peace among people and improving the quality of life for everyone in the world.
Gay Marriage - “SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE” Does Not Give Churches Or Benedict XVI - The Freedom To Abuse Children or Adults. July 2010 - By Fr. Marty Kurylowicz http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/09/gay-marriage-separation-between-church.html

Pope: Internet Has 'Numbed' Young People 
 by Bianca Bosker, 
November 15, 2010 – Huffington Post

The Vatican has had a mixed relationship with the Web.

Last year, executives from Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook coached Catholic bishops about Internet culture. Pope Benedict XVI also launched a YouTube channel, has encouraged priests to blog, and has told young Catholics to use the Internet to share their faith…

"A large number of young people... establish forms of communication that to do not increase humaneness but instead risk increasing a sense of solitude and disorientation," Benedict also said, according to the AFP.
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John Nienstedt's anti-gay marriage crusade draws another protest
by Hart Van Denburg,
September 29, 2010 - Minneapolis City Pages

Catholics Face Vocal 'Mutiny' Over Teachings On Gay Marriage
By Daniel Burke 
October 1, 2010 - The Huffington Post




Cross-party Catholic Leadership Gay Marriage Support | New England Republicans warming to, or at least ignoring, gay marriage




by Rob Anderson, 
January 13, 2011 – The Boston Globe

Gay Catholic - Nichi Vendola - Possible ITALY’S PRIME MINISTER

Milan offers Italy's 1st gay studies course 
By Colleen Barry, 
January 27, 2011, 
Associated Press - The Washington Post


“EQUALLY BLESSED” UNITES CATHOLIC VOICES FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY, JUSTICE - DignityUSA

Joseph Palacios: Keeping faith in the fight for gay rights
by Sean Quigley, 
September 23, 2010
The Georgetown Voice - Georgetown University Photo




Catholic Lawmakers Backing Gay Marriage
by GLAAD, 
January 2011 – Opposing Views


Catholics in support of gay rights - Georgetown Professor Launches Catholics for Equality
By Alice Maglio | Sep 28 2010
The Hoya – Georgetown University


Overturning Catholic Moral Teaching on Homosexuality:
Are Salzman And Lawler Right?
By Phyllis Zagano,
9/29/10 – The Huffington Post

Excerpts:

…So the question is: what's "natural" or "unnatural?" That, in turns, leads to a more overarching question: Is homosexuality a status or a choice?

Some thinkers, including several members of the Supreme Court, seem to reason that homosexuality is an inborn status.

Catholicism--and, indeed most religions--teach that while homosexuality exists, homosexual activity is a "disordered" choice against the laws of nature.

If homosexuality is indeed a status rooted in biology or genetics, then homosexuals, like left-handed people, act according to their nature. But if homosexuality is a choice rooted in behavior, then homosexuals act against nature…

In terms of civil rights, individuals deserve and are afforded protections for both status (say, skin color) and choice (for example, religious affiliation).

In terms of morality, status is neutral, while choice has implications and consequences.

Catholicism argues that homosexuals deserve legal protections, but not because homosexuality is a status. Catholicism says homosexual activity is a choice. So while bishops support non-discrimination policies, they won't agree that homosexuals are protected because of their genetic makeup.

Catholic thinkers have grappled with this question for ages. Creighton University professors Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler are the latest voices on the Catholic circuit, Their 2008 book, "The Sexual Person,"…

Salzman and Lawler's dense academic argument turns traditional Catholic teaching on natural law on its head…

Salzman and Lawler argue that what is "natural" for a heterosexual is not "natural" for a homosexual, and therefore homosexuals and heterosexuals must act in accord with their personal "natures".
Read complete article:
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The Sexual Person: Toward A Renewed Catholic Anthropology
By Todd A. Salzman, Michael G. Lawler 2008


  
Policy Statements of Professional Organizations

American Psychological Association (1997)
“Whereas societal ignorance and prejudice about same gender sexual orientation put some gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning individuals at risk for presenting for 'conversion' treatment due to family or social coercion and/or lack of information… Therefore be it further resolved that the American Psychological Association opposes portrayals of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth and adults as mentally ill due to their sexual orientation and supports the dissemination of accurate information about sexual orientation, and mental health, and appropriate interventions in order to counteract bias that is based in ignorance or unfounded beliefs about sexual orientation.”
Read full text:

American Psychiatric Association (1998)
American Psychiatric Association (2000)
American Medical Association (reparative therapy appended 2000)
U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior (2001) said “there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.”
National Association of Social Workers Position Statement (2000)
Full texts for the above:


Research Articles -- Conversion Therapy

Ethical issues in sexual orientation conversion therapies: An empirical study of consumers. Michael Schroeder, PsyD, Ariel Shidlo, PhD, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, Vol. 5,No. 3/4, 2001, pp. 131-166.

