Faith in America, an LGBT friendly Christian organization, has published an open letter to Pope Francis in the New York Times. Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center (for New York's homeless LGBT youth), wrote the letter.
A part of the letter is below.
Your Holiness,
I write to you as a Roman Catholic, a former Benedictine monk and as a gay
man who has spent over 30 years serving the homeless, first as a member of
the Catholic Worker Movement, and now as the founder and Executive Director
of the Ali Forney Center, America’s largest center for homeless lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth based in New York City.
I write on behalf of the homeless LGBT youths I serve. I ask you to take urgent
action to protect them from the devastating consequences of religious rejection,
which is the most common reason LGBT youths are driven from their homes. At
the heart of the problem is that the church still teaches that homosexual conduct
is a sin, and that being gay is disordered. I hope that if you understand how this
teaching tears families apart and brings suffering to innocent youths, you will end
this teaching and prevent your bishops from fighting against the acceptance of
LGBT people as equal members of society.
He goes on to state a big reason why many LGBT youth become homeless.
A recent study of family rejection found that parents with high religious involvement
were significantly less accepting of their LGBT children. Over the past decade
thousands of LGBT youths have come to the Ali Forney Center seeking safe
shelter, from across our nation and the globe, bearing witness to having been
driven from their homes by religious parents who believed they were evil and sinful.
What these youths endure is horrific. They endure the torment of being unloved
and unwanted by their parents, combined with the ordeals of hunger, cold and
sexual exploitation while homeless. LGBT youths who are rejected by their
families are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than LGBT youths whose
parents accept them.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest and most influential Christian
organization in the world. By teaching that homosexual conduct is a sin, and that
the homosexual orientation is disordered, it influences countless parents and
families in societies across the globe to reject their children. In the name of these
children, and in light of the love and compassion at the heart of the message of
Jesus, I ask that you end this teaching.
He then states that this Church doctrine (dogma) and belief has born bad fruit.
A teaching’s wisdom and efficacy must be judged in part by its outcome. The
teaching that homosexual conduct is a sin has a poisonous outcome, bearing
fruit in many Christian parents who abandon their LGBT children to homelessness
and destitution. How could a good seed yield such a bitter harvest?
And, then he invites the Pope to visit the Center.
I greatly respect you as a leader who has shown deep concern for the plight of the
poor. I invite you to the Ali Forney Center, to meet our abandoned youths and see
for yourself how their lives have been devastated and made destitute by religious
rejection. I believe that there is no more compelling witness to the harmfulness of
the condemnation of homosexuality than the consequent suffering plainly visible
in the eyes of our homeless LGBT youths.
We share a belief in a God of love. I know in my heart that what my kids have
suffered is ultimately a violation against love. How tragic it is that the church,
through it’s teaching, would contribute to such a violation. Surely God loves his
children more than teachings.
Financial Assistance was provided by Michell Gold + Bob Williams, a furniture maker. And, a
petition to the Pope has also been launched.
12:14 PM PT: More on this story can be found in the Advocate:
http://www.advocate.com/...