The very large pro-Pope Francis contigency here at Daily Kos have been twisting themselves in knots to not read homophobia into the Pope's actions and words. When news broke overnight that the Pope held a secret meeting with celebrity homophobe Kim Davis, though the Vatican refused to deny the claim, the Pro-Popers set aside their supposed concern for gay rights, and came out in support of the Pope, and did what he refused to do: deny Kim Davis's claim.
It is clear that a large contigent of Pro-Popers have been dismissive about LGBT people's concerns over this Pope's anti-LGBT stances. Several diaries have posted over the last ten days or so highlighting papal homophobia and warning Kossacks not to be fooled by the Pope's phony "tolerance" of gay people, while a couple have made the rec list, they stayed there for only a short while, and none of them got the attention or support of the hero worship diaries in favor of the Pope.
It is clear then, that LGBTs play second fiddle around here to the pathetic desire of some progressives to find a high powered religious ally. LGBT people won Obergefell so, I guess the homophobia problem is all gone. Right? And if LGBT people disrupt the "progressive pope" meme by pointing to evidence that he is just as sexist, homophobic, and transphobic as his predecessors, then they are just whiny hacks or something right?
The Pope is wrong on women's rights, wrong on sexual freedom, wrong on gay rights, wrong on trans rights, wrong on his obnoxious insistence that "religious liberty" should mean that public officials should get to deny their constituents their rights in defiance of the Constitution. Anyone who considers themselves a progressive should have the guts to say these things and the willingness to join such criticism with zeal. But sadly, with few exceptions that has not been the way it has been here at DailyKos. Instead, the concerns of women and LGBT people have been thrown under the bus in service of the fiction that this pope is a progressive ally. He is not.
The reality is, the reports this morning were as true as the Vatican's refusal to deny them indicated.
The Vatican confirmed Wednesday morning that Pope Francis met with Kim Davis — the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses — at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C. The meeting is said to have taken place last Thursday — the same day the pope addressed Congress and met with Speaker John Boehner.
Davis’s lawyer told the New York Times that the private meeting was organized by the Vatican and lasted 15 minutes. During that time, Pope Francis gave her two rosaries and told her to “stay strong.”
“Just knowing the pope is on track with what we’re doing, and agreeing, you know, kind of validates everything,” Davis told ABC News this morning.
Last week, a reporter asked the pope what he thought of government officials who refused to perform their duties due to religious objections. Pope Francis said that “conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right … conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise, we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying, ‘This right, that has merit; this one does not.’ ”
PBS.org