Obama's "Faith Wrestling" When it Comes to LGBT Rights

by Michael Jones · 2009-07-07 12:25:00 UTC
Topics:

Obama religion

Well, count me puzzled here.  President Barack Obama, traveling through Russia, Europe and Africa this week, gave a briefing to members of Catholic media in advance of his upcoming meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. In many ways, Catholic media tends to be a heck of a lot closer to the National Review than to The Nation, so it was fairly bold for Obama (seen by many Catholic leaders as someone who contradicts conservative Catholic teachings) to meet with this pool of reporters.

But....

Well, there's always a but when it comes to Obama and LGBT rights, isn't there.

Among the subjects touched on during the rendezvous with the Catholic reporters was the subject of LGBT rights.  Here's Obama's comment:

For the gay and lesbian community in this country, I think it's clear that they feel victimized in fairly powerful ways and they're often hurt by not just certain teachings of the Catholic Church, but the Christian faith generally. And as a Christian, I'm constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.

Now, there's some juiciness in that statement that is certainly worth celebrating.  The fact that Obama said that certain teachings of the Catholic Church hurt LGBT people is remarkable...and something you would never have expected from the myriad of Presidents before him.

But then the triangulation occurs, with Obama throwing conservative religious folks a bone with the line, "As a Christian, I'm constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians."  What type of wrestling are we talking about here, Mr. President?

Because, as far as your religion goes, there shouldn't be that much wrestling.  You're a member of the United Church of Christ, a denomination that supports the full inclusion of LGBT people in both the church and society.  According to the United Church of Christ's Web site:

For more than 30 years the national setting of the UCC has been on a clear course of welcome and inclusion, calling for serious study of human sexuality, [and] supporting the civil rights of LGBT persons...

Is there something wrong with saying those very lines to members of the Catholic press?

It's a great thing that Obama spoke about LGBT rights from a framework that puts the Church directly at the center of hurtful language and rhetoric targeted toward queer communities.  I just wish that instead of saying that his faith is calling him to "wrestle" with how to deal with LGBT people, Obama would have owned that as far as his faith goes, there's no debate needed when it comes to fully supporting the civil rights of LGBT people.

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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