Political activity of the Catholic Church on LGBT issues

For broader coverage of this topic, see Catholic Church and homosexuality.

The political activity of the Catholic Church on LGBT issues consists of efforts made by the Roman Catholic Church to support or oppose civil government legislation that conforms with Catholic moral theology and Catholic Social Teaching surrounding issues of importance to LGBT people. The Church generally condemns all forms of violence against gay and lesbian people and all criminal penalties against them. However, the Church in certain countries has on occasion actively resisted efforts to decriminalize homosexuality or to introduce measures to tackle discrimination. The Catholic Church also supports legally defining marriage in civil legislation as the union of one man and one woman, therefore generally opposing efforts to introduce gay civil unions and gay marriage - although some clergymen have expressed support for same-sex unions. The Church teaches that not all discrimination is "unjust," and that sometimes the rights of gay men and women can be limited. The Church is active in local, national, and international forums.

Dignity and rights of gay men and women

The Catholic Church has been described as sending "mixed signals" regarding respect and rights based on sexual orientation. It holds that sexual orientation is different from qualities such as race, ethnicity, sex, or age in that it is usually not known unless disclosed. Nevertheless the Church holds that all people, including those who are LGBT, should be treated with respect and that the "intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law." It teaches that all men and women are made in the image and likeness of God, giving every human an inherent dignity. This inherent dignity forms "the bedrock" of Catholic Social Teaching. There is nothing that can diminish a person's "inherent and immeasurable worth and dignity" or the sacredness of their life. Given their inherent dignity, the Catholic Church advocates for and defends the fundamental human rights "of every person, irrespective of sexual orientation," including the right "to be treated by individuals and by society with dignity, respect and fairness."

Church teaching also includes the "duty to oppose discrimination in all circumstances where a person's sexual orientation or activity cannot reasonably be regarded as relevant." A 1992 letter from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger condemned gay bashing and mandated respect for the intrinsic dignity of each person in word, in action and in law. It said that LGBT people "have the same rights as all persons including the right of not being treated in a manner which offends their personal dignity," and have the right to work, to housing, and others. It adds that:

It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs. It reveals a kind of disregard for others which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society. The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law.

But at the same time Ratzinger suggested that anti-gay violence could be the fault of victims if they push too hard to seek equal rights, thereby absolving responsibility by those who conduct violent behaviour:

When civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground and irrational and violent reactions increase.

The Church does also teach that rights to public housing, employment in certain industries, or other areas are not absolute and that they can, and sometimes should, be limited for people of all orientations to "protect the common good." Acting is this way does not constitute unjust discrimination.

The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales wrote in 1979 that the Church "has a serious responsibility to work for the elimination of any injustices perpetrated on homosexuals by society. As a group that has suffered more than its share of oppression and contempt, the homosexual community has particular claim upon the concern of the Church."

At a 2009 United Nations event, the Church spoke out against all forms of violence and unjust discrimination directed towards LGBT people, and opposed "all violent or discriminatory penal legislation" that undermines the inherent dignity of the human person. However, in 2014, the United Nation's Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern in a report about the Holy See's past statements and declarations on homosexuality which it said "contribute to the social stigmatization of and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescents and children raised by same sex couples." The Committee urged the Holy See to "make full use of its moral authority to condemn all forms of harassment, discrimination or violence against children based on their sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of their parents and to support efforts at international level for the decriminalisation of homosexuality." The Church had already done so in 2008.

Decriminalization of homosexuality

National level

In various countries, members of the Catholic Church have intervened on occasions both to both support efforts to decriminalize homosexuality, and also to ensure it remains an offence under criminal law.

In the 1960s, the Catholic Church supported the call of the Wolfenden report to introduce legislation to decriminalise homosexual acts in England and Wales. In Australia, Cardinal Archbishop Norman Thomas Gilroy supported efforts begun in the 1970s to likewise change the law. In the United States the Catholic National Federation of Priests' Councils declared their opposition to "all civil laws which make consensual homosexual acts between adults a crime."

