The Challenge We Face: LGBTQ+ People Are Under Attack
Lawmakers around the country have pressed anti-LGBTQ+ policies that have shown a shocking lack of understanding and empathy for the LGBTQ+ community.
More than 700 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were filed in state legislatures between 2018 and 2022, with nearly all of the country’s 50 state legislatures weighing in with at least one bill.
Almost 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were filed in 2022 – about half of them targeting trans people.
The Equality Act, designed to require equality of treatment of LGBTQ+ people, contains a religious exemption that gives almost carte blanche to religious organizations to discriminate.
The Supreme Court has relied on so-called religious exemptions to allow religious discrimination, despite secular, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination laws.
The Catholic Church was allowed to deny gay couples the right to adopt children from Catholic-operated adoption agencies.
A wedding cake maker was allowed to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple on the theory that his cakes were his own freedom of expression.
The list goes on and on . . . .
Religion Is A Major Culprit
The Catholic Church (and other religions) have pursued a harsh, anti-LGBTQ+ agenda that has been reflected in the secular legislation and policies of lawmakers.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops fought federal funding for a suicide hotline – solely because it would have covered LGBTQ+ youth, too.
Catholic schools have been firing LGBTQ+ teachers solely because of their orientation and marital status. The courts afford no remedies.
Many Churches are adopting severe policies against LGBTQ people.
With respect to transgender people, some dioceses are insisting that trans people be addressed in accordance with their born, biological sex, and they demand that trans people “repent” or risk being banned from Church sacraments like baptism, communion and confirmation.
These same dioceses also insist that gay, lesbian and bi people “repent” and, if they are in relationships, they must end the relationships to remain Catholic.
Where does all this hatred come from? The answer in many cases is religion. In the Catholic tradition, the root is formal Church teaching, which is that homosexuality is “objectively disordered.”
The Church disapproves of love, partnership and marriage between same sex couples as sinful. It has said that acting on “same sex attraction” is not “morally acceptable.”
The heartlessness of these teachings is underscored by the fact that they were written in 1986 – during the depths of the AIDS crisis, when 24,000 Americans had died of this awful disease.
These teachings are contrary to science, common sense and secular policy. They are also profoundly hypocritical, flying in the face of other church teaching that all people – including LGBTQ+ people — deserve respect, compassion and dignity .
This Is An Urgent, Timely Matter
The Church’s stance towards LGBTQ+ people leads to rejection, anxiety, depression, homelessness and suicide. Recent surveys reveal :
29% of LGBTQ+ teens have attempted suicide within the last year
48% of LGBTQ+ youth report engaging in selfharm in the past 12 months
29% of LGBTQ+ youth have experienced homelessness, been kicked out or run away
40% of all LGBTQ+ people have seriously considered suicide within the last year
40% of all homeless youth are LGBTQ+
46% of LGBTQ+ youth want mental health counseling, but have been unable to receive it
1 in 3 LGBTQ+ youth have been physically threatened or harmed because of their identity
In over 70 countries, simply being LGBTQ+ is a criminal offense
For hundreds of years, the Church refused to accept Galileo’s science that the earth revolved around the sun. LGBTQ+ youth do not have hundreds of years for the Church to accept the science around homosexuality and gender identity! Lives depend on it!
Now Is The Time For “Wonderfully Made”
Change in Church teaching may not occur in the near term . . . but the seeds are being planted, and they are taking root. Pope Francis has made several statements supportive of LGBTQ+ people.
He has said that God loves them, as “they are children of God.” Regarding gay priests, he said, “Who am I to judge?”
He has had private audiences with Father James Martin, SJ, who is featured in the film, and wrote him publicly-released, handwritten letters supporting his LGBTQ+ ministry.
He wrote Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, also featured in the film, praising her for 50 years of ministry to LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.
He has said that no LGBTQ+ youth should be rejected by their families or thrown out of their homes
There has been major worldwide backlash against the intolerant statements of other church leaders, including a statement by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which said that same sex unions cannot be blessed because they are sinful.
The Church is part-way through a lengthy process – a “Synod” – which Pope Francis ordered and that requires all parishes to gather the opinions of laity on the Church.
This approach inverts the hierarchy, and seeks input not from clerics, but from ordinary, nonordained people.
A major topic of conversation at the thousands of Synod “listening sessions” is the Church’s stance towards LGBTQ+ people.
“Wonderfully Made” Was Created to Foster Change
The producers of “Wonderfully Made” created the film and the photo art as a form of advocacy and ministry for hope and social change.
The message is that LGBTQ+ people are not alone, no matter what the Church teaches. God loves them as they are, and God also loves how they love.
The producers seek change through the power of art: iconography depicting Jesus as a member/ally of the LGBTQ+ community.
If, as religious doctrine teaches, we are all created in the likeness and image of God, then LGBTQ+ people are the image of God, too.
Over 500 men, women and non-binary people responded to a casting call notice for this project. The producers selected nine actors and models of diverse ethnicities, orientations, genders and identities to portray Jesus.
Over 12,000 photos were taken. The producers have carefully curated them and are making the very best ones available here.
People of Faith Want Change
Over 1.2 billion people – 18% of the world’s population – identify as Catholic. Roughly 75% of all Catholics – 900 million people – live in Europe and North and South America.
The Pew Research Center estimates that at least 40% of all U.S. citizens – over 130 million people – have at least one family member or close friend who identifies as LGBTQ+.
With roughly 25% of the U.S. population identifying as Catholic, over 30 million U.S. Catholics have at least one family member or close friend who is LGBTQ+.
Over 75% of U.S. Catholics believe the Church must be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people. Over 62% of U.S. Catholics support same sex marriage.
Roughly 40% of the world’s Catholic population – almost 500 million people – lives in Latin America. According to the Pew Research Center, the overwhelming majorities of Catholics living in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and other Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations believe the Church must be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people.
The Catholics of most nations in Western Europe also believe, by overwhelming margins – from Italy, at 76%, to The Netherlands, at 95% – that the Church must be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people. They support same-sex marriage by similar margins.
The LGBTQ+ community focuses on inclusion and intersectionality. This project focuses on the intersection of religion with LGBTQ identity, thus adding the letter: LGBTQ+R.