Last weekend at the Kapow Comic Convention in London, a representative of DC Comics announced that one of its previously “straight” superheroes was going to come out as being gay.  When ABC News later asked Courtney Simmons, DC’s Senior Vice President of Publicity, about the announcement, she confirmed that “one of the major iconic DC characters will reveal that he is gay in a storyline in June.”  In a separate interview, Bobby Wayne, the senior Vice President for Sales, said that the company “had evolved,” a reference to President Obama’s recent endorsement of same-sex “marriage.”

Immediately after the DC announcement, reporters and fans started speculating about which superhero it would be.  There are a lot to choose from, including the most famous of the DC superheroes – Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern and The Flash.

The week before the announcement, DC’s arch-competitor Marvel announced that openly gay X-Man, Northstar, is going to propose to his boyfriend in issue no. 50 (on newsstands May 22).  The “wedding” is going to take place in issue no. 51.

Here’s a quote from an article that was published on the Hollywood Reporter website:

In recent years, DC and Marvel have explored LGBT storylines more fully, introducing gay and lesbian characters in Batwoman, Astonishing X-Men and X-Factor.

But in many ways, the two powerhouse superhero publishers are following the lead of Archie Comics, which featured a same sex wedding in March.  Kevin Keller, introduced as the series’ first gay character, married his boyfriend after getting injured serving in Iraq.

In case you haven’t heard, “LGBT” is an acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.”  This particular acronym was used repeatedly during a recent press briefing given by White House press secretary, Jay Carney, after President Obama announced that his position on same-sex marriage had “evolved.”  On May 7, 2012, in response to a reporter’s question, Carney said:

I can tell you that he (the president) is an absolutely committed supporter of LGBT rights.  His record bears that out.  It is an unparalleled record of support for LGBT citizens and their rights, and he’s proud of it and he’ll run on it.

Prior to the “evolution” of the president and DC Comics, did you know what LGBT meant?  Unfortunately, most high school and college students are much more familiar with the nuances of the homosexual lifestyle than old stick-in-the-mud Catholics like me.  Last year, a young man that my children know posted a message on Facebook that he had gone through a sex-change surgery and changed his name to a female name.  (The politically correct way to refer to the surgery is “sex reassignment surgery” or “gender reassignment surgery.”)  In a subsequent message, the young man made fun of and taunted his parents for pleading with him to move back home and get counseling.

Last week, CampusReform.org reported that the U.S. Department of Justice recently ordered the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to allow a male student to use women’s bathrooms on campus.  Here, in part, is what the CampusReform.org article said:

A letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) caused the University of Arkansas at Ft. Smith (UAFS) early this month to reverse policy and allow a 38-year old anatomically male-student permanent use of women’s bathrooms on campus despite opposition from female students.

The university made the reversal on “advice of counsel” after receiving a letter the DOJ sent in response to a complaint that a single, self proclaimed “transgender” student filed with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

****

Jennifer Braly, the student who filed the complaint, calls himself “transgender” with a “gender identity disorder.”  Braly, however, remains anatomically a man and is currently raising money online for Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

So here’s my question: Where did all of these so-called LGBT rights come from?  We know that they didn’t come from our Creator.  What’s going to happen when the members of the LGBT community demand that our children be taught about their “rights”?  What’s going to happen when they demand the “right” to be “married” to several different individuals at the same time (polygamy)?  What’s going to happen when one of them demands the “right” to “marry” an animal, so his animal can take advantage of his employee health care plan?  Do you think that’ll never happen?  Don’t be so sure.

In 1986 (26 years ago), the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), wrote a letter to the Catholic Bishops, in which he stated:

Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less a strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.

Although he described the practice of homosexuality as “an intrinsic moral evil,” he cautioned against the direct mistreatment of homosexuals:

It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action.  Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs.

Because we are all born with an inclination toward sin, it is generally believed that some individuals are born with a tendency toward homosexuality, which is one of the subsets of the sin of lust.  By the same token, there are other individuals who are born with a strong tendency to commit sins associated with anger, avarice, envy, gluttony, and sloth.  I just named six of the seven capital sins.  (The seven capital sins are pride, lust, anger, avarice, envy, gluttony, and sloth.)  We all suffer from pride, the mother of all sins.  In addition to pride, we all have a primary fault that is grounded in one of the six other capital sins.  It is the individual who has a primary fault that is grounded in lust that is the most susceptible to the temptation to engage in homosexual behavior.

There is no end in sight to the decline and degradation of a society that has thrown all of its moral boundaries aside.  We are beginning to catch a glimpse of what happens when the moral fabric of a culture starts to unravel.  We are at a saturation point.  Our children and grandchildren are constantly being encouraged to drink from the fountain of lust.  They are being taught to accept, embrace, and imitate the lifestyle of LGBTs.  Their “education” and conditioning comes from their friends, the political system, the public school system, television, movies, magazines, music videos, comic books, video games, and social media websites.  Everywhere they turn they are told that this type of deviant behavior is normal, rewarding and fulfilling.

As devout Catholics, what are we to do when we are faced with a parent, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandchild, friend, or relative who announces that he (or she) is gay?  I’ll share some thoughts about this with you next week.

SHARE