Nancy Pelosi On How You Can Be Catholic and Support Gay Rights

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-08 12:49:00 UTC
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Nancy PelosiIs there a politician in the country who can drive the anti-gay crowd madder than Rep. Nancy Pelosi? The "San Francisco liberal" certainly has a way with words -- not to mention a set of politics rooted in civil rights -- that gets under the skin of many a homophobe. Her latest example? An interview in Newsweek where she tells the magazine that the reason she supports gay rights is because of her Catholic identity, not in spite of it.

Cue the explosions from the right wing. That steaming sound you hear is the rage of writers like Elizabeth Lev over at Politics Daily, who can't fathom that Catholics can be anything other than afraid of gay people. Lev calls Pelosi a "clueless Catholic." But really, Pelosi is just an honest Catholic. You can be Catholic and support gay rights. Why? Because, as Pelosi puts it, her identity as a Catholic is rooted in a belief in social justice -- and that includes justice and equality for LGBT folks.

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift asked Pelosi how she handled her brushes with the Church hierarchy. Pelosi responded that Catholic identity isn't what a few conservatives make it out to be.

"I have some concerns about the church's position respecting a woman's right to choose. I have some concerns about the church's position on gay rights," Pelosi writes. "I am a practicing Catholic, although they're probably not too happy about that. But it is my faith. I practically mourn this difference of opinion because I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions."

Pelosi's not alone in her sentiments, at least when it comes to issues pertaining to gay rights. Witness the statistics in places like New Jersey or Rhode Island, where most Catholics not only support your standard gay rights fare, but are fully behind marriage equality. The institutional Church might consider that blasphemy. But the people in the pews just consider it basic fairness.

The right-wing can consider Pelosi's view crazy or very confused all they want. They should just remember that people who live in homophobic houses shouldn't throw stones.

Photo: speaker.gov

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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