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Archbishop’s Extreme Anti-Gay Attack: LGBT Organizations Respond

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Today, Archbishop John Myers (image, right,) unleashed a long-planned, 16-page attack against the LGBT community, comparing same-sex marriage with incest, demanding gay people abstain from accepting communion, and citing a debunked, fraudulent anti-gay parenting study.

READ: Archbishop Publishes Fear-Mongering Policy Comparing Gay Marriage To Incest

Several LGBT organizations have responded. Below, the full text of each. We’ll update this post with any others as they become available.

Truth Wins Out Slams New Jersey Catholic Archbishop for Anti-Gay Pastoral Statement

 

Newark Abp. John Myers’ Declaration that Pro-Equality Catholics Should Not Receive Communion is Reprehensible, Says TWO
 

BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out slammed Newark, New Jersey Catholic Archbishop John Myers today after he said in a pastoral statement that Catholics who support marriage equality are unfit to partake in the Eucharist and should “refrain from receiving Holy Communion.” Notices informing parishioners of Myers’ statement, in which he also compares marriage equality to incest, will be distributed this weekend in every Catholic parish in the Newark Archdiocese.

Myers’ anti-gay remarks come just one day after Salvatore Cordileone, archbishop-elect of San Francisco, told the Los Angeles Times that gay and lesbian Catholics who are sexually active should not present themselves for the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

“The actions of Archbishops Myers and Cordileone make it abundantly clear that homophobic bigotry is the official institutional policy of the Roman Catholic Church,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “The American Catholic bishops have gone off the deep end with their anti-gay extremism and get crazier every day.”

“Archbishop Myers’ use of the Eucharist – the central act of Catholic worship and the cornerstone of Catholic identity – as a weapon with which to divide his flock and silence pro-equality Catholics is religion-based bigotry in its most reprehensible form,” added John Becker, Director of Communications & Development for Truth Wins Out. “Catholics believe Holy Communion to be the body and blood of Christ, and I can’t think of a greater distortion of Jesus’s message than excluding those who believe that all people, regardless of whom they love, should be equally welcome at Christ’s table.”

In Myers’ statement, he also explicitly endorses the practice of gay people marrying non-gay spouses, saying that such couples were capable of living “good, faithful, and even joyous married lives. It is a lie to say that they are living, or have lived, a lie.”

Dr. Amity Buxton, founder of the Straight Spouse Network and co-author of Unseen-Unheard: Journey of Straight Spouses, strongly disagrees with Myers’ claim:

“While some gay/straight marriages work and some may even be happy, hiding a part of oneself from one’s mate is not only dishonest but also harmful to one’s own integrity or wholeness. In the many cases where gay or lesbian spouses eventually come out, after struggling to be straight for years, the revelation makes straight spouses realize they have been unknowingly living someone else’s lie,” she told TWO. “Their own identity, integrity, and belief system are shattered. It takes three to six years for them to to reconfigure self-confidence and trust. Since most couples divorce after disclosure, their children have to grow up in a broken family.”

In an interview with the Record, a northern New Jersey newspaper, Myers blamed the media, divorce, and contraception for the surge in social acceptance for same-sex marriage. He also indicated that he didn’t believe polls showing that a majority of Catholics support marriage equality.

“Despite what Abp. Myers may wish to believe, polls consistently show that Catholics support LGBT rights, including full civil marriage equality, at a higher rate than the general public,” said Becker. “When he says that Catholics who don’t subscribe to that church’s Stone-Age sexual mores are unworthy of full participation in the Church, he’s not marginalizing a small sliver of the Catholic population, but nearly three-fourths of all Catholics in America. With prelates like Myers promulgating these appallingly divisive and discriminatory views, it’s no wonder that membership in the Catholic Church is falling fast and priestly vocations have cratered.”

* * *

Garden State Equality response to today’s statement of the Most Reverend John J. Myers,
Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Newark, comparing marriage equality to incest

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

 

Statement of Garden State Equality Chair Steven Goldstein:

“First, though we at Garden State Equality profoundly disagree with Archbishop Myers’ views on a number of public policy issues, including marriage equality, we express our appreciation to the Catholic Church for its leadership in helping the poor, the homeless and the hungry.  Polarization in politics must not blind us from complementing our opponents where they stand up for certain values we have in common.

“Secondly, Archbishop Myers is entitled to speak out as he wishes on public policy issues, as he has done here.  Though he comes close to having his church endorse candidates in violation of the law, the real test will be how his statement is used at the local level, especially considering that we are now in the heart of the campaign season.

“Thirdly, we must address Archbishop Myers’ remarks, which compare being gay to incest.  When those with whom you differ make remarks that millions will find hurtful, and millions more will find alienating, it’s best to let those astonishing remarks speak for themselves.

“That said, we’re not sure why Archbishop Myers would want to widen the gap between his own views and the majority of Catholics who favor marriage equality.  As The Bergen Record reported today, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, 53 percent of American Catholics favor marriage equality, and the number rises to 72 percent among Catholics between the ages of 18 and 34.

“We at Garden State Equality are deeply proud that so many of our members are practicing Catholics, both straight and LGBT Catholics alike.”

 * * *

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News

Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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18 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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The Fox News host who targeted a juror serving on Donald Trump’s criminal New York trial is now suggesting the ex-president should violate his gag order and “force” the court to throw him in jail, by quoting the Fox News host.

Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

The judge excused her, after she said she felt she was not able to be impartial because friends and family were calling her asking if she had been chosen to serve on the Trump trial, after the media blitz.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

READ MORE: Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to not mention witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, or the family members of prosecutors and court staff, CNN has reported.

New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

RELATED: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

“I would make them put me in jail,” Watters said on Fox News. “I would have a tweet about something perhaps I said on ‘The Five’ or ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ and I would force them to throw me in jail.”

Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

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20 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

RELATED: Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

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Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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23 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

RELATED: ‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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