Today, Bondings 2.0 introduces a new monthly series on LGBT Catholic history.
In April 1991, Connecticut’s state legislature was debating a bill that would outlaw discrimination against lesbian and gay people in housing, employment, and public accommodation. The bill had originally been introduced in 1973, but always failed. On April 5, 1991, in the midst of the debate, Hartford’s Archbishop John F. Whealon wrote a column entitled “The church and the homosexual person” in the archdiocesan newspaper The Catholic Transcript, in which he stated that discrimination against lesbian and gay people “is always morally wrong.”
The following are some excerpts from Whealon’s column:
Archbishop John F. Whealon
“What is the official teaching of the Catholic Church concerning homosexuality? . . . The cornerstone of this teaching is the dignity of every human being. Every person is made in God’s image and therefore worthy of love, and must recognize in self a spiritual and mortal soul, and must regard the body as good and honorable because God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. . . . The dignity of every son and daughter of God is basic for any Catholic in approaching this question about homosexual persons. . .
Source: Bondings 2.0
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