Matt Foreman on the Death of the Pope

http://www.thetaskforce.org/media/release.cfm?releaseID=808

[Monday, April 4, 2005

On the death of John Paul II
A Personal Reflection

What is a gay person supposed to think or say about the fact that John Paul II is dead?

I have many responses and they feel schizophrenic.

I was raised in a devoutly Catholic family (the parish priest is still a frequent guest in my parents' home), was taught (and tortured) in Catholic schools, seriously considered going into the seminary (what gay Catholic boy doesn't?), and worked hard (but unsuccessfully) for years to reconcile being Catholic and gay.

They say that you can never escape Catholicism's grip, and I think that's largely true. There's a large part of me still wrapped in the incense, rituals, sacraments, penance, Purgatory, robes, and rosaries of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church. That side of me feels it would be blasphemous to speak anything but praise and admiration for the pope, his commitment to the poor, his steadfast opposition to war, capital punishment, secular totalitarianism and crass materialism, and his stoicism in the face of illness.

The serious gay side of me says I should speak the truth about the needless anguish this papacy caused lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Its unrelenting rhetoric — with the underlying theme that homosexuality is intrinsically evil — has justified and fomented untold violence and discrimination — and for so many gay Catholics — self-loathing and despair. Should I forget the blind eye the hierarchy turned to rampant sexual abuse of children by priests and its calculated attempt to pin the scandal on gay people? I want to scream my anger at the thousands — and now millions — of needless deaths because of the church's blocking safer sex education and the distribution of condoms — in the name of promoting the sanctity of life.

The campy gay sides of me just want to imitate Bette Davis' famous statement about Joan Crawford on the Tonight Show, a few weeks after the death of her long-time nemesis. But the rejected-altar boy side insists, correctly, that that retort must be reserved for those with no redeeming qualities and John Paul II had many.

Sadly, we know there will be only one side in the media response to the life and death of the pope and it will be tantamount to canonization — a sad disservice to the truth.

Matt Foreman


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Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was the first national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and advocacy organization and remains the movement's leading voice for freedom, justice, and equality. We work to build the grassroots political strength of our community by training state and local activists and leaders and organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation. Our Policy Institute, the community's premiere think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a world that respects and makes visible the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society. Headquartered in Washington, DC, we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Cambridge, and Miami]