Homosexuality Again

Last winter, within a one-week period, I wrote letters to two Christian publications on the subject of homosexuality. That was a time when there was an outbreak, approaching epidemic proportions, of trashing and bashing of the traditional Judeo-Christian stand on this subject.

The two publications, the National Catholic Reporter and The Witness (Episcopalian), were typical trashers and bashers and had been printing what seemed like scores of letters and articles devoted, almost exclusively, to the gay/lesbian side of the argument.

You may well ask, “Why did you bother to write? These publications are hopelessly biased on the subject.” You’re right, but the trouble is that I have this terrible nagging conscience that keeps asking questions, like, “Are you just going to sit back and let them keep trashing your beloved Catholic Church without a word in its defense? Are you afraid that if you write, they won’t review your book, or if they do, they’ll trash it as well? What’s the matter, sport, are you basically yellow?”

Well, of course, when Conscience begins to get nasty like that, something has to give. So I wrote the letters. Neither publication printed them. I recently called both to confirm this fact and ask why not. The editor of The Witness was very courteous and even complimentary, and encouraged me to write again when and if they raised the question again, but regretted that my letter had been somewhat late and said that was the major reason it was not printed. (I checked and noted that my letter was written in February in response to a column in the January issue. This did not seem particularly late, but I did appreciate the editor’s friendly invitation and, maybe, if I can dredge up the energy and quell the residual rumblings of resentment, I might just try again.)

At the NCR I got another courteous person who explained that they receive an awful lot of letters and that perhaps my letter was considered too long as well. I replied that it was no longer than the letter from a pro-gay gentleman who asked, “How can any thoughtful Christian, whether homosexual or not, aware of the natural validity of the homosexual lifestyle, continue to belong to a church that declares the very nature of many of its members sinful…?”