I have been trying to write about sex and religion, because I’m convinced that Catholic teaching about sex is all wrong and would, if it could, deprive gay men and women of the joys and challenges of physical intimacy.
Good sex—affectionate, mutually desired, fun — is a measure of our humanity. Of course, we don’t need sex to make us fully human; I have friends who took vows of chastity to devote their lives to a greater love, and they’re as human as can be. But for most of us, sex teaches us how to be naked, in all senses, with another human being. (And for some of us, that takes a lot of trial-and-error.)
But every time I start writing about sex and religion, I end up writing about bigotry. At the moment, the latter seems a more pressing issue. We could have predicted that President Donald Trump’s response to Charlottesville would be inadequate. Responses like that simply embolden bigotry against anyone that extremists like Steve Bannon don’t want in America.
And gay and transgender men and women have become targets of the administration’s bigotry, as well. Trump has announced that he wants to deny transgender men and women military service, and Jeff Sessions denies that gay rights are civil rights.
Last year here in Juneau, the Catholic Diocese opposed the city’s antidiscrimination ordinance, arguing that the ordinance violated the Church’s religious freedom. It was a specious argument. All the Church wanted was the freedom to not hire anyone whose lifestyle (i.e., sexual practices) they object to.
The Diocese pretended that it wasn’t about gays but about all behaviors prohibited by church teachings, such as divorce and pre-marital sex. But the Church employs plenty of divorced people. Indeed, I believe that one of our local priests is divorced. And it’s a safe bet that many employees of the church — good Catholics and normal people all — have sex before marriage.
The CBJ ordinance passed, but it was distressing to see the Diocese so intent on privileging its own institutional dictates over the well-being of gay men and women. It’s discrimination, no matter what you call it; discrimination against gay and transgender men and women is no different than racism and antisemitism.
Discrimination against gays implicitly condones discrimination against anyone. You may not think so in your own mind, but other bigots do — they recognize it as confirmation, validation, justification. They know a friend when they see one. Ask them about Donald Trump.
For years I viewed the Church’s prejudices as accidents of history that only history can resolve, and I was content with helping history along by writing against the Church’s homophobia and misogyny.
I can’t wait for history any more, not with armed neo-Nazis marching in American streets and a president who needs to be prodded to speak out against them.
Earlier this year I suggested to several members of the diocesan clergy that, as part of Juneau’s Year of Kindness, it would be an extraordinary act of kindness for the Diocese to issue a public apology to Juneau for having opposed the antidiscrimination ordinance.
Imagine the great good will that would come from such an apology! That goodwill would come not just from Juneau’s gay and transgender men and women and their friends and families (many of whom are Catholic), but from everyone in Juneau who cares about human rights.
I raised the suggestion first in an email, but got no reply. So I broached the idea in person on my way out of Mass one Sunday. My suggestion met with an unexpectedly stony response. “Above our pay grade,” I was told.
It’s a sad day when members of the clergy think of kindness and justice as above their pay grade.
Let’s hope that our incoming bishop, Father Andrew Bellisario, doesn’t think so. Let’s hope he resolves to lead Juneau down a kinder and more truly loving path than his predecessor.
In any event, it’s time for Catholics who care about social justice and human rights to raise our voices and not allow our Diocese to promote intolerance of any kind. We have to embody the love we say we believe in.
• Jim Hale lives in Juneau.
