Anti-Gay Archbishop: ‘I’m Not Against Gays,’ But ‘Homosexuals Need To Lead Chaste Lives’ (Video)
In this stunning video, embattled Archbishop John Nienstedt, refusing to step down amid allegations of inappropriate sex with another man and a disastrous handling of child sex abuse cases, shares his thoughts on gay people and same-sex marriage.
Archbishop John Nienstedt, the man best-known for spamming 400,000 Minnesota households with unrequested anti-gay DVDs in a failed attempt to prevent same-sex couples from being allowed to marry, is at the center of calls from within and without his own church to resign.
The 67-year old Roman Catholic prelate was accused of inappropriate touching of a young boy’s behind. He was cleared of those charges, but shortly thereafter was accused of inappropriate sexual contact with men. He has, and in the video below, denies he has ever had “homosexual relationships,” and denies he is gay or homosexual.Â
But Archbishop Nienstedt is also at the center of controversy for ignoring or covering up child sex abuse charges against priests he has overseen.
In a fascinating 30-minute unedited video made by FOX 9 News/KMSP-TV anchor Tom Lyden in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nienstedt addresses all of these issues, and more.
Below, the interview starts with Nienstedt being asked if he is gay, then moves direct into his beliefs — and those of the Catholic Church — about the lives gay people should lead. It is as full of hypocrisy as his claim that the attempt to ban same-sex couples from marrying was “not intended to be hurtful or discriminatory.”
Nienstedt: I’m not against gays. I look at all individuals [as] children of God and they deserve the respect and the dignity of their personhood.
Lyden: That’s not what you said about Brokeback Mountain the movie. You came out pretty strongly about that being an immoral movie.
N: I was critical of the movie, yes. I don’t know if I used the word ‘immoral.’
L: And yet that seems to contradict what you’re telling me now, your criticism of that movie.
N: The church makes a clear distinction between someone who would have an attraction that would be same sex and the behavior itself.
L: So when you say you have nothing against homosexuals, you have nothing against homosexuals as long as they’re not having sex.
N: We believe, correctly, that sexual relations take place within the context of a committed marriage relationship.
L: And yet the church is opposed to marriage and you fought gay marriage.
N: I didn’t fight gay marriage. I fought for marriage as a traditional understanding of a union between a man and a woman.
L: I don’t want to get too off the rails on this issue, and yet there is a contradiction here that I don’t think can be denied. On the one hand, you said you’re not against homosexual relations as long as they take place in the confines of a marriage, a committed relationship–
N: I didn’t say homosexual… [sex is to take place] within the context of a marriage relationship between a man and a woman.
L: Okay. What about homosexuals?
N: Homosexuals need to lead chaste lives.
L: They need to lead celibate lives?
N: Well, yes.
L: Okay. Does that seem reasonable to you, that we should all lead the lives of priests?
N: Well… um…
L: Tell me, archbishop, why should I lead the life of a priest?
A: Because it is of your nature to, um, express yourself sexually through a committed relationship.
L: I am. I’ve been with the same partner and husband now for 21 years.
Watch:
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Transcript via Aaron Rupar at Minneapolis City Pages
Image: Screenshot via YouTube
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Previously on The New Civil Rights Movement:
Gay Sex Investigation Of Archbishop Payback For Condemning ‘Brokeback Mountain’ Says Donohue
US Archbishop: Satan Is ‘The Source’ Of Same-Sex Marriage
Archbishop: Mom Of Gay Son May Go To Hell If She Doesn’t Embrace Church Anti-Gay Teachings
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