Cardinal Oswald Gracias has spoken out against India's anti-sodomy laws

In the 1970s and 1980s in Belize, and India, the local churches opposed the decriminalization of homosexual acts. These positions were against those of the Vatican. However, in later years, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Mumbai, spoke out against India’s anti-sodomy law.

Cardinal Thomas Williams opposed decriminalisation of homosexuality in New Zealand

In New Zealand in the 1980s, although the Church declined to submit a formal response to the parliamentary enquiry on decriminalization, Cardinal Williams did issue a statement opposing homosexual law reform. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, a President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and one of the eight members of Pope Francis's Council of Cardinal Advisers, declared it wrong to make gay people criminals, since the Catholic Church "teaches that homosexuals have the same dignity of every human being and condemns all forms of unjust discrimination, harassment or abuse."

Days after a law was signed criminalizing homosexual acts in Nigeria, a editorial in "The Southern Cross" (a newspaper run jointly by the bishops of South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland) criticised the law, calling on the Catholic Church in Africa to stand with the powerless and "sound the alarm at the advance throughout Africa of draconian legislation aimed at criminalizing homosexuals." It noted the "deep-seated sense of homophobia" in Africa and said the Catholic church had too often been "silent, in some cases even quietly complicit" in the face of the new anti-gay measures. At least one bishop argued that the Catholic Church would "defend any person with a homosexual orientation who is being harassed, who is being imprisoned, who is being punished." Reports suggested that the influence of Pope Francis may have led to him modifying his initial rhetoric.

In Uganda, some bishops joined other religious leaders in calling on parliamentarians to make progress in enacting a anti-homosexuality bill. In 2015, Bishop Giuseppe Franzelli in the diocese of Lira, denied that the Catholic Church in Uganda is institutionally behind any push towards anti-gay legislation, and called for "respect and love" for gay people. Rather he blamed fundamentalist US Christian groups as well as "individual Catholics, including some bishops" for encouraging greater criminal sanctions. The Papal Nuncio to Uganda, Archbishop Michael Blume, voiced concern and shock at the bill.

Global level

In 2008, the Holy See, as an observer at the United Nations, called for an end to unjust discrimination and criminal penalties directed against homosexuals. They opposed a measure that would pressure countries into legalizing gay marriage.

Speaking on the floor of the General Assembly, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's representative at the United Nations General Assembly, said: "The Holy See appreciates the attempts made [in the draft declaration] to condemn all forms of violence against homosexual persons as well as urge States to take necessary measures to put an end to all criminal penalties against them," but added that its failure to define the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" would produce "serious uncertainty" and "undermine the ability of States to enter into and enforce new and existing human rights conventions and standards." He added in an interview that the proposed declaration would put pressure on countries to enact gay marriage and allow gay couples to adopt children.

Archbishop Tomasi opposed recognition of gay rights at the United Nations

During discussion at the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 of a Joint Statement on Ending Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, the Holy See's representative, Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, stated: "A state should never punish a person, or deprive a person of the enjoyment of any human right, based just on the person's feelings and thoughts, including sexual thoughts and feelings. But states can, and must, regulate behaviors, including various sexual behaviors. Throughout the world, there is a consensus between societies that certain kinds of sexual behaviors must be forbidden by law. Pedophilia and incest are two examples." He later said of that resolution that recognizing gay rights would cause discrimination against religious leaders and that there was concern lest consequent legislation would lead to "natural marriages and families" being "socially downgraded."

On 28 January 2012, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, gave a speech calling on African nations to repeal laws that place sanctions on homosexual conduct. Speaking to a journalist, African Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, called the speech stupid. He added: 'Poor countries like Africa just accept it because it's imposed upon them through money, through being tied to aid.'" He said that African bishops must react against this move against African culture. Meanwhile, Cardinal Peter Turkson, while recognising that some of the sanctions imposed on homosexuals in Africa are an "exaggeration," stated that the "intensity of the reaction is probably commensurate with tradition." "Just as there's a sense of a call for rights, there's also a call to respect culture, of all kinds of people," he said. "So, if it's being stigmatized, in fairness, it's probably right to find out why it is being stigmatized." He also called for distinction to be made between human rights and moral issues.

Discrimination laws

Europe

In 1997, Catholic bishops in Poland were successful in opposing the introduction of provisions into the country's constitution that would bar discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. In 2010, the European Union criticized schools and colleges owned by the Catholic Church in Poland for refusing to employ staff that were openly gay. In January 2013, the Catholic Church in Poland publicly thanked members of parliament for voting down a bill that would have allowed same-sex civil partnerships.

Australia

In 2018, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference joined the Anglican Diocese of Sydney to publicly call for a religious freedom act to protect protect religious exemptions to discrimination laws. They said that their teaching "makes it clear that a gay person should be assessed for employment on the same basis as anyone else” and that "staff in a school could reasonably be expected to support the teachings of the particular religion, to not undermine that teaching and to act as role models to their students."

United States

In 1975, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops taught that LGBT people "should not suffer prejudice against their basic human rights. They have the right to respect, friendship and justice." The following year, Richmond Bishop Walter Sullivan wrote in the Richmond News Leader that “The issue before our community and the [human rights] commission, however, is not the morality of a person’s sexual orientation, but rather a person’s rights and protection under the law. We believe that a person’s sexual orientation, whether it is one we approve or disapprove, is not a proper ground for depriving that person of the basic rights and protections that belong to all human beings."

In 1983, the bishops of the State of Washington stated that "There are those who think that gays and lesbians inevitably impart a homosexual value system to children or that they molest children. This is a prejudice and must be unmasked as such. There is no evidence that exposure to homosexuals, of itself, harms a child.... Accordingly, there is no need to make efforts to screen out all homosexually oriented persons from our educational system."

In 1992, voters in the State of Oregon were asked to vote on a Constitutional amendment that declared homosexuality, pedophilia, sadism or masochism to be "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse and they are to be discouraged and avoided." The first two religious leaders to oppose the measure were Bishops William Levada and Thomas Connolly. Connolly said the measure was not "fair, just, or appropriate" and that it was "could produce very bad results." He said that the state should not "condemn [people] for who they are, and it's wrong to deny them basic human rights." Levada said the amendment was "potentially harmful and discriminatory to homosexual citizens" and prohibited petitions for the amendment to be circulated on church property.

Following regular meetings with members of DignityUSA, Cardinal John O'Connor of New York agreed to support an anti-hate crime bill protecting LGBT people. Also in that year, in Always our Children, the US bishops taught that "the fundamental human rights of homosexual persons must be defended and that all of us must strive to eliminate any form of injustice, oppression, or violence against them."

In 2013, the United States Conference of Bishops opposed a bill that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees. While they expressed their belief that "no one should be an object of scorn, hatred, or violence for any reason, including sexual inclination," the bishops declared: "We have a moral obligation to oppose any law that would be so likely to contribute to legal attempts to redefine marriage."

The U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops intervened in 2017 in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. It filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the baker who had refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. It was joined by other Catholic organisations including the Colorado Catholic Conference, Catholic Bar Association, Catholic Medical Association, National Association of Catholic Nurses-USA and National Catholic Bioethics Centre.

Courts have upheld the dismissal of church employees for entering into same sex marriages. DignityUSA reports that more than 100 employees of Catholic institutions across the US have lost their posts from 2014-17 for being gay or for marrying a same-sex spouse.

Same-sex marriage and civil unions

Main article: Catholic Church and gay marriage

A same-sex wedding ceremony in June 2006

The Catholic Church has intervened in national political discourses to enact legislative and constitutional provisions establishing marriage as the union of a man and a woman, in line with the Church's teaching on marriage. In the United States, the leadership of the Catholic Church has taken an active and financial role in political campaigns across all states regarding same-sex marriage. In July 2003, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Canada, the country's plurality religion, protested the Chrétien government's plans to include same-sex couples in civil marriage.

In Spain and Portugal, Catholic leaders led the opposition to same-sex marriage, urging their followers to vote against it. The Irish Bishops Conference stated in their submission to a constitutional convention that, if the civil definition of marriage was changed to include same-sex marriage, so that it differed from the church's own definition, they could no longer perform civil functions at weddings.

Church leaders have also opposed the introduction of gay marriage in Australia, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Cameroon, Italy, Croatia, the Philippines, and Nigeria.

Acceptance and blessings for same-sex unions

Former Cardinal Archbishop of Milan Carlo Maria Martini said: "I disagree with the positions of those in the Church, that take issue with civil unions ...[but] the homosexual couple, as such, can never be totally equated to a marriage."

There has been some dissent expressed in recent years by senior and notable figures in the Catholic Church on whether support should be given for homosexual unions.

The Bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny, called in 2016 for the Church to devise a blessing for homosexual couples that would recognize the "exclusiveness and stability" of such unions. German Bishop Franz-Josef Bode has argued that debate should begin on permitting the blessing of same-sex unions in Catholic churches in Germany. German cardinal Reinhard Marx has suggested that blessings in Catholic churches for same-sex unions should be considered on a case by case basis.

In the Diocese of Aachen in Germany, five same-sex unions received a blessing from the local priest in the German town of Mönchengladbach. A blessing of rings for a same-sex union was made by a Catholic Dominican priest in Malta in 2015. He and his provincial were called to meet with the local bishop, and during the "cordial meeting" the bishop requested that he continue to minister to gay people, but also asked the priest to agree that in his "pastoral ministry to gay people he would continue to follow Church practices and discipline."

Cardinal Rainer Woelki, the Archbishop of Berlin, has noted the values of fidelity and reliability found in gay relationships. Over 260 Catholic theologians, particularly from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, signed a memorandum in January and February 2011, called Church 2011. It said that the Church's esteem for marriage and celibacy "does not require the exclusion of people who responsibly live out love, faithfulness, and mutual care in same-sex partnerships or in a remarriage after divorce."

In Austria the blessing of same sex unions has been conducted in at least two churches.

Transgender issues

Responding to a document published by the United States Department of Education regarding transgender students, the bishops of the United States said that "children, youth, and parents in these difficult situations deserve compassion, sensitivity, and respect." However, they criticized the document for "infringing on legitimate concerns about privacy and security on the part of the other young students and parents" when allowing transgender students to use facilities designated for the gender with which they identify. The bishops said the government did "not even attempt to achieve this balance" and pointed to the words of Pope Francis: "the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created."

The bishops of England and Wales had concerns about a proposed 2017 law that would affect transgender youths in schools, and wanted to to "ensure that there is no bullying of any sort." The Catholic Parliamentary Office in Scotland opposed allowing children as young as 16 to legally change their gender.

Diplomatic disagreements

In January 2015, the French government announced that it was proposing Laurent Stefanini as its ambassador to the Holy See. Stefanini was chief of protocol for President François Hollande and had served as France's Head of Mission to the Vatican from 2001 to 2005. Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, sent a letter to Pope Francis in support of Stefanini, a practicing Roman Catholic who is reported to be gay, but has not spoken publicly of his sexuality, nor entered into a legal same-sex relationship. He publicly supported the legalization of same-sex marriage in France in 2013. The Pope met with Stefanini for forty minutes on 17 April. By October the Vatican had neither accepted nor rejected the appointment, and press speculation blamed either Stefanini's sexual orientation, France's recent legalization of same-sex marriage, or Vatican displeasure with the fact that the nomination was leaked for political reasons. France named Stefanini its ambassador to UNESCO in April 2016.

See also

• Catholic teaching on homosexuality
• History of the Catholic Church and homosexuality
• Pastoral care for gay Catholics
• Dissent from Catholic teaching on homosexuality
• Homosexuality and Roman Catholic priests
• Gay bishops
• List of LGBT Catholics
• Christianity and transgender people

Works cited

• Peddicord, Richard. Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Question--sexual Ethics Or Social Justice?. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-55612-759-5.

Further reading

• Rundfunk, Bayerischer (3 February 2018). "Erzbischof Reinhard Marx: "Segnung homosexueller Paare ist möglich" - BR.de".
• NDR.de: Bischof für Segnung von homosexuellen Paaren (German), 10 January 2018
• Crawley, William (18 February 2011). "'We can no longer keep silent'". Will & Testament.
• "Katholische Kirche: Kardinal Marx stellt Segnung homosexueller Paare in Aussicht". 3 February 2018 – via Spiegel Online.