Like New York’s new Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Washington D.C.’s Roman Catholic leader Donald Wuerl is jumping into the gay marriage powwow. And just like Dolan, Archbishop Wuerl is doing it just as the the debate is brewing inside legislative halls.
Dolan entered the fray just moments after taking over the top post in April. While he had his picture taken with Gov. David Paterson, he was quick to denounce New York’s chief executive’s support for same-sex marriage. Wuerl is putting himself in the same scenario: A renewed effort, led by fellow religious bigot Rev. Harry Jackson, to let voters up or down your marriage rights in the nation’s capital is underway, and Wuerl just RSVPd to the party.
Yesterday, Wuerl sent letters — reading, in part, that “marriage is a path toward holiness . . . so as members of the church we are obliged to be all the more attentive to the challenges that weaken marriage” — to 300 local Catholic priests “reminding” them of the church’s official position on gay marriage. Namely, that it endorses discrimination. Wuerl, who the Washington Post says normally evades such controversy and media attention, is aligning himself with other hateful faith leaders, including Jackson and other Baptists, in what could end up being a national anti-gay push.
But what else would you expect from an institution that faults Sen. Ted Kennedy for being a bad Catholic, because he loved his gays?
How about we take this to the next level?
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will clemens
I loath religion, and every thing that it attracts the bible is a sick and evil book about a Sick and serial killing Maniac known and loved around the world by his Manson-esque followers, this is just another example.
dgz
i look at him and am reminded of the villain in Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
WillBFair
I know. Let’s ignore the polls showing public support for domestic partnership, and the polls showing public selfishness about marraige. Let’s throw away an easy victory and pick a fight we can’t win. Then we can feel morally superior to every two bit rube gathering politcal capital at our expense.
Another brilliant strategy from Internalized Homophobia Inc.
boarderthom
Love the religious bigot, hate the religious bigotry.
Tim
@WillBFair:
Sorry but educate yourself. These religious leaders don’t want you ti have domestic partnership either. It’s happening in Washington state right not try to take it away. Domestic partnership does not confer the same rights as marriage so it’s a disingenous argument. Marriage equality will happen in the next 10 years and I look forward to legally marrying my husband of 21 1/2 years. If anything you have internalized homophobia by accepting something less than what other couple enjoy.
D-Sun
How the hell do these people still have tax exempt status?
JM
This is the church that had a pope who gave private holy communion to Pinochet.
This is the church whose previous DC archbishop sent a letter asking for early release for the infamous “Preppy Murderer” (he was a good altar boy in his youth, don’t you know).
This is the church for whom a “laying on of hands” was taken a bit too literally by some, while others spent decades engineering a coverup.
Morally bankrupt.
Cam
“”Yesterday, Wuerl sent letters — reading, in part, that “marriage is a path toward holiness .””
__________________________________________________
Really? Then why does the church still prevent priests from marrying.
Right now there is a group in DC threatening to out a ton of priests in the area if they don’t start publically disavowing what the arch bishop is now saying. Should be interesting.
M Shane
It puzzels me and gays in other contries that ,if you hate religions so much, when are you trying so rard to get religios regognition of you relatiobships. Religion is preimarily a religious contract.
It seems that is anyone had the least bit of sense, and really wanted these privileges which now go (strangely and unforunately ) with this government, they would set about a possible goal of making these contacts a secular matter for everyone, This would be in keeping with the spirit of the separation of church and state and would also give ypou something which would not cause religious uproar. If the polls indicate a support for domestic partnerships ,then go for that. perhaps , like in France, married people would prefer it too.
Besides , if you are that intent on being like Dick and Jane, and fighting for chuch regognition, you can fight with the church and leavrethe rest of us out.. You “marriage fetishists are really selfish.
edgyguy1426
@M Shane: Dude you gotta proof-read. That was nearly unreadable.
Shawn
@M Shane: We’re not trying to get religious representations for marriage, but legally recognized marriages (like like heterosexuals).
And yes, you really should proof your comments before posting.
Cheeky
He can ram that cross around his neck up his ass.
Dave
And why would I care about Catholic Pedohilles? and there Ilk
Brian
The Pope and ALL Catholics must be very proud.
