gay rights
26 May 2010
I Deplore Homophobia, But...
How can high-profile Catholics defend gay people's rights while subscribing to a religion that encourages homophobia? It's time they worked that one out, writes Bob Dumpling
While few people could have predicted Channel Seven’s story last week outing NSW MP David Campbell, probably even fewer would have guessed it would be so comprehensively condemned. This week has been a sweet season for piety and self-righteousness as we all tut-tut at the persecution of someone else’s not-so-private life.
Sure, the usual suspects have declared Minister Campbell fair game, but the backlash against the media outing a public figure has been vociferous.
What rolls my eyes — and the thing that substantially undermines all of these worthy-sounding sentiments — is that some of those making them don’t see the contradiction they reveal in their own positions. That contradiction, in a nutshell, is that while they say they support Campbell, they also explicitly support the Catholic Church, an organisation which goes out of its way to demonise gay people.
The NSW Premier is one example. She has made powerful statements supporting David Campbell, and even though his resignation has caused further problems for the LOLigarchy that is NSW Labor, Kristina Keneally delivered a heartfelt message highlighting her sympathy for someone "living a double life". Campbell’s resignation was accepted on compassionate grounds but the Premier added that it was "a matter for debate whether a person’s sexuality is relevant". Keneally felt that it was "appalling that we live in a society where he had to keep [his sexuality] a secret. […] Human beings are complex individuals, there is never a straight black and white." Despite her poor choice of adjective, I couldn’t agree with her more.
Miranda Devine is another. She showed enormous respect for Campbell in an article on 22 May which maps the troubled life that has emerged in the wake of the Channel Seven story. Married at 19, kids soon after… According to Devine, David Campbell certainly picked the wrong place to live — "the blokey blue-collar Wollongong suburb of Corrimal, where even in the swinging ’70s a gay lifestyle was not an easy option for a man who liked to fit in". Let’s not forget many lived the closeted life across NSW in the 1970s — not least of all because homosexuality was illegal — but it’s touching that Devine showed so much empathy.
Devine sensibly adds that "in the end, while it’s often forgotten in our sex-saturated culture, there is more to a person than sex."
These statements by two public figures are fascinating in that they both express genuine respect for David Campbell and the personal choices he made in the past few days. I don’t doubt their sincerity but I do feel a sense of disbelief that either individual could piously and publicly wonder, "why is society so unkind?" when both Kristina Keneally and Miranda Devine are notable Catholics.
As is well known, the NSW Premier met her husband, Ben Keneally in 1991 at World Youth Day in Poland and later migrated to Australia. And in her professional life, she was the State Government’s Special Minister for World Youth Day in 2008 — a huge event organised around the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.
For her part, Miranda Devine does not make a habit of waving the Catholic flag or seeking to convert the godless masses, but her opinion columns do maintain a moral imperative and more often than not express a Catholic view.
My issue here is with Catholics in general who pronounce it a disappointment that "people" can be so intolerant of homosexuality, so vindictive and so hurtful that community figures like Campbell are forced to live a "double life". Catholics have always apologised for certain aspects of their faith. Widespread abuse by Catholic priests? That has been very unfortunate. Church banning the use of condoms in Africa to prevent the spread of HIV? Maybe that wasn’t in everyone’s best interest. Women’s rights within the Church? Could be better. Catholics spend a great deal of time separating out the positives from those regrettable negatives.
But the hypocrisy of being Catholic and a part of this institution makes the feigned outrage directed at Adam Walters and Channel Seven executives laughable.
Frankly, the Catholic Church is a world leader in suppressing, confusing and denying individuals’ sexuality — of all persuasions. The Catholic Church continues to oppose homosexuality — just as it has for more than 40 years. In every facet of its fight for human rights, the LGBT lobby has had to battle strong opposition from the Catholic Church.
While the contradiction between what they seem to think and what their Church actually insists they think is there for every Catholic, it understandably sharpened for those Catholics in the public eye — especially for those whose public persona makes use of their Catholicism in any way, as both Keneally’s and Devine’s do.
