Pope Francis, the “People’s Pope” and one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most beloved pontiffs, who was laid to rest today after passing into the arms of God on Easter Monday at age 88, nonetheless left behind a complicated legacy on LGBTQ+ inclusion in the
Is this just a blunder, or has the Pope revealed his true colors? Pope Francis sent global shock waves when the news broke that he used the highly offensive F-word frociaggine (“faggotness” in Italian) in a closed-door conversation at the Italian Bishops’ Conference. During a
For three weeks in October, Catholics from around the world came to Rome for the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to discuss a range of topics confronting the present-day Church as it prepares to govern itself in the future. Among the many Catholics
It’s a rare opportunity to meet the pope. It’s even rarer if you’re a transgender Catholic. However, on November 19, in Torvaianica, Italy, a community of transwomen, many whom are sex workers, were welcomed and seated in a vast auditorium with over a thousand other
[The passing of former Pope Benedict XVI] marks what is, I hope, the end of a long, painful era for LGBTQIA+ Catholics, our families, and the entire church. (DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke) Pope Benedict XVI, who served as pope from 2005 until his historic
Please don’t rehab ‘God’s Rottweiler,’ who pushed cruelty Pro tip: If you subscribe to a faith system that isn’t centered around loving and caring for other human beings, then you’re not really religious, you’re just in a hate group. (Text of a popular Internet meme)
In the pantheon of slain Americans who have furthered civil rights gains of a marginalized group, Rita Hester, an African-American transgender woman, is among them. There had been several transgender murders prior to Rita’s — including that of Chanelle Pickett in Watertown, Mass., in 1995,
In LGBTQ+ History Month it’s worth recognizing how difficult it is not to read modern prejudices or hopes back into the lives of famous characters. Before the 19th-century category of sexual orientation labelled “homosexuality” was invented there wasn’t a way to categorize those we’d today
Bishops incite anti-trans hate A friend of mine in Puerto Rico tipped me off the other day that the American territory’s Conference of Catholic Bishops was endorsing a massive street protest against local political efforts to make the island safer and more legally equitable for transgender
Powerful priest exposes Church hate speech Last autumn as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops actively lobbied Congress to kill a proposed national suicide hotline because it directed help to suicidal LGBTQ+ people, the Conference elected Jeffrey Burrill as their general secretary. He had worked as a