In my opinion, the Catholic Church is making an overt political power play by threatening to stop accepting public funding for their Catholic Charities work if the funding requires them to recognize same sex marriages. Public funding accounts for nearly half the CC budget. It is a calculated move that comes across as a threat. I don't see the difference. If the District believes they can fill those contracts with providers willing to play by the rules, why wouldn't they try?
I read this piece and thought to myself "This was written/edited to be picked up nationally."
"The first presentation of this in the media was that the mean,
homophobic Catholic archbishop threatens to starve little children
because the city council wants equality for gays, rather than pointing
out that it's the city council that is changing the rules and
threatening these programs."
Well, that's a mature comment. The Archbishop is homophobic, buddy. I have no idea if he's mean, but this little snark is a gross exaggeration and sadly hypocritical when you don't acknowledge that your own allies engage in that exact level of distortion (the gays are converting your kids by adopting them, the transvestites are invading your dressing room).
This is an incredibly relevant dialogue right now. The "good Catholic boy" card is one that both Dan Onorato and Jack Wagner will play over and over again in their quest for Camelot. Our own "good Catholic boy" Mayor has hired a privacy lawyer and avoided the word divorce ... wouldn't it be refreshing if he hired a couples counselor and owned up to the fact that marriage is hard, period? Ha. I guess that will happen when we get a coherent explanation of how exactly a same sex marriage undermines a traditional marriage.
In other news, the Episcopal Church has elected an openly lesbian, partnered Bishop. Woo hoo!