Religion & Law

Given our recent conversations on MoJ, I took an interest in a speech over the weekend by Carl Paladino, the GOP candidate for governor of New York.  His prepared remarks included a couple of eyebrow-raising assertions, including: "there is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual."  Whether or not the bishops would agree with this assertion on its face, I'm guessing that they don't exactly welcome the often abrasive and, at times, racially/ethnically insensitive Paladino covering his comments with the Church's imprimatur.  His spokesman explained, ?Carl Paladino is simply expressing the views that he holds in his heart as a Catholic . . . Carl Paladino is not homophobic, and neither is the Catholic Church.?

I think Paladino's text (he did not actually deliver that line in the speech) is an example of a message that teenagers struggling with their sexuality do not need to hear.  I'm not suggesting that they (or straight teenagers) need to hear the opposite message -- "Act on, and define yourself by, whatever desires you're experiencing!" -- but there must be space for something in between.