Those Catholics who admit this contradiction, but argue that the Church’s line on homosexuality is a remote curiosity of no real importance, need to face the fact that it is not actually remote at all
The Church’s local head, Cardinal George Pell, embodies its anti-gay stance. When Archbishop of Melbourne, Pell refused Holy Communion to homosexual activists on at least 10 occasions. When appointed Archbishop of Sydney, he did the same at St Mary’s Cathedral. His words to the Sydney congregation left little room for uncertainty about his opinion: "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve and important consequences follow from this."
Let’s not pretend that these refusals don’t send a clear message of intolerance from the "tolerant and benevolent" Catholic Church. With the example of homophobic bullying taking place in Catholic schools in NSW, under Cardinal Pell the suggested strategy is "hate the sin, love the sinner". Even outside of politics and in the playground, such a view is totally at odds with the desire to accept an individual’s personal autonomy.
Pell is an opponent of same sex marriage and he’s no fan of anti-discrimination laws which protect gay people either. He told the ABC in 2007 "Same sex marriage and adoption, changes the meaning of marriage, family, parenting and childhood for everyone." A strident opponent of liberal secularism (and a human rights act), Pell accuses Catholics who support departures from orthodox teachings on the basis of their own moral conscience of being proponents of what he refers to as a "Donald Duck heresy":
"Too many Donald Ducks produce the feel-good society which works to remove personal guilt, anything that would make people feel uncomfortable so that complacent self-satisfaction becomes a virtue; confession is replaced by therapy and self-reproach by self-discovery."
If you follow your conscience you’re a heretic. Where does this leave Keneally and Devine, I wonder?
Then of course we have the current Pope, Benedict XVI. Recently his Holiness visited Portugal. The trip was heavily publicised after months of revelations that priests across Europe had been molesting children — and months of condemnation of the Vatican’s inadequate response.
During the tour in Fatima, the Pontiff named abortion and same-sex marriage as two of the most "insidious and dangerous" threats facing the world today. The concept of gay marriage precipitating the collapse of society is intolerably stupid (and so, for that matter is depicting abortion as another tipping point). Let’s be honest, the heterosexual marriage success rate of 51 per cent isn’t exactly grounds for us to be marching down Sydney’s Oxford Street wearing "Straights Do It Better" t-shirts anytime soon.
Kids who live in a cohesive, loving family environment with two mums or two dads are lucky enough to experience a stable happy reality which many other children miss out on. The violence, abuse, and turmoil with which too many children live has got nothing to do with the sexual orientation of their parents.
Think closely about the Pope’s message and what it means for those families with same-sex parents. The head of this institution is condemning these families solely because of their sexual orientation. Let’s be clear about this: this is homophobia, and it is a crucial part of an organisation that Keneally and Devine are also part of.
To repeat, I don’t believe for a moment that either Kristina Keneally or Miranda Devine hold any ill will towards gay people. I’m well aware of many in the Catholic Church who do not share the views of our Cardinal or our Pope. But we cannot pretend that somehow the views of the leaders of the Church — views that are the official position of the Church — are isolated and have no influence on the perception of homosexuality in the broader community.
In addition, the Catholic Church is not alone in promoting an anti-gay agenda. Indeed, the virulence of Catholics in talking down homosexuality looks mild and inept compared to the public statements made by some other religious leaders. Just take a look at what Pastor Jeff Owens from Shenandoah Baptist Church in West Virginia has to say. In a sermon recently Owens declared "We need hunt-a-homo week".
There’s also Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church. If you’re fortunate enough to have never heard of him, his ministry — which is not aligned with the Baptist Church (or indeed anyone else) — is synonymous with anti-gay protests and the declaration, "God Hates Fags". Phelps’s notoriety has only grown since his followers protested at the funeral of a gay US Marine, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.
While the official Catholic doctrine is not as extreme as these, people who associate publicly with any religion that promotes homophobia must not blind themselves to their own contradictions. Despite expressing sympathy for David Campbell’s position, and his decision to lead a double life, such people are propping up one of the institutions that makes life for people like Campbell so cruelly difficult.
If public figures like Kristina Keneally and Miranda Devine really do feel the injustice in David Campbell’s situation, maybe they need to look a bit closer to home and consider how those unjust perceptions of homosexuality are generated.
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Of course it’s all the Catholic Church at fault here. Pretty slender threads Bob and I’ll tell you why. Not all Catholics subscribe to every position of the Church on every matter. We are after all capable of free thought. Simply believing in certain things does not immediately render one a raging bigot.