Forrest
@M Shane: This is to you and “other gays” in other countries. Whether we like it or not the word “marriage” is freighted with a broad social acceptance in the US.Consequently, Civil Unions or DP’s will never be accorded an equal level of respect. Countries in Western Europe are much more secular and don’t have the same amount of religious bigotry we have to deal with. One example being the UK where Civil Partnerships have equity with marriage because the the religious vibe there is much more moderate. And the fundamentalists are weak. We are the complete reverse. Would never work here.
And to echo what Tim said up the page, in states where DP’s were passed(Wisconsin,Washington State) our opponents are fighting to strip those away too. After saying they would not challenge them.
So wake up and stop being an apologist.
alan brickman
tax free status gone??..
schlukitz
@M Shane:
How do you get so dumb?
Who the fuck said anything about wanting religious recognition of our marriages?
Chitown Kev
@schlukitz:
Tell us how you really feel…
I do like the fact tat you pretty much say what you have to say.
Schteve
I’m waiting for these religious leaders who are so adamant about marriage to start lobbying for the removal of divorce laws. Clearly Catholic teaching is good enough for civil law, so once people get married they should stay that way, dammit!
WillBFair
@Tim: I didn’t say this bigot supports partnership. I said the polls do. But going after marraige when partnership is available makes us vulnerable to nut jobs like him.
Also, the analogy to Dr. King’s separate but equal comment doesn’t hold water. Black folk were facing the humiliation of riding in the back of the bus and using separate toilets. A partnership law could be crafted with the same rights and responsibilites as marraige without the name. And it’s only the name the public are sentimental about.
WillBFair
Also, the community still haven’t noticed what a huge concession the public made in supporting partnership. I’d be dancing in the streets about this if ya’ll hadn’t thrown the victory away. Thanks a ton, darlings.
Chitown Kev
@WillBFair:
I have to look it up, but the exact reason that New Jersey is NOW trying to upgrade from civil unions to marriage equality is because…separate is not equal. Hold on a minute.
Chitown Kev
@WillBFair:
http://www.gardenstateequality.org/civilunionsdontwork/1stInterimReportCURC.pdf
Chitown Kev
From that report:
TESTIMONY INDICATES THAT THE CIVIL UNION ACT HAS A PARTICULARLY DISPARATE
IMPACT ON PEOPLE OF COLOR.
Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Director of Religious Affairs for the National Black Justice Coalition, testified:
Fourteen percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Americans are African-American. Forty-five percent of African-American same-sex couples reported stable relationships of fiveyears or longer on the United States census.
When employers fail to recognize civil unions as equal to
marriage, the couples who get hurt the most are poor couples who
are often African-American couples, who cannot afford thousands
of dollars to hire fancy lawyers to draft documents like wills,
health care proxies, and powers of attorney.
And when employers fail to recognize civil unions as equal to
marriage and deny health care benefits to civil union partners,
there’s a profound effect on those families’ health care. Who are
among the families who can least afford cuts in their health care?
African-American families. Approximately one in five African-
Americans is currently without health insurance, some of whom
are in same-sex relationships.
Rev. Anahi Galante, an interfaith minister in Jersey City who works with many in the Latino and
Latina community, testified:
Latinos now compromise 13.3 percent of the New Jersey
population. Same-sex couple households in which both partners
are Latino or Latina earn at least $25,000 less on average per year
than white same-sex couple households. Given the income and
other disparities between Latino and Latina same-sex couples and
16
much of the rest of the society, Latino and Latina people in New
Jersey are among those being hurt most by our State’s continued
denial of marriage equality.
Civil Unions have a disproprotinately bad effect on minority same-sex couples who cannot afford the legal fees required to shore up the loopholes.
Dean
@WillBFair:
Oh yeah, right… thanks so much to the public and its infinite wisdom for the few scraps that get thrown our way.
Fuck that. Marriage is a civil contract that affords TANGIBLE BENEFITS that have substantial impact on people’s lives… 1,138 benefits, to be precise, according to U.S. federal statutes alone (not to mention those on the states’ books). Equality is equality, and inequality is inequality. The time for complete marriage equality is NOW.
