Catholics Lead Americans in Acceptance of Gay Marriage

Public Religion Research Institute will release a major new research report of Catholic attitudes on gay and lesbian issues. The news for those who support marriage equality is good but not so good if one is a self-loath closet case in the Church hierarchy or self-enriching political whore Maggie Gallagher. Benedict XVI's anti-gay jihad is clearly not working in the USA. he report indicates that American Catholics increasingly ignore the Church leadership's rampant homophobia and efforts to keep LGBT citizens second or third class citizens. Catholic scholar Michele Dillon, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, is among the national experts who will discuss the new research during a teleconference that can be joined as follows: CALL-IN INFORMATION: 877-760-6922, Call Title: “Catholic Attitudes on LGBT Issues.” Please RSVP to Shannon Craig Straw at sstraw@publicreligion.org to reserve your spot and to receive the conference code. Here are highlights of the research findings:
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* Catholics are more supportive of legal recognitions of same-sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition and Americans overall.
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* Defining same-sex marriage as a civil marriage dramatically increases support among Catholics.
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* Beyond same-sex marriage, Catholic support for rights for gays and lesbian people is strong and slightly higher than the general public.
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* Compared to the general church-going public, Catholics are significantly less likely to hear about the issue of homosexuality from their clergy, but those who do are much more likely to hear negative messages.
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* Compared to other religious groups, Catholics are significantly more likely to give their church poor marks on how it is handling the issue of homosexuality.
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Again, not good news for the bitter old queens in dresses at the Vatican.