The Rainbow Connection

It seems like if the issue is gay, it's getting noticed.

Today in the Senate, the business was gay marriage.

From The New York Times:

President Bush's push for the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that is being debated in the Senate this week comes as many Republicans and religious conservatives are beginning a campaign to help lawmakers who support it during this year's elections — and to punish those who do not.

Though people on both sides of the debate say they do not expect the amendment to come anywhere near winning approval this week, both sides say they expect it, and an anticipated version in the House, to be used as a conservative litmus test in elections this fall.

...The Senate debate on Monday showed just how contentious the issue could become.

"Our nation would be better served if we refrained from divisiveness that is wielded like a weapon in order to score political and emotional points before an election," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

Republicans argued that the state of marriage and the American family was exactly the sort of fundamental issue that Congress should take up. "It is not bigotry to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman," said Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas.

The Times is not the only outlet to suggest that the gay marriage amendment is little more than a political ploy by Republicans to regain favor with religious conservatives.

Debra Rosenberg of Newsweek found an "old friend" of the President to provide a colorful quote.

One of his old friends told NEWSWEEK that same-sex marriage barely registers on the president's moral radar. "I think it was purely political. I don't think he gives a s--t about it. He never talks about this stuff," said the friend, who requested anonymity to discuss his private conversations with Bush. White House aides, who also declined to be identified, insist that the president does care about banning gay marriage.

I love how Newsweek always tacks on a disclaimer when using an unnamed source, explaining why that source must remain in the shadows.

Obviously, gay marriage is a hot button topic. The issue deals with values and religion and love. No wonder it elicits strong feelings.

Personally, I think it should be a matter determined by the states. I'm not in favor of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I would prefer that decisions about marriage be left up to state legislatures. Other marriage laws are set by the states. I think gay marriage should fall into the same category.

That said, if the Senate wants to debate and vote on the issue, I see no harm in it. I think it's wise to get senators to go on the record when it comes to any issue.

The gay agenda is not only getting attention from the Senate. It's also being pushed on the Catholic Church.

Yesterday, Pentecost Sunday, gay protesters made their presence known during Masses across the country.

It was not a haphazard protest. It was an organized effort.

Press release from the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM).

Nationally our Bishops have lobbied against our human rights. Our grief is intensified because many in the GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender] Catholic Community feel alienated from the Church because of this assault on our human rights. We believe the Bishops have a serious obligation to root out structures and attitudes that discriminate against the homosexual as a person. A small number of courageous Bishops are exerting their leadership in behalf of this effort, and these Bishops will have our full support and prayers.

...We are followers of Jesus Christ, and Catholic. This is why members of the Rainbow Sash Movement will wear Rainbow Sashes on Pentecost Sunday. We see homophobia within the Church as both an opportunity for education, and a way to promote the idea of love of neighbor. We are calling for dialogue.

If you want to read more, go to Rainbow Sash Movement.

The language that the Rainbow Sash Movement uses in the release is highly charged. Their claims that their human rights are being assaulted by the Church is extreme.

I think they're confused about the nature of the Church. It's not a democracy.

The Washington Post details a protest in St. Paul, with the headline, "Communion Denied to Activists."

It's telling that The Post chose to emphasize that Communion was denied rather than saying that activists disrupted a holy rite. Clearly, The Post endorses the sash wearers and condemns the Church. No surprise there.

More than 50 gay rights activists wearing rainbow-colored sashes were denied Holy Communion at a Pentecost service yesterday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. Paul, Minn., parishioners and church officials said.

In an act that some witnesses called a "sacrilege" and others called a sign of "solidarity," a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest, broke it into pieces and handed it to some of the sash wearers, who consumed it on the spot.

Ushers threatened to call the police, and a church employee burst into tears when the unidentified man re-distributed the consecrated wafer, which Catholics consider the body of Christ. But the Mass was not interrupted, and the incident ended peacefully, said Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

...Beginning in 1997 in England, some Catholics have worn the sashes over their left shoulder to Mass each year on Pentecost, the day on which the New Testament says the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus's disciples. Because the holiday is a celebration of God's gifts, "we think it is an appropriate time to celebrate the gift of our sexuality," said Brian McNeill, a rainbow-sash organizer in Minneapolis.

For a few years, sash-wearers were allowed to receive Communion in some U.S. cities, including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester, N.Y. But since 2004, most U.S. bishops have cracked down on the movement.

Last year, Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Vatican department in charge of worship, wrote a letter to Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul, stating that the rainbow sash is a sign of protest against the church's teachings on sexuality and that the Mass is not an appropriate forum for protests.

..."When Archbishop Flynn and Cardinal Arinze say it's a protest, I say, 'But you guys aren't the ones wearing it -- we are, and we see it as a celebration,' " McNeill said. "The premise of the sash is that gay people are part of the Catholic community, part of the people of God. We are there proudly celebrating Mass."

That's not your typical Mass. I've gone to Mass my entire life, in many places with many priests.

I've never been at a Mass where ushers threatened to call the police.

The way I see it there's no question that the sash wearers were staging a protest during the Sacrament of the Eucharist. To call their rainbow garb a "celebration" and not a protest is just stupid.

And what were the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants that took to the streets in May doing? Celebrating?

A protest by any other name is still a protest.

I fail to see why anyone feeling under assault by any church would choose to attend. It's not like the protesters are holding a demonstration to right some sort of social injustice that they are being subjected to against their will. This is not a Rosa Parks moment.

We all have the freedom to worship, each according to the dictates of one's conscience.

The protesters don't have the right to "assault" worshippers by disrespecting the Mass.

And they certainly won't win Catholics over by abusing the Eucharist.