Raised in Boston, I’m all too familiar with the enormous power the Catholic Church wields over local politicians.
Even after the 2002 Boston Globe’s Spotlight reporting exposed the Church’s disgusting cover-up of the wide-spread sexual abuse scandal, too many Boston politicians still remained wary of challenging Church orthodoxy.
Despite being mired in scandal, and bleeding followers and donations, less than two years later the Massachusetts Catholic Church brazenly declared themselvses the highest of moral authority and waged all out war on the Mass Supreme Judicial Court for daring to legalize same sex marriage. As part of that war, the Church pressured the heavily Catholic state legislators to pass a Constitutional Amendment outright banning sex same marriage.
The result was an ugly, four year battle during which too few Boston politicians dared to openly call out Church leaders for its brazen hypocrisy.
Today I learned a El Paso City Councilman did dare openly publicly call out the Church’s utter hypocrisy…
Back in 2009, El Paso City Council members Susie Byrd, Steve Ortega and Beto O’Rourke were moved by visits with gay teenagers to extend city health benefits to domestic partners. O’Rourke formally made the proposal in a later budget meeting. The backlash from evangelicals and the Catholic Church was swift and a four year battle ensued.
In 2011, Father Michael Rodriguez appeared before the El Paso City Council to paint the Church as the staunch defender of morality.
While the Church and its followers clutch their collective pearls and use this video to try and attack Beto in 2019, I think it stands as a testament to the man’s courage to take on the Catholic Church in 80%+ Latino city.
To borrow from Parland survivor, Emma Gonzales, Beto O’Rourke dared called BS!
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“I want to know why this, for you, has become the burning issue of its day and how you can stand there with a straight face and say this is a priority for the church when I can think of two obvious cases where the Church has failed on a global level.
For one, I know in the very recent past, the Pope, our current Pope, was in Africa telling the people of that country who are suffering a holocause of HIV/AIDs infection not to use condoms.
I can think of another proven, very signicant, serious problem, within the Catholic Church which is the proven, wide-spread abuse of children within the care of the Catholic Church.
I wonder where your outspokenness is on those issues?”
BRAVO!
During my long years studying politics, more often than not, the more I learned about a candidate’s past, the more cynical or wary I became.
In Beto’s case, I’m proud to find more and more instances of him not giving a flying fuck about calling out institutions who perpeuate prejudice against others!