Among gay Long Islanders, a mixed blessing in pope's message

Pope Francis's comment that criminalizing homosexuality is “unjust" struck a bittersweet tone Wednesday among gay Catholics on Long Island — hope that the church is moving toward long-elusive acceptance but also frustration at his insistence their sexual orientation is a "sin"

In an interview with The Associated Press at the Vatican, Francis said God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops to welcome members of the LGBTQ community into the church. 

“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” he told the AP at his papal apartment. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity."

Even so, the pope stayed consistent with the Catholic Church's official teachings about homosexuality.

“It’s not a crime Yes," Francis said, "but it’s a sin."

Mixed messages

The pope's comments were “one step forward, two steps back,” said Jamie Manson, a longtime Long Beach resident who is lesbian and heads the nonprofit Catholics for Choice in Washington, D.C.

Francis's remarks, which also included his decrying anti-gay laws in certain countries, were powerful, Manson acknowledged, partly because the Vatican — which holds permanent observer status at the United Nations — exerts substantial sway.

The pope made his comments before a trip to Africa, where some countries criminalize homosexuality.

“For the safety and well-being of LGBT people internationally, this is a very good thing,” Manson said.

But the pope's comment that being gay is a sin creates "profound shame and stigma not only for LGBT people, but also for their families,” Manson said. “What it essentially says is that our love, same-sex love, is not capable of goodness or holiness, that God cannot work through our love, and that is enormously powerful and stigmatizing.”

Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws.

Church teachings

Connell Friel, who worships at both St. Patrick’s, a Catholic church in Smithtown, and Infant Jesus in Port Jefferson, said Francis’s comments just reinforced Catholic teachings. He cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says in part: "Homosexual acts are morally wrong because they violate God's purpose for human sexual activity."

The church believes that “we should hate the sin but love the sinner,” Friel said. “It’s always been a pretty welcoming message.”

Laura Hull, a parishioner at St. Mary’s parish in Manhasset and the mother of a gay child, said she and her husband, Brian, were thrilled with the pope’s comments.

“We applaud Pope Francis for moving the church in the right direction in the name of inclusion, tenderness and just love, not only for LGBTQ, but for all God’s children,” she said. “I’ve never felt it was a sin. I gave birth to a gay child. No one is ever going to tell me that he is less of a gift from God than any other child or human being that walks this earth."

Signs of change

Francis has previously made comments urging the church to be more open to homosexuals, she noted, such as his 2013 “Who am I to judge?” comment when asked about gay priests.

Dennis McCarthy, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Snow Roman Catholic Church in Blue Point, noted that being gay used to be a crime on Long Island.  Among other places: Being gay could mean getting arrested more than a half-century ago at The Ice Palace in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, he said.

Francis is “making it very clear to the church that homosexuality is not a crime and that the hierarchy of the church should really acknowledge that and welcome members of the gay community to the church in those parts of the world where they are not being welcomed,” he said.

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