Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, a Dominican nun from Nashville, caused a stir at Charlotte Catholic High School last Friday when she said that masturbation, watching porn and absentee fathers can turn little boys gay.
“She gave an example of one of her gay ‘friends’ who said he used to go to a shed with his friends and watch porn and that’s why he was gay,” one student told qnotes. “Then she talked about the statistic where gay men have had either over 500 or 1000 sexual partners.”
“She brought up an abusive Australian couple that was gay and they abused their child,” another student added, “portraying to us that gay people are unfit parents.”
David Hains, a spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, told qnotes the belief that masturbation makes people gay was not an official church teaching.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“The Catholic Church believes people who are homosexual or have a same-sex attraction, whatever you want to call it, are people who deserve lives of peace and dignity,” he said.
It would have been fine if he had left it at that. But then he chose to elaborate:
“At the same time,” Hains said, “the Catholic Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is wrong.”
In other words: Gay people deserve to be treated with respect, but they shouldn’t have sex outside of marriage, and since the Catholic Church refuses to acknowledge same-sex marriage, that means gay people can’t have sex.
Hains told qnotes that people sometimes have a “misunderstanding on the church’s stand on marriage and its welcoming of homosexual people into Catholic churches.”
No misunderstanding. We’ve got the message loud and clear.
In a separate interview with WBTV, Hains stuck up for Laurel: “Is a homosexual person born that way, or do they develop that way? There is no real answer. She was presenting more the side of the argument that homosexuality is something that develops in someone. They are not born with it.”
Laurel has not responded to requests for comment, although she is scheduled to return to the school to give another hate speech pep talk in May. Students, however, don’t want her back. A Change.org petition condemning the nun’s homophobic remarks and demanding the school that hosted her issue a formal apology currently has over 2,000 signatures.
Hains said a meeting between parents, students, and teachers is planned for Wednesday “to basically kind of air this whole thing out.”
Cy
Because we all know a celibate nun is an expert on male masturbation. Right up there in the common sense department with people that go to see their priest for marriage counseling.
RSun
“over 500 to 1000 sexual partners”
I am WAY behind schedule.
ingyaom
This poor woman probably actually believes what she’s saying.
Fang
I think she’s right. I compulsively masturbate, watch porn and look how I turned out!! There has to be a correlation!!
Desert Boy
Sister Jane Dominic Laurel’s previous job was making chow mein at Panda Express.
Billy Budd
She must think that sex is the work of the devil. She must be extremely repressed. Imagine what goes on inside her mind, based on the small portion of her personality that she exposes publicly. It is the tip of the iceberg. I tell you, she is mental.
Manchester
These comments are hilarious!
blondeboyz
Blatant lying is so godly. And you wonder why more and more people are abandoning the church and no longer believing your hocus pocus and bullshit lies?
Billy Budd
Some day, some day religion will gradually become extinct in the developed countries of the world. I won’t be alive to see it, but it will surely happen. It is already happening in the nordic countries.
Kieran
Wouldn’t Jesus approve of this sister encouraging fear, hatred and loathing of people who are already the objects of much scorn, ridicule and discrimination in society? Umm no, Jesus would probably say to this nun, “Stop judging others you hypocrite. Take that log out of your own eye first”
JimboinLA
I was raised with this type of thinking and when I first started masturbating I felt extreme guilt and shame about it. People like this need to be kept far away from children.
Polaro
You think teenage boys are nuts? Stop them from masterbating. There will be blood in the streets.
Billy Budd
I never felt ashamed of masturbation. When I had my first orgasm, I celebrated on a swing, at my grandfather’s farm.
tjr101
WTF? April fools right??? Do these people realize it’s 2014, no wonder the Catholic Church is bleeding members. Good luck convincing teenage boys not to masturbate.
Kangol
@Desert Boy:
Did you really have to go there? Really? R@cism sucks.
Nixter
@Kieran: Yes, BUT would He approve of our homosexuality? I don’t know. Not sure.
Mezaien
@Desert Boy: Hahahaahahah you are, so funny and, so right.
