Bishops More Welcoming to LGBT, but Not to Women
The surprisingly conciliatory tone regarding gay Catholics in the working document for the family synod released yesterday is being described by some as an “earthquake” and “revolutionary.” But it’s not so much the content that’s groundbreaking—it’s the fact that the church is admitting that yes, on hot-button issues it can evolve, something it has denied for the past 35 years.
Let’s face it, in admitting that “[h]omosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community” and that same-sex unions offer “mutual aid to the point of sacrifice” that “constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners,” the leaders of the Catholic Church have more or less caught up to where the culture was in about 1997, when Ellen DeGeneres became the first openly gay character in a TV show and the news of her coming out was big enough to warrant the cover of Time magazine. The following year, “Will & Grace” debuted and mainstream America began its rapid evolution in its acceptance of both homosexuality and eventually same-sex marriage.
And this truly is a case where change at the top comes long after the grassroots. Many congregations have welcomed LGBT Catholics for years. Gay Catholics also teach openly at many Catholic schools; it’s only when they marry that their sexual orientation becomes a problem. And Catholics have been at the forefront of acceptance of same-sex partnerships since the early 2000s; by 2010, 62% of Catholics considered gay and lesbian relations “morally acceptable.”