WHEN THERAPISTS DO NOT WANT THEIR CLIENTS TO BE HOMOSEXUAL: A RESPONSE TO ROSIK’S ARTICLE 
Robert-Jay Green, PhD. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, January 2003,Vol. 29, No. 1, 29–3.

The Practice and Ethics of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy. Douglas Haldeman, PhD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62 (2), pp. 221-227.

Sexual orientation conversion therapy for gay men and lesbians: A scientific examination. Haldeman, D. (1991). In J. Gonsiorek & J. Weinrich (Eds.), Homosexuality: Research Implications for Public Poliicy. pp. 149-160. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Best book
(Awarded Best Book in LGB Psychology, 2002, by APA Div. 44)


Sexual Conversion Therapy: Ethical, Clinical and Research Perspectives, edited by Ariel Shidlo, PhD, Michael Schroeder, PsyD, and Jack Drescher, MD (Vol.5, No. 3/4, 2001). Haworth Press.

Full texts for all the above:

Alliant International University




AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008 -- A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN





An example of this is most vividly portrayed in the movie "Brokeback Mountain." It takes place when Ennis and Jack are together again for the first time in 4 years, after first meeting on Brokeback Mountain. They are sitting around a campfire in the evening and Ennis is relaxing reclining back starring up at the stars. Jack looks over at Ennis and says to him, "Is there anything interesting up there in heaven?" Ennis replies with a very pleasant smile on his face "I was just sending up a prayer of thanks." This is a very tender moment in the film, which Jack is in a way proposing to Ennis. Jack tells Ennis that "... it could be like this always, just like this, always." Ennis's face loses its smile becoming strained as he turns his face away from Jack, looks down at the ground. Ennis then begins to soberly tell Jack about this vivid flashback he is having to his early childhood days growing up. Ennis describes for Jack this disturbing scene from his past how his father took him and his brother along this pathway in the country to show them the kind of violence that happens to adult men who lived together. The traumatic psychological effects from this event with his father appear to have remained vivid throughout Ennis's adult life. It is shown in Ennis's inability to form and be in a relationship, any kind of relationship, but particularly the one with Jack, to go with Jack, and build a life together. "Early Childhood Growing Up" - Read more
  

AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008 -- A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – December 26, 2008 – Fr. Marty Kurylowicz

I have been so saddened by Pope Benedict XVI's cruel words to LGBTQ people around the world, to their parents, families and friends, most ESPECIALLY TO CHILDREN. After reading the accounts of this human travesty, I did not know where to find comfort or hope. And then I thought about your blog. And just like receiving a wonderful Christmas present, sure enough I found the hope and comfort I needed to hear. Photo 

I am a priest and a clinical psychologist (MS). And for one of my research projects I chose to do a qualitative research project of the recorded verbal accounts of survivors of the Holocaust, 50 years after the event. It was a difficult research project, because I could not make sense of one of the accounts of the survivors.

For example, one survivor was describing what it was like riding the train to AUSCHWITZ, but he was describing how he was trying to make conversation with a girl on the train. I listened and wrote out this one account almost 30 times but I just was not getting it. I could not understand how this man could be talking about wanting to make conversation with this girl on the same train to AUSCHWITZ!?!

