SOUNDBITES — “As a Catholic, a father, and a gay man, I was deeply troubled to see ‘The Mobile Party’ cartoon printed in The Observer on Jan. 13. My faith is an important part of my life. As a Catholic, I’ve always cherished our traditions of promoting peace and kindness to all people. Jesus taught us that, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ We are called to abhor violence, and to treat our fellows with respect. Sadly, this cartoon did not live up to this teaching. In America today there are still far too many cases of anti-gay violence; violence that is often the consequence of slurs that demonize people by demeaning who they are. This imagery is real for many Americans, because we’ve seen the stories of Matthew Shepard, Gwen Araujo, Angie Zapata, Simmie Williams, Steven Lopez Mercado and far too many others. These young people were targeted for violence by people who hated them because they were gay or transgender. Let there be no mistake, images in the media make an incredible impact, and this cartoon diminished the sense of safety and respect among many people — gay and straight alike — in the Notre Dame community. As the father of two teenage boys, I worry about sending my sons out into a world where this type of violence is promoted for a cheap laugh.” —GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios, writing in to Notre Dame’s college newspaper The Observer (via)
notre dame
It’s His Catholic Beliefs That Has GLAAD’s Jarrett Barrios’ Sick Over That Gay Bashing Cartoon
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Corey
Thought-provoking letter.
Do you think The Observer will publish it?
Brian NYC
So now Barrios and GLAAD think cartoons should have a “Christian filter?” No kidding.
Please make it stop. Please cut your funding to GLAAD. Irrelevant is one thing, stupid is another. The cartoon was offensive because it suggested violence – leave your imaginary Jesus out of it. How out of touch is GLAAD?
romeo
The letter was ho-hum as far as I’m concerned. Cliche’d and predictable. The people the letter is intended to get to are the people who laugh at this kind of letter. Oh well, he gets payed to write these responses (way after the fact), just wish he didn’t sound like a lawyer trying to negotiate a settlement.
Barrios wrote: “Jesus taught us that, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ We are called to abhor violence, and to treat our fellows with respect. Sadly, this cartoon did not live up to this teaching.”
Is he kidding? The cartoon advocated beating gay people with a baseball bat until they were brain dead.
Josh_Texas
Jarret Barrios is an idiot.
Please Un-GLAAD us.
hyhybt
@Brian NYC: The letter, and the paper it was sent to, are for a predominantly-Catholic audience. So it makes sense to point out that their beliefs are one more reason NOT to encourage or make fun of violence, rather than the opposite.
Joseph
Throughout history so much violence and war has been done in the name of religion! It continues today. Whether it be hate or physical violence.
RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING!!
Learn more by reading some works by Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.
hyhybt
@Joseph: No thanks. I’ve heard Dawkins speak, and the level of nonsense rivals the second-level fringe of any religion I’m familiar enough with to make a comparison. “Miracles can’t happen, because if they could then we could reproduce them,” for example, which ignores the very definition of “miracle.” Add the business of insisting that belief that God does not exist is not a form of belief and that it must be worded some other way, so as to avoid having to discuss the relative merits of that belief (DON’T CALL IT THAT!!!) with any others, which you can then assume are complete nonsense without further examining them. At least, that’s the gist of radio interviews I’ve heard him do; why, then, would I want his books?
On a matter which cannot be PROVEN either way, disbelief is, logically, believing that it is not true. A true lack of belief would be taking a neutral point of view. I hear enough of people twisting language to cut off the possibility of discussing things on even terms in discussing gay issues, and have no patience for it left.
As for “RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING!!,” well, NO. People use religion as an excuse for the evil they’d do anyway. And especially the parts of what you mean by ‘RELIGION’ which are really politics: gaining personal power, getting a crowd together to do as you want them to, etc.
Lukas P.
Putting the word GAY next to CATHOLIC still seems to create an oxymoron. The RC doctrine calls gays “disordered” and encourages us to be celibate.
Weeding out gays from the straights seeking to become priests will not solve the problem of pedophiac and ephebophiliac priests, and is further diminishing the # of guys willing to enter the priesthood.
The cartoon should not have been published in ANY newspaper, let alone one associated with any religious sect.
Lukas P.
meant “pedophiliac” there.
hyhybt
Not everybody in any group as large as the RC church will believe exactly the official position on everything. Even if they did, it is also possible, though surely not fun, to believe their official position on homosexuality and still be gay.