Anonymous
Very few people know about this as I have never been really comfortable talking about it, but in the late sixties/early seventies at St. Rosalia’s in Pittsburgh when I was a young boy, Wuerl fondled me on several occasions and and told me I would go to hell if I told anyone. To this day, I still suffer the emotional consequences.
Brian
We DON’T want religion to recognize same-sex marriage, we want them to recognize EQUALITY.
schlukitz
@Anonymous:
If what you say is true, and I have no reason to dispute you, then why aren’t you blowing the whistle on this prick?
He committed a crime and should be taken to task for it, just like all the other child-molesters in the church.
Do you really believe that this man has the power to send you to hell for the crime HE committed if you out him?
There is an old Italian expression. Don’t get mad. Get even.
I can assure you that taking this prick down will make you feel ever so better about yourself. Why would you want to continue carrying the burden of this guilt?
Brian
DEAR QUEERTY: Your subtitle to this item said “Don’t Let D.C. Archbishop’s Cross Fool You: This Man Is a Hate Leader
How would the CROSS fool us? Religion made us wrong and continues to do so. Catholics believe homosexuality is wrong, sinful and deviant. So, the “cross” should be a “warning” to us.
stevenelliot
UHHH. Has anyone heard that recently the Catholic Church in the USA, which for years advocated “socialized” healthcare for all, in keeping with the teachings of Christ (of course), has now come out against public healthcare???
Why? because Democrats want it initiated.
As I always say “do not be fooled by the rhetoric of men in power, who can somehow gain from your ignorance”
rudy
@stevenelliot: The American Bishops are depraved.[img]http://www.sovo.com/2009/7-31/view/cartoons/10426.cfm[/img]
schlukitz
“Gee, Officer Krupke”: “I’m depraved on account of I’m deprived.” …
WillBFair
@Chitown Kev: I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to decifer a bunch of legalese.
The marraige people have been making the same argument, that partnership is not the same. To that I say, it could be if the law is well written. And employers could ignore gay marraige just as easily. I live in Seattle where there’s a local enda. I still face discrimination but don’t dare go to a lawyer. Win or loose, I still have to work in the corporate world. And they can make things very unpleasant.
The argument is suspect for another reason. It doesn’t cost thousands for a will and power of attorney. I’m paying about five hundred. If they can’t get a lawyer’s fee correct, I have to wonder about all the complex stats they put out about descrimination under the current law. It’s also an old trick of the left to pretend to be doing something for the poor, when they’re really just thinking of themselves.
I actually do care about the poor, and prove it by having worked most of my adult life helping to feed the homeless.
For me, marraige should be a side issue. I’ve got a job, freinds, a roof, and health care. And I’d rather support changes that would help the entire community. My priorities now are single payer, enda, safe schools, and beefed up police protection in our neighborhoods.
But Tim let the cat out. He wants to marry his partner, and we’re all supposed to march in the streets so he can file a joint return and get on the boyfreind’s health plan. It doesn’t matter that others don’t have insurance and face bankruptcy if they get sick. It’s all about him.
I’m sorry. The extreme selfishness of the general public is always a shock. And it’s stupid of me to try talking to mainstream gay culture. I live in another Universe.
schlukitz
Horrors: Tims wants to marry his partner. How fucking selfish of him. The ultimate gay crime.
What say, we get him in the corner and kick him, Lucy?
rudy
@schlukitz: Not exactly fair, Will.
Even if you question whether Marriage Equality should be at the top of our agenda, if Healthcare Reform doesn’t pass, it’s sure not our fault.
Blame instead: Republicans who want Obama to fail; lobbyists and contributions to BOTH parties; stink tanks like the Hudson Institute and fronts for industry like the Lewin Group; whores for Big Pharma like Betsy McCaughy; the Catholic Bishops; and finally, what seems to have been some bad strategizing by Obama and Emmanuel.
rudy
@schlukitz: Please excuse the slip – No. 35 should have been a reply to WillBFair.
Marc
“marriage is a path toward holiness . . . so as members of the church we are obliged to be all the more attentive to the challenges that weaken marriage” Well, then what is his position on divorce and adultery? Seems way to convenient to marginalize it to being a gay marriage issue. Left the church over 20 years ago and I will never ever go back to it – – bunch of myths and fairy tales!
schlukitz
@rudy:
No problem. I agree with your post.