Because I had taught high school religion classes for nearly 20 years, it hit me hard, like a flash of lightning. Instantly, all the pieces came together, so fast. Though this survivor was in his late 60’s when he gave his account of his story on audiotape, he was remembering the events that took place, but naturally they were recounted through the mind of a teenager, the age he was on the train to AUSCHWITZ. That is why the dialogue wasn’t making any sense. I was thinking of him as an old man because the voice on the audiotape was the voice of a 68-year-old. As shocking as a bomb going off, all the different aspects of the psychological developmental stages of a teenager kicked in. I realized only too fully that he was just a young normal teenager on that train!!! And so was the girl he was trying to make conversation, and their moms and dads were there with them!!! There was no way to pretend I did not realize what I discovered. It kept hitting me: this is not some script from a movie or TV miniseries on the Holocaust. No; as much as I wished it were. The reality of this horror hit me all at once, on so many different levels of consciousness: what an unbelievable horror it was!!! How could we treat human beings like this! I remember when the realization of the magnitude of this horror first hit me, like an instant reflex. I threw down the transcript I was holding as if it were a blazing hot poker. It kept hitting me over and over again that this is not a movie script or some kind of play – this really happened! It really happened! Oh, my God, how could this have happened!?!!!

My supervisor told me at the time that I was traumatized by the oral content. Qualitative research is an attempt to understand the complexity of emotions, the kinds of emotions, and the degree of intensity involved. Our emotions are what allow us to connect with other human beings. We identify with the non-verbal quality of emotions more immediately and strongly than with the words used to express them. The non-verbal qualities include tone of voice, eye contact, facial expression, body posture, and gestures, all of which express emotions. Emotions are why we can connect with people through time, across cultures, and individually. It is the expression of human emotions in the arts that makes some works of art timeless, because they continually speak to all people through the ages.

And when I heard what Pope Benedict XVI said about homosexuals and transgendered human beings at Christmas 2008, I felt that same trauma all over again. Because in some way, somehow, he was conveying in a non-verbal manner the horror of the Holocaust, in what appears to be a traumatized, trance-like, accepted social norm from that period of time dictating that some people just don’t count, aren’t important, and can be easily disposed of. And if you rock the boat, you could be next to be disposed of.

I truly have to believe that a person in his position would not be doing this consciously or intentionally. The horror of the Holocaust is like an atomic bomb with fallout so extensive that it spreads over a radius of more than 150 miles. The horror of the Holocaust began in 1933 and ended in 1945. The psychological fallout would have been far more extensive and more deadly, especially when it is not identified as such.

It hit me the way it did when I realized that the research I was doing about a Holocaust survivor, a man 68 years old telling his story, who was remembering what it was like to be on the train to AUSCHWITZ, from the perspective of a young teenage boy who just wanted to talk to a girl. It seemed like the same kind of horror, a tacit assumption that some people don't count and can be disposed of without remorse. Could it be that Benedict XVI is unconsciously repeating Hitler's crime against humanity by taking on a long-accepted social attitude from that period of time?

The question I asked myself was: what would it have been like for someone growing up gay during the Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933 -1945?

What would be the severity of the psychological effects on a boy who grew up to be gay in Germany during the time of Hitler’s NAZI PERSECUTION OF HOMOSEXUALS 1933 -1945? During the Nazi regime, homosexuals were publicly defamed and falsely accused for the major social problems of that time, which was done to incite massive public hatred and hostility directed against homosexuals. Homosexuals were used for medical experiments, physically mutilated, brutally tortured and exterminated.

Would this child, as an adult, in a severe dissociated state of mind from his own homosexual feelings (Harry Stack Sullivan MD, Dissociative Processes, Clinical Studies on Psychiatry (1956)), unconsciously perpetuate the terrifying horror of the insensitivity he had experienced growing up? If he found himself in a position of authority would he recreate the same social and political environment of violence and terror for homosexuals that he experienced, as a child who grew up to be gay, during the NAZI PERSECUTION OF HOMOSEXUALS?

I think in truth on a much deeper level I was frightened, really frightened, to hear Pope Benedict XVI’s Christmas remarks against homosexuals and transgendered human beings and even more frightened by the silence from the larger global community of human beings. What is so frightening is, even if there is agreement that one person does not matter or is not important, in truth then no one matters. Therefore, when I thought about your blog and what you did on October 5, 2008, I felt more reassured, I felt hope, and I felt comforted. NOW, isn’t that the true meaning of Christmas?

God Bless you,

. . . .Written by Martin S. Kurylowicz, M.Div., M.S.

