Monday, February 22, 2010

Catholic Homophobia and Hypocrisy

As a former Catholic - and among other things an altar boy, daily mass attendee and 4th Degree Knight of Columbus - I feel that I have a unique perspective on just how dysfunctional and psychologically damaged far right elements in the Roman Catholic Church have become. For me, once it became clear that the policy of cover up and reassigning predator priests from one unsuspecting parish to another was official policy mandated from the Vatican on down, I in good conscience could not remain a part of such a morally disgusting institution. However, some of the same folks within the Church who continue to grovel and kiss the wide asses of the Church hierarchy condemn others - some are even mocking Olympic athletes who do not live up to some supposed ideal of machismo. Meanwhile, these same individuals are deafeningly silent when it comes to calling for accountability on the part of the Vatican and "princes of the Church" who enabled and covered up priests and other clergy who preyed upon children and youth. Here's a sample of this bullshit authored by Louie Verrecchio at Catholic Exchange:
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Given its powerful ability to communicate on such a deep level, it’s no surprise that the Olympic games have in fact at times been deliberately leveraged as a tool for social, cultural and political commentary, if not outright propaganda. The Berlin games of 1936 come to mind, as does 2008 in Beijing, and several others in between.
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Watching the men’s figure skating competition the other night, I couldn’t help but marvel at the blatant “in-your-face” nature of the regrettably common yet profoundly dangerous message that has become a hallmark of this once proud sport.
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The message, as the Kinks put it in their 1970 hit song, Lola, is “boys will be girls and girls will be boys, it a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world,” and guess what? If you buy into all the hype, it’s positively delightful!

I have to tell you; I for one am not even close to being delighted with what I saw. There seems to be an unspoken competition-within-the-competition among many of the male figure skaters these days. It’s as though each one is trying his level best — be it through make-up, hair-dos, mannerisms or costumes — to out gender-bend the next guy.
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How far is this spectacle going to go, I wonder? Seriously, is there anyone who watched the telecast the other night that would be even remotely surprised if four years from now one of these guys comes skating out in an evening gown and a tiara?
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As I watched this folly-of-the-fabulous unfold I was admittedly semi-amused by the sheer ridiculousness of it all, but even though it’s difficult to take a man in chiffon seriously – make no mistake about it – something very serious is going on here and you better be paying attention.
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let me see. Verrecchio worships morally bankrupt bitter old men in dresses, yet mocks male figure skaters? It sounds to me that Verrecchio has some sexual identity issues of his own if Johnny Weir and other male skaters can cause him so much discombobulation. Per chance he secretly urns to wear chiffon himself?

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