Bob Dumpling has it the wrong way around. The “contradiction, in a nutshell,” is that “the Catholic Church, an organisation which goes out of its way to demonise gay people”, no longer speaks on behalf of so many of its members, possibly the vast majority of its members.
He should also take into account that the largest number of Catholics are ex-Catholics. The shepherds were left behind by their flock a long time ago.
And Dumpling appears ignorant of the fact that, when Pell made his staunch opposition to gays known in Melbourne, the progressive priest, Ted Kennedy, of St Vincent’s church Redfern, published a book called Who Is Worthy, which ripped Pell’s theology to pieces.
Tony Abbot seems to think that there’s a vote out there for him as a conservative Catholic. It could be the greatest turn-off imaginable, and not just to non-Catholics.
A man who turns to Cardinal Pell for spiritual guidance would be repulsive to the vast majority of actually existing Catholics and the vast array of ex-Catholics.
As the Catholic Church’s international sex scandal comes to Australia, as it will, it will be amusing to see Abbot take his distance from Pell.
Kim, i believe Bob was pointing out the hypocrisy of belonging to an organisation notable for its homophobic activities and then speaking on gay rights. If you don’t associate with catholic teachings why call yourself a catholic?
Struth, as if religion is not controversial enough, here our Bob is pulling homosexuality into the mix too!
I’m mean I’m sure Bob wants to get to the bottom of both matters but in fact we must reach to the heavens to look for answers as well. Trying to look down and up at the same time is likely to cause damage to one’s eyes so it’s best avoided.
There’s only one answer that I can see. Kens of Kensington must be turned into a Church immediately, kind of fuse the two issues together if you see what I mean. That way, the ins and outs of both issues can be explored with the hope of an outcome!
Besides, dressed in a towel at the sauna, people will be cleansed while they show to everyone they have nothing to hide.
Well, alright then, the towel might hide something but that’s not the point!
Or is it?
www.dangerouscreation.com
Membership of an organisation shouldn’t preclude anyone from voicing a view that is inconsistent with that espoused by the organisation. As well, disagreeing with an organisation’s particular position on a certain issue doesn’t mean that someone need forfeit membership to retain their integrity. Most people would apply these dicta to political parties, companies, sporting clubs; religious organisations should be treated no differently.
The Catholic Church isn’t simply homophobia & paedophilia any more than Islam is terrorism & misogyny or the United States is Imperialism & obesity. It is offensive to a large number of people that this is continually suggested; even more so to suggest that they are complicit. Many people who are members of the Catholic Church would look to their local parish to see what defines their organisation; they would look to the Refugee Tutoring Centre in St. Albans, to Father Bob’s work with the disadvantaged in the parish of Saints Peter & Paul, or the inclusivity practiced in West Melbourne.
Homophobia and discrimination practised by large organisations shouldn’t be tolerated. But that debate shouldn’t be confused with an anti-religion debate. And it shouldn’t involve the vilification of people who may do a great deal of good in their communities. The Catholic Church is a large, complex, heterogeneous organisation with a diverse membership.
David Grayling,
thanks for your wisdom… You’re a funny man… At least someone’s seen the light….. Wait….. Does that mean you’re a prophet?
How soon before Pell’s descends from the levitating Pulpit of Deluded Idealisms, contradictions, Dumpling inspired “regrettable negatives” and other such “Godlikenesses” to queue for a detox in Ken’s Sauna of HEALTHY Cleanliness, Humanity, diverse sexualities & Reality (as it occurs for) The Rest of The World?
I’d like to see that!
I previously worked with a wonderful woman who was a devout Catholic but not a bigot by any stretch. She attended the funeral of my late husband and supported me through the bad patches back then.
I think she, like many Catholics, genuinely care about the gay people close to them but are caught in a contradiction because the church they also love condemns homosexuality (indeed seems obsessed by homosexuality at times). It’s a contradiction that only the individual Catholic believer can resolve.
That said, people who have this dilemma are people I’d prefer any day over fanatics who think they have all the answers - religious terrorists being obvious examples.
lachlanr has a good point and is obviously more articulate than I am. An of similar hypocrisy include; Malcolm Turnbull’s position on CC in contradiction to the organisation he belongs to (LP). This should not preclude him from being a part of an organisation with which he shares a great deal of his values and opinions.