Edited by Madeline Wright, Ph.D., M.S. . . . .



100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2126
Main telephone: (202) 488-0400
TTY: (202) 488-0406


Homophobia and Sexual Politics in Nazi Germany (2002)
by Geoffrey J. Giles explanation of Hitler’s immediate action taken against gays, when he came to power, accounts of the inhuman treatment of gays.

www.vatican.va. - Benedict XVI - Cardinal Ratzinger on April 19, 2005, was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II. Read more

CBS News, Ratzinger On Abuse, Celibacy, Gays - - April 19, 2005 | by Christine Lagorio, A Collection Of Quotations By Newly Named Pope Benedict XVI Read more

Human Rights Campaign - Election of Pope Benedict XVI Portends Further Conflict Between Church and GLBT Community 4/19/2005 - WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign pointed to years of statements by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the newly elected pope, in expressing concern about the Catholic Church’s future treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Read more

Southern Voice - Gay Catholics dismayed by Pope Benedict XVI By DYANA BAGBY APR. 22, 2005 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the man who described homosexuality as “an intrinsic moral evil,” emerged at dusk on Tuesday on to the balcony of St. Peter’s Square, drawing cheers from the thousands gathered as the 265th pope announced his new name, Benedict XVI. Read more

Washington Post Foreign Service, Saturday October 8, 2005 , ROME, Rules Affirm Pope Benedict's Stance Against Gays by Daniel Williams -- In the first five months of Pope Benedict XVI's reign, stern opposition to homosexuality in and outside the Roman Catholic Church has quickly become a prime public message for the Vatican. Read more

Cable News Network (CNN) Monday, November 28, 2005 -- In an eagerly awaited document, the Vatican has reiterated its policy against gay priests, but has said it would allow those who have "clearly overcome" homosexual tendencies to start the process of becoming a priest. Read more

Slate Magazine - Gland Inquisitor Pope Benedict's antigay tendencies. By William Saletan Posted Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005, at 12:46 AM ET - The Vatican's new policy on gay priests has been leaked. Officially, it proposes the incorrigibility of deeply rooted gay tendencies. Unofficially, it exposes the deeply rooted, incorrigible antigay tendencies of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI. Read more
  
Blog Out - Just Out Newspaper - Does the Vatican Support Criminalizing, Executing Homosexuals? December 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 am by Jim Radosta - That’s the message that Pope Benedict XVI seems to be sending: The Vatican is trying to block a nonbinding proposed U.N. resolution calling on governments worldwide to decriminalize homosexuality, claiming that it will start a “slippery slope” toward same-sex marriage. Read more

365gay Pope celebrates Human Rights Day while opposing gay rights By 365gay Newscenter Staff 12.12.2008 8:35am EST - (Vatican City) At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; but elsewhere, LGBT civil rights groups were denouncing the pope’s opposition to expanding the 60-year-old United Nations document to include gays. Read more


Task Force December 22, 2008 National Religious Leadership Roundtable condemns pope’s remarks denouncing gender theory - WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 — The National Religious Leadership Roundtable, convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, condemns today’s remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that denounced gender theory, saying it could lead to humanity’s “self-destruction.” Gender theory explores sexual orientation, the roles assigned by society to individuals according to their gender and how people perceive their identity. Read more

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) - Pope wants humanity 'saved' from homosexuality Dec 23, 2008 - Pope Benedict XVI says saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. Read more

BBC - Tuesday, 23 December 2008, Pope attacks blurring of gender - Pope Benedict XVI has suggested that the need to save mankind from a destructive blurring of gender roles is as important as saving the rainforests. Read more

"There are still so many instances of people being killed around the world, including in Western society, purely and simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.
"When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in an aggressive and violent way because they feel that they are doing God’s work in ridding the world of these people." Read more


Gay Rights - Pope Benedict XVI: How Gays are Like the Rainforest by Michael A. Jones December 22, 2008 @ 09:45AM PST - In the (not-so) spirit of the holidays, Pope Benedict XVI gave a Christmas address to the Vatican's Central Administration (known as the Curia), where he called homosexuality unnatural and "a destruction of God's work." Read more

The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound."
He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected." Read more

  