Desert Boy
@Kangol: A concern troll defending a hater. That’s so precious.
sejjo
She’s so ignorant it’s adorable. Can I keep her?
jonjct
A stupid statement made by someone who shouldn’t have anything at all to say on the topic. She knows nothing and should say precisely that, nothing, on matters of faith and morals. So, we hope she just goes away. But here’s the real problem. Queerty, seeing an opportunity to again engage in anti-catholic rhetoric has elevated this story, as if what she says matters. It doesn’t matter so why pretend that she has all the moral authority of the Pope, when Queerty knows this is just a piddling little nothing statement made by a piddling little nothing nun? The answer? It’s another opportunity to hold the catholic church up to ridicule, to mock the church, to make fun and bully the Catholic faith the way children do in a schoolyard. Another chance to play mean girls. Queerty’s logo boasts “free of an agenda, except that gay one”, well, that’s not true. The agenda is apparent. Ridicule Catholics. Queerty editors are haters, and judging by the comments from readers whenever there is a story like this one, Queerty’s readers are haters too. It saddens me that my gay brothers are utterly intolerant of my catholic beliefs and that they feel free to make fun of me in the most hideous way. My faith is my connection to God and the gays gather around, catcalling, acting like the jackals, pointing fingers at me for my beliefs. It is ugly to see gays, who demand respect and tolerance behave in ways which are deliberately disrespectful and intolerant. I am surrounded by people who hate me for my faith. Hypocrite much gentlemen?
jheryn
Between 500 & 1000? Holy cow. Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a quota. I’ll never catch up now.
DonW
@Desert Boy: Please define “concern troll” — another one of those meaningless insults people throw around when they don’t have a valid argument. How did he defend her, as opposed to trying to uphold a civil standard of discussion?
You do realize, don’t you, that our right-wing enemies closely read these forums and screen-capture evidence of how “hateful” and “depraved” we are? It’s in our best interest to be mature.
GeriHew
I think this is the sort of thing James Baldwin was referring to when he said: “Fear of homosexuality is fear of sex itself.”
kevininbuffalo
I went to a Catholic grade school. I was taught by nuns and I’m Gay, therefore nuns cause homosexuality. Makes as much sense as anything she said.
richybruce
She needs to get laid.
Miss Understood
@jonjct: You talk as if this is isolated. Every time Catholic leaders open up their mouths about GLBT people they say terrible things. You have a right to your beliefs but that doesn’t make them free from criticism. Pope Francis called same sex marriage a “machination of the Father of Lies” Sorry, calling out hate isn’t hate.
http://www.queerty.com/pope-francis-i-same-sex-marriage-is-a-machination-of-the-father-of-lies-20130313/
tdx3fan
@RSun: I’m about right on schedule and completely disease free. I feel absolutely no sense of shame about how many partners I have had.
tdx3fan
@Billy Budd: The belief that religion would go instinct is by no means new. It dates back to the creation of religion. As long as people are weak and easily dominated, there will be people that create crazy, insane mythology in order to dominate them. That will not change. Ever!
tdx3fan
@jonjct: Your religious beliefs are your religious beliefs, but if you fail to educate yourself on all of the harm that your religion has done… then you are being moronic.
You are willfully part of a church that still bashes gays, still belittles women, still causes the HIV crisis in Africa due to failing to allow for birth control, still has a very archaic view of the very mythology it claims to represent and has been doing this for the entirety of its creation. Your church has more blood on its hands than all of the serial killers and ethic cleansers combined… including Hitler, Stalin and the like.
That is not even mentioning the priests that liked adolescent boys and the amount of work that went into covering that up.
I completely respect your religious beliefs, but I do not respect your right to bury your head in the sand. If you are going to claim the church as yours then you owe it to yourself to educate yourself about all the wrongs about it before you bitch us all out for pointing them out to you. We are not even criticizing the church, we are simply holding a mirror up to it.
tdx3fan
@DonW: Such a bull argument. They do not need “evidence” to back up their beliefs. Their beliefs are delusional. I am also not going to censor myself in action or word based on the delusional beliefs of someone else. If you want to, all the power to you, but you are probably being delusional.
RSun
@tdx3fan: You’re an overachiever. 🙂 No judgement here.
tjr101
@jonjct: Cry me a river. Instead of waving the victim card what are you doing to change the Catholic church? Are you outspoken or do you just quietly genuflect like a good soldier? The critizisms the catholic church receives in modern times is nothing compared to the harm it has done to gays, women and other minorities for generations. I grew up catholic, as a child I didn’t have a choice, but as an adult there is no valid reason to be silently complicit in such an organization.
Ian
500 to 1000?! I’m not even in the double digits range….sigh. Bad Gay! Bad!
newecreator
I keep on masturbating but I will never be gay enough. NO!!!