Gay Catholics & The Pope

Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA, the nation’s foremost LGBT Catholic organization talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. Recent polls show high levels of support for LGBT people among Catholics yet the Pope and bishops continue to lead attacks on civil rights for gay people. In Pope Benedict’s 2012 outrageous New Year’s speech to diplomats from approximately 180 countries the Pope said policies allowing gay marriage “threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.” We talked to Marianne about being Catholic and issues facing our LGBT community. When asked for her reaction to Pope Benedict’s hurtful and homophobic attack on our LGBT community, Duddy-Burke, stated, “Unfortunately it’s become almost a New Year’s ritual for the Pope to attack same-gender marriage and marriage equality. We’ve seen it year after year in his speeches when he’s looking at the state of the world. It’s tragic, it’s sad and it’s very misinformed. Once again it just shows the deep divide that exists between the leaders of the Catholic Church and regular Catholics who are out there in their lives and their jobs and their neighbors and their families, who know and love gay and lesbian people and bisexual and transgender people. And who more and more support our rights to have loving, committed relationships legally affirmed.” Marianne Duddy-Burke received a Masters in Theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was an Honors graduate of Wellesley College. Marianne speaks regularly at conferences around the country on issues of importance to LGBT Catholics and their families. She was featured in the video DignityUSA: A Conversation with Marianne Duddy and her work has been included in several books, including, most recently, Redemption Stories: Stories of Survival and Transformation. Marianne lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her spouse Becky Duddy-Burke and their two adopted daughters, Emily and Infinity. For More Info: dignityusa.org

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