NowPublic - Pope Says Gays as Dangerous as Climate Change by Rob Walker | December 23, 2008 at 08:44 am - The internet is abuzz today after remarks from Pope Benedict XVI's speech yesterday, where he declared that saving humanity from homosexuality was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. Read more

SKY NEWS, Pope: 'Save The World From Gays' 9:34am UK, Tuesday December 23, 2008 Benedict XVI described relationships that are not heterosexual as "a destruction of God's work", during his Christmas speech to the Curia, the administrative body of the Catholic Church. .. "(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," he said. Read more

The New York Times, The Vatican: In Speech, Pope Calls Homosexual Behavior a Violation, By Rachel Donadio, Published: December 22, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out Monday against homosexual behavior, calling it a violation of the natural order. In an address to the Vatican hierarchy, the pope called for an “ecology of man” to protect man from “the destruction of himself.” He added, “The rain forests deserve our protection, but man as a creature indeed deserves no less.” The Vatican opposes same-sex marriage and considers homosexual acts sinful. Read more


Telegraph.co.uk by Nick Allen: 7:31PM GMT 23 Dec 2008 Pope says humanity needs 'saving' from homosexuality … Pope Benedict XVI sparked a furious reaction from other Christian groups as he also suggested that a blurring of the distinction between male and female could lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race. Read more

China Daily, Gays outraged by pope's 'homophobic attack' (Agencies) Updated: 2008-12-24 09:43 VATICAN CITY – A suggestion by Pope Benedict XVI that homosexuality is as much of a threat to the survival of the human race as climate change sparked outrage among gay rights campaigners on Tuesday… "The Vatican talks about homosexuality or transsexuality as if it were a whim, never as suffering," Hofer said, adding that the Roman Catholic Church "reduces sexual orientation to the sexual act as if it had nothing to do with a person's identity." Read more
  
The Bilerico Project - All Powerful Trannies Threaten Humanity - December 24, 2008 2:00 PM by: Brynn Craffey - In his end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff, Pope Benedict XVI, head of the 1.13 billion person-strong Catholic Church, has warned of the dangers of "gender theory," saying it threatens humanity's existence and equating its potential destructive power to that of the disappearing rain forests. Read more

Couriermail.comau December 24, 2008 08:55pm Pope Benedict XVI uses Christmas message to attack gays OPENLY gay Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has joined the world-wide chorus of condemnation directed at Pope Benedict XVI, after the Catholic leader suggested homosexuality was as much a threat to the survival of the human race as climate change.
In his end-of-year speech at the Vatican on Monday, the Pope said gender theory blurred the distinction between male and female, and he called for "an ecology of the human being" to protect mankind "from self-destruction". Read more
  
World New/The Manila Times, Thursday, December 25, 2008 Gays outraged by ‘homophobic 
attack’ of Pope Benedict XVI - 
VATICAN CITY: A suggestion by Pope Benedict XVI that homosexuality is as much of a threat to the survival of the human race as climate change sparked outrage among gay rights campaigners on Tuesday. Read more

PinkNews.co.uk - Amnesty asks Pope to defend gay rights By Jessica Geen • March 19, 2009 - 11:53 Amnesty International has urged Pope Benedict XVI to condemn the criminalisation of homosexuality when he meets with African bishops today in Cameroon. Read more




“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.” Erik Erikson

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6


Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children.

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!


 Related links:

SEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about LOVE, being one with another human being - ATTACHMENT THEORY
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times.
Related links:

Homosexuality: 
Coming out of the confusion,
(2002)
by Sidney H. Phillips, M.D.

Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man
Jack Drescher, M.D. in his book Psychoanalytic Therapy & The Gay Man describes the complexities related to growing up gay; from his research of developmental narratives of gay adults retrospectively recalling their feelings being gay began in early childhood. These gay feelings had remained constant, and were resistant to being altered. Dr. Drescher explains the contrast of how social norms impact the psychology of the early childhood developmental years of a heterosexual boy and a homosexual boy.
Online articles:
Jack Drescher, M.D. website:

The Psychology of the Closeted
Individual and Coming Out
In contemporary gay culture, to hide one sexual identity is referred to as either “closeted” or “in the closet.” Revealing oneself as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) is called “coming out.” 16 Paradigm • Fall 2007
by Jack Drescher, M.D.  