For the record I am a Catholic who believes in evolution (as did JP II) is opposed to the vilification of homosexuals and believes that the clergy should be allowed to marry. None of this makes me a non-Catholic, just a free thinker Decland.
Bob has an obvious anti-religion bias which is fine, but here he tries to divert moral culpability for the treatment of David Campbell from those who used sub-gutter journalism to ‘expose’ him, to those who supported him, based solely on the religious views they subscribe to. Now that’s vilification of a different kind hey Bob?
I would like pompus, pious Pell to meet my wonderful older friends - 4 gay couples, one couple who have been together for 60+ years, and three for 40+ years - and tell them their lives, by his limited set of values, have not been of the same value as married couples or closeted - don’t tell - homosexuals.
What I suspect Pell would also find out - to his great disgust - is that their are many hundreds, if not thousands, of people who would stand up in support of these couples, before one stood to support him.
Only once the Catholic Church and like-minded bigotted organisations are diminished to their proper relevance (or should that read irrelevance) will Australian society truly be able to judge people by their character and constitution, not by a irrelevant label.
Brilliant work Bob! And to those Catholics who are so quick to defend themselves as Catholics whose beliefs are distinct from those of the Institution on which their faith rests, please note that Bob’s criticism centered on those who publicly support that institution.
That said, if their views differ so radically from the in-principle homophobia of their church, why do so many react to criticism with defense instead of conceding the point. Again we see so many happy to live a contradiction between what they think and believe and what they do.
If Keneally, Devine and other Catholics spent more time addressing this gap with criticism rather than defense, maybe the organisation would be forced to change. Like, how many hundreds of thousands of children do their priests and officials have to rape and molest before the ‘believers’ make a stand?
Bob, I think the moral to the story is that people are capable of empathy and charity IN SPITE of their religion, rather than because of it (as organised religion and its lobbyists would have us mistakenly believe).
I see no contradiction. It’s a case of hating the sin not the sinner
Mark Landean
@ Bren…well done.
The reference to Malcolm Turnbull and his stance on Climate Change is significant. He was ousted as leader because his views did not reflect that of his party.
Obviously the Catholic Church does not operate in the same way that a political party operates, but it is telling that the Catholic Church apparently happily accepts homophobes into its highest ranks.
Thankfully David Hollier has beautifully summed up everything else that I wished to say.
Hating the sin is also hating the sinner, because the so-called sin goes to the core of a person’s identity. The real evil of the Catholic church is emphatically NOT that there are many within it that do not agree with their homophobic doctrines, but that there are many catholics who fail to see the contradiction, and are encouraged by their leaders to remain blind.
I don’t think pabart can see his own contradictions. He or she writes the following ‘…Australian society truly be able to judge people by their character and constitution, not by a irrelevant label.’ Whilst simultaneously supporting the notion that the same cannot be afforded to those ‘labelled’ Catholic.
“You must love the sinner…but hate their clothes” (Betty Bowers).
On another note, I find gay men offend homophobes sense of what it is to be masculine much more so than their religious sensibilities. Gay bashers in Australia tend to be sexist males who are not especially religious (although religion can be used as an excuse).
Islamic terrorists and other religious zealots cite their God as a reason for killing gays. But it is the challenge to their ideas of gender norms by gay people which is the real issue. Such fanatics hate transsexuals and independent straight women for the same reasons.
Catholics need to acknowledge that their church promotes homophobia. While they’re at it, could they also take a stand against pedophilia within their institution. How can they claim to take the good bits and ignore the destruction the Church brings? Oh that’s right. I forgot. It’s just like the bible. You follow only the good bits and ignore the contradictions.
Thou shalt not kill. An eye for an eye. Let those who have not sinned cast the first stone.
The kingdom of heaven is no larger than a mustard seed…
At least Catholics belive in evolution. They just need to evolve a bit themselves (:
People have the right to choose which ever religion they want. Just as they choose their sexual orientation.
Didnt like the article as it only excited those who have regious fobias.
There is more to a person than just their “sexual orientation”. It is not the “core” of who you are. The way modern society is you would think sexuality is the be all and end all of everything we are.!
By the way, how would you view gay catholics or even gay conservative voters? It would be easily dismisssed as self hatred by some but I suspect the matter is a lot more complicated than that.