Katie Murphy
The catholic church is guilty of every debauchery known to man eg;
The murder of tens of millions of Muslims during the crusades.No wonder some of them hate us….
The inquisition when people were tortured and burned at the stake for daring to challenge what corrupt popes believed. Like the earth was flat etc etc
The church blaming the gays for their sex abuse of children. Caused by denying that sexuality is a normal human desire, and creating a whole group of people – priestss – who took advantage in a vile way of the children entrusted in their care. Committing rape, which is not about sex, but about establishing the power structure relationship via humiliation. Just as is done in prison rape.
And the church hid their crimes for decades, letting them continue. Because throwing out the criminals, and taking them in chains to the police would cost them members, money, and power. Its all about money, and the power it confers.
And also because it is reasonable to guess that the rot reaches all the way to the top.
And for the Church that is supposed to be “Jesus Bride”, they were the group who gave the world the hatred of the Jews, Jesus own people. Which reached it’s culmination when hitler, himself a catholic as was much of Germany, used this hatred to leverage his election to what became the Holocaust and the greatest conflagration in mankinds history.
So the church always needs someone to hate. To blind the eye, harden the hearts, and keep the collection plates full.
And the gays came along just at the right time, looking to be treated as the good people they are, not denigrated in a systemic corruption of our culture “in the name of Jesus and God”
So they became the whipping boy for the Catholic church. To take the heat off the church and its many many crimes.
All good Catholics should simply close their pocketbooks to this church. Money will speak. And you can consider joining one of the progressive, truly Godly churches of Grace, not one of guilt. Eg the Episcopal – not very different in
many ways then the Catholic, but having re-affirmed the humanity of our gay citizens. Or the Evangelical Lutherans, who have done the same for the Christian non – Catholic people.
We did, our whole extended family, almost 45 of us now. Only have two holdouts, older people stuck in the mud.
sheilayf
I used to believe every word in the Bible! I know Mr. Wuerl when he was a Bishop in Pittsburgh. I am a Crucifer, Altarguild member, Acolyte, Cursillo member, etc. for Bishop’s in the Episcopal Church. I am celibate… My birds & I are being poisoned…my cockatoo died…I used to try to talk gay priests into ‘giving it up’… I saw WRATH! And dumb answers arguing the Bible! My family turned against me because of ‘it’… I believing the Bible is true! If they are poisoning a Bishop’s Crucifer then it’s the end of the world
schlukitz
@sheilayf:
My birds & I are being poisoned…my cockatoo died…
Maybe you should be telling this police this, instead of us?
sheilayf
@schlukitz: I moved from downtown Pittsburgh, Pa to a small town in NW Ohio to recover from a carwreck…I’ve told the police, they don’t seem to care? That wasn’t my point
M Shane
No. 17 · schlukitz : Is it that everyone who disagrees with you “dumb”. That says more about you than anyone. Assuredly, my intelligence is greater than yours. I offered a constructive criticism, which we seldom see on this blog because of intolerance like yours. Why bother?
schlukitz
@M Shane:
From your post no. 9
It puzzels me and gays in other contries that ,if you hate religions so much, when are you trying so rard to get religios regognition of you relatiobships. Religion is preimarily a religious contract.
If you are going to persist in saying that gays are seeking to get religious recognition of our relationships, they I will say it yet once again, loudly and proudly.
YOU ARE DUMB!
Oh, and by-the-by, speaking of dumb, let’s see now:
puzzels = puzzles
contries = countries
when = way
rard = hard
regognition = recognition
relationobships = relationships
preimarily = primarily
yoi = your
8 misspellings in only two sentences.
Yep. the term dumb does seems to fit you quite well.
Wear it with pride.
M Shane
Is this a spelling bee: for gradschool I.Q’s . Seems to be where you function all the time. In some schools brght people aren’t allowed to type. They think! Clearly not a skill for you : you should go to a grade school blog. I believe the idea here is to think!
M Shane
p.s. clearly you understood what I wrote.
schlukitz
@M Shane:
Well, I’ll have to give you that…begrudgingly! LOL
duh!
I hate myself… I actually wasted good reading time on this dribble. Get a life people! I’d say a prayer for you but I’d be wasting my time.