SEXUAL CONVERSION THERAPIES
by Jack Drescher, M.D.

Groundbreaking Study Finds Family Acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Adolescents Protects Against Depression, Substance Abuse and Suicidal Behavior in Early Adulthood – by Caitlin Ryan, PhD, December 6, 2010 - FAMILY ACCEPTANCE PROJECT
Related links:

GAY YOUTH SUICIDE | BENEDICT XVI & BISHOPS Child Sexual Abuse Cover-ups – Negligence Protecting (1) Children & (2) LGBT Children | Family of Rutgers suicide victim lends name to bill – November 19, 2010 – CNN 

Institutionalized STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE – Vatican’s UNSUBSTANTIATED ANTIGAY TEACHINGS - severe harm lasting throughout a child’s lifetime | Benedict XVI & Hierarchy CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE COVER-UPS

“ACTIVE IGNORANCE” | What's the answer to privilege? 
By Alejandra Cuellar
Staff Writer, 
February 19, 2010 – The Climax - Hampshire College

Gay Conversion | Religious Conversion - Transforms The Damned Into The Saved | COVERING - Kenji Yoshino 
2002 - The Yale Law Journal
Excerpts:
A. Gay Conversion 
…What does it mean to convert? Generally defined as a “ [c]hange in character [or] nature,” 37 conversion encompasses mundane, value-neutral, and reversible transactions such as changes of measure or currency. Yet as the above account of electroshock therapy suggests, this general definition may fail to capture what conversion denotes for human identities. In such cases, I believe conversion often has a more specific meaning inflected by the instance of religious conversion—“ [t]he turning of sinners to God; a spiritual change from sinfulness, ungodliness, or worldliness to love of God and pursuit of holiness.” 38 Conversion in this formulation is not a mundane event, but a sacred one; not a value-neutral event, but one that transforms the damned into the saved; and not a reversible event, but in theory a unique occurrence. 
Under such an account, human conversion differs profoundly from either passing or covering. Passing and covering are both perceived to be compromise formations in which the underlying identity is ostensibly preserved, modified only for popular consumption. In contrast, conversion is thought to be a more complete embrace or surrender. It is believed to change not only the expression of an identity, but the underlying substance of it.39 
In this discussion, I describe the history of attempts to convert homosexuality into heterosexuality in the nonlegal field of mental health, as well as in the legal field. In both contexts, I document the same trend…
Read complete article:
Kenji Yoshino – Website

"Covering: The Hidden Assault on our Civil Rights"
A conversation with author Kenji Yoshino about Yoshino's book.
April 20, 2006 – Charlie Rose
View video:
Kenji Yoshino – Website




Same-Sex Marriage: 
The Legal and Psychological Evolution in America 
by Donald J. Cantor, 
Elizabeth Cantor, 
James C. Black, and 
Campbell D. Barrett. 
2006

Lesbians, Feminism, and Psychoanalysis - The Second Wave
By Judith Glassgold, and Suzanne Iasenza. 2004
The book is divided into three sections—“Community: Personal and Political,” “Ongoing Clinical Issues,” and “New Thinking on Sexuality and Gender,” addressing lesbian tomboy development, the queering of relational psychoanalysis, how attachment theory and intersubjectivity can contribute to newer gender theory, and including:
Read more:

Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal? By Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr, University of Georgia - 1996

Gay Catholic - Nichi Vendola - Possible ITALY’S PRIME MINISTER
USA Cross-party Catholic Leadership Gay Marriage Support

Gay marriage isn't revolutionary. It's just next.
By Stephanie Coontz,
January 9, 2010
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/07/AR2011010706502.html

Stephanie Coontz teaches family history at the Evergreen State College and is the author of "A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s."

Coming out” March 1997, Fr. Marty Kurylowicz | Galileo, Benedict XVI & Hierarchy UNSUBSTANTIATED Antigay Pronouncements Harmful to Children – Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

FAMILY ACCEPTANCE in Adolescence and the Health of LGBT Young Adults 
Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing - Volume 23, Number 4, pp. 205–213, November, 2010
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AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008 -- A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Revised Janaury 29, 2011

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