I hope the title of this commentary has gotten your attention, so that you will read the entire essay.
When is The Pope going to realize that we live in the 21st century, where gay men and lesbian women are fortunately being accepted - at least by the majority of Americans - as equal human beings?
On Friday, December 21st, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI continued what has been a cruel campaign against gay marriage. The Pope used the backdrop of the Vatican and made his opinion quite clear during his Christmas speech that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. The Pontiff believes the movement to grant rights to gay and lesbian couples to marry and adopt children is an "attack" on the traditional family unit; and that unless that image is of a man, a woman and their kids - it is not a family.
Despite the fact that the Catholic Church officially considers homosexuality to be an "intrinsically disordered" act, 59% of Catholics in the United States favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, according to a 2012 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
A November 2012 Gallup poll found that 53% of all Americans favor same-sex marriage. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll this year showed that 54% of Americans would support a law in their state making gay marriage legal. And another 2012 poll, this one conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post documented 53% of Americans feel same-sex marriage should be the law of the land.
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to express support for gays and lesbians to marry; and that same-sex marriage should be legal. The President made news on May 9th, 2012 during an interview at The White House with ABC News correspondent Robin Roberts, anchor of "Good Morning America." Mr. Obama said, “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."
But Pope Benedict still insists that gay marriage destroys the "essence of the human creature;" and The Pope is emphatic that a person's gender identity is God given and unchangeable. Therefore, The Pontiff envisions gay marriage as a "manipulation of nature."
With all due respect to The Pope - and please understand that I do not want anyone to think that I am being disrespectful to The Pontiff, as I do not wish to be disrespectful to a holy man of any religion - but Pope Benedict is Pope - he's NOT God.
In Genesis, the First Book of Moses in The Old Testament, in 1:27, it is written, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
I know what I'm about to write is going to rile the masses - but hey - that's what The Controversy is all about; and thankfully, because of the First Amendment's protection of free speech, I can ask a question that will probably raise more than a few eyebrows. That being said, my next thoughts, are not intended, in any form, to be blasphemous.
As we all know, it was July 4th, 1776 when the Continental Congress agreed unanimously - with all 13 original states - to adopt and ratify the Declaration of Independence for the United States of America. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," I believe he meant everybody - not just heterosexuals. If ALL men (and of course, ALL women too) are "created equal" then equality should mean that marriage should be not only accepted, but allowed between a man and woman, between a man and a man, and between a woman and a woman.
It is a misnomer that the phrase "separation of church and state" appears in the U.S. Constitution. It does not.
President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802 to answer their correspondence about problems with state establishment of religion in Connecticut. The President's reply did not address any state concerns - only of establishment on the national level. President Jefferson's response contained the words, "wall of separation between church and state." The First Amendment's Establishment Clause prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” But it is President Jefferson's words that Americans believe to be fact. As such, the short-hand phrase
"separation of church and state" is commonly interpreted to mean the government cannot establish support or otherwise involve itself in any religion.
If government is not to interweave with religion then The Pope, except for his right to have an opinion, should not try to use his powers, as the leader of the Catholic Church, to prevent any gay or lesbian couple to get married.
Pope Benedict seems to think that he's the "be all and end all" of something that none of us - not doctors, not theologians, not anybody on the planet Earth - are completely certain of an answer. There are some biologists, however, who believe there is a so-called "gay gene," which, if true, would explain why a person is gay or is not gay. Since there is nothing conclusive scientifically, we don't know - and The Pope doesn't know - why people have heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual orientation. There is no credible evidence to indicate why most people are straight, why some people are gay, why others are sexually attracted to both genders, and why there are some people who lack an interest in sex at all.
Nobody makes themself gay. It is the way they were created by God - in His image. Therefore, if we are indeed created and born in God's image, then I need to again ask the question - is God gay? Is God straight? Is God both gay and straight - in that sense, bisexual?
Now don't misunderstand me. I am not at all suggesting that God is a sexual being. All I am saying - is that if we are created in God's image - then that's the way God wants each of us to be - whether straight, gay or bisexual.
God loves nobody less because of who their partner is in bed. So why must Pope Benedict - or others for that matter - criticize same-sex marriage? With celebrities such as Anderson Cooper, Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris, Sir Elton John and dozens more "stars" - and politicians too - "coming out" the last several years, why should 
they be any less happy or have any fewer rights than those of us who are straight.
In the United States - Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington State and Washington, D.C all allow gay marriage. California recognizes previously performed same-sex marriage; and Rhode Island acknowledges out-of-state gay marriages.
Other nations around the world that permit same-sex marriage include
The Netherlands - which in 2000 became the first country to legalize gay marriage. Belgium, Canada, Norway, South Africa, Spain and Sweden have all approved same-sex marriage in their homelands too.
The Italian gay rights organization, Arcigay has come down hard on The Pope's comments last Friday, which the group calls, "absurd, dangerous and totally out of sync with reality." I couldn't agree more.
Four American Catholic groups have also been critical of Pope Benedict's remarks. A joint statement from Call To Action, Dignity U.S.A., Fortunate Families and New Ways Ministry says, "Increasingly, Catholics in the United States and around the world see what we see. Catholics, following their own well-formed consciences, are voting to support equal rights for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people because in their churches and communities they see a far healthier, godly and realistic vision of the human family than the one offered by The Pope."
Isn't it time for Pope Benedict to get with the times? After all - at least for the United States - we are all supposed to be equal under the law. With only 9 states and the District of Columbia allowing same-sex marriage, hopefully the other 41 states will do so in the not too distant future. As for The Pope - maybe he'll someday realize that there is a higher authority than any government; and I'm sure - or at least I want to believe - that God wants everyone to have the same equal rights - whether they are straight...or gay.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
Copyright 2012 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
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