Six U.S. Bishops are sufficiently principled to earn a place on a hate list published by the GLAAD gay and lesbian lobbying group, just prior to Pope Francis’ visit to the United States.
“The Papal Visit: A journalist’s guide to reporting on Pope Francis and the LGBT community,” instructs the media on what topics to cover during the Pope’s U.S. visit, what to say about LGBT issues, and identifies the perceived friends and foes of the gay movement.
Its rogue’s gallery of offending bishops includes Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield.
The media guide accuses the bishops of being “anti-LGBT” and of using “intentionally inflammatory” rhetoric when speaking about gays.
Though GLAAD claims that the blacklisted bishops have said “extreme and damaging things about LGBT people,” a quick review of the long list of quotations from the offending bishops provided by the media guide reveals no such thing. In fact, the bishops make no mention of LGBT people at all. The real beef seems to be that these bishops have been vocal opponents of same-sex marriage in the United States, which has earned them the wrath of the gay lobby.
All of the bishops have spoken with respect about gay and lesbian people, and have carefully distinguished between the sin of homosexuality and the persons who engage in it.
What the list of offenses reveals, in fact, is that these have been the bishops courageous enough to come out against gay marriage, and to insist on religious liberty to opt out of performing gay marriages.
Along with the bishops, GLAAD’s guide provides media with a list of prominent lay Catholics whom it considers to be antagonistic to the gay agenda.
These villains on GLAAD’s “hate list” of defenders of traditional marriage include Maggie Gallagher, Ryan T. Anderson, Brian Brown, Bill Donahue, Mary Anne Hackett, Thomas Peters, Robert P. George, Jennifer Roback Morse and Tony Perkins.
Through its guide, GLAAD hopes to dictate to the media which terms to use and which to avoid in discussing homosexuality, as well as pointing out possible “pitfalls” in reporting on LGBT Catholics. It also suggests a series of story lines and angles to take in reporting to highlight the positive sight of LGBT life.
The guide instructs the media to avoid expressions commonly used by the Church hierarchy to describe homosexuality, such as “people with same-sex attraction,” when referring to gay people, or “disordered,” “sinful” and “immoral” when speaking of gay sex. The media should also refrain from pointing out any relation between homosexuality and the abuse of minors or other sexual crimes, the media guide says.
In a full court media press, GLAAD says it will distribute its guide to media prior to the Pope’s visit, and will be engage “with reporters in Philadelphia, providing them with resources and connecting them to LGBT organizations and individuals who will also be present.”
The one important bishop hostile to the gay agenda that GLAAD failed to include in its media guide is the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis. It was this man, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, who said that gay marriage is the devil’s “attempt to destroy God’s plan.”
Archbishop Charles Chaput, one of the “anti-LGBT” baddies prominent in the GLAAD guide, will play host to the Pope, after having invited him to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter @tdwilliamsrome