I am
outraged by the Right Rev. Joseph Devine's claim that gays only
use the Holocaust to further our political agenda. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell made these claims to a Glasgow audience. It was titled '
Sectarianism and
Secularism: Bugbears for the Catholic Church in Scotland'."It is ever present at the service each year
for the Holocaust memorial - as if to create for themselves the image of a group
of people under persecution," he told the audience.
"I want to ask you if you are able to see
the giant conspiracy that's taking place before our eyes? It's a very small
group of people, but very active and organized, and extremely indulgent."
This from a representative of the Church that has dioceses going bankrupt from child molestation charges.
Then the Bishop also had the nerve to attack Oscar-winning actor Sir
Ian McKellen.
"In this New Year's Honours List, I saw
actor Ian McKellen being honoured for his work on behalf of homosexuals. A
century ago, Oscar Wilde was locked up and put in jail."
Maybe Devine would like to open Auschwitz or Chełmno again.
Sadly I can't name one member of the GLBT community that faced persecution and death at the hands of the Nazis. I can, however, name a Catholic priest that suffered the worse fate possible at Auschwitz. Prisoner #16670, better knows as Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid.
Not to belittle the honors bestowed upon Kolbe, because heaven knows he did more for the persecuted than Pope Pius XII did. Pope Pius XII didn't have much to say publicly about the Holocaust when it was happening. But, let's look at some facts. St. Maximilian was a member of a very large group of people, politically/socially active and organized, and extremely indulgent.
I'm sorry, but to me that sounds like the potato chip calling the pretzel salty.
As a gay man one of the most difficult things for me watch was Paragraph 175, which dealt with the legal code that sent many gays and lesbians to the camps. The first hand accounts of gay and lesbian survivors of the Nazi camps was horrifying.
Many of their stories mirror those of Jews and other groups that were victims of Nazi persecution. Through their stories, it made me feel that their legacy to me is the right to attend a yearly service for the Holocaust memorial if I so choose.
Their suffering and deaths gave me the right the visit the Anne Frank House, and openly weep at not only the fate of an innocent child, but also the fate of my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who were held at the Nazi camps.
Ultimately it boils down to this. The GLBT community has every right to use the facts of the Holocaust as a political tool. We have every right to use any discriminatory policy or law as a political tool. We have the right to use the fact that gays and lesbians are still put to death in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and United Arab Emirates as a political tool.
For Devine to say otherwise makes me feel that he condones the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazis.
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