March 27, 2006

An Open Letter from Members of the Gonzaga Community:

Twice in the current academic year incidents at GonzagaUniversity have raised questions in the national media about Gonzaga’s commitment to an inclusive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) members of our community. Faculty, students, administrators, and staff have since engaged in a far-ranging discussion about these incidents and broader aspects of the campus climate. As members of the Gonzaga Community we affirmthe University’s Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic mission. We call on all members of the Gonzaga Community to join us in affirming the equality of all members of our community regardless of sexual orientation.

As we discuss these issues this semester, we feel that it is important to acknowledge the historical context and relevance of the teachings of the Catholic Church to our shared commitment to anti-discrimination in this university community. In particular, malicious speech or action against LGBT persons is not consistent with Vatican teaching. The Vatican’s major document on homosexuality argues that “(i)t is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs.”[1] And the U.S. Catholic Bishops “call on all Christians and citizens of good will to confront their own fears about homosexuality and to curb the humor and discrimination that offend homosexual persons,” for “the teachings of the Church make it clear that the fundamental human rights of homosexual persons must be defended and that all of us must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice, oppression or violence against them,” and that “nothing in the Bible or Catholic teaching can be used to justify prejudicial or discriminatory attitudes and behaviors.”[2]

In spite of these and other strong statements condemning prejudice and intolerance, official Catholic teachings on homosexuality, including the description of homosexuality as an “objective moral disorder,” may contribute to a sense that discrimination against homosexuals is not always wrong.[3] We acknowledge that there are ambiguities and tensions within official teachings. In particular, we see a deep tension between Catholic social teaching’s opposition to every form of discrimination and bias and official Catholic teachings on homosexuality that allow or encourage some discrimination. It is a tension that more