I have just returned home to the warm bosom of my lesbian household after attending the lecture, “FOCUS on Truth: Why Marriage has never been gay,” delivered by Father John a spokesperson for the Catholic Church. Catholic Campus Ministry (FOCUS) sponsored the event in Lindsey Auditorium.

I was standing in the Q&A line when time ended and before I could address the majority student crowd. Here is what I would have said given the chance: I am a happy, healthy, 46-year-old recovering Catholic lesbian professor at DU, and I want all of you in the crowd to know that you are loved.

Do not let the discriminatory dogma of the Catholic church you heard preached by Father John tonight hurt you or those you care for.  Know that if you are looking for a new spiritual community because you cannot reconcile the gifts you’ve been given as a homosexual with the irrational, patriarchal and blind mandates concocted by a body of self-proclaimed “holy men,” that there are many faiths that believe in the worth and dignity of all people.” Know that Father John, like many others who argue against gay marriage, misstated known research that children are happiest and healthiest when raised in a loving environment, regardless of the sexual orientation of their caregivers. Know that tonight, while Father John was representing the Church’s statements on homosexuality, a majority of Catholics support gay rights of all kinds, marriage, workplace rights and the right to serve openly in the military.  I know a number of these folks because they showed up at my own wedding eight years ago!

So it seems that Father John is a bit out of touch with his own flock, and like others of his kind who insist homosexuals continue to ride in the back of the bus, he needs to catch up to the fact that we are all equal and should be treated as such. How many times do we need to learn this lesson? Six million died at the hands of Hitler because he claimed Jews were inferior. Our own despicable history of slavery, justified by the Bible, the very document Father John used repeatedly in his arguments, shows us how wrong the cultural majority was to extinguish the value of Africans.

So, I say again, especially to the queer youth in the crowd who respectfully sat through Father John’s earnest but heartbreakingly misguided homily, you are loved.

Peace,

Dr. Sheila E. Schroeder,

Associate Professor

Department of Media, Film and

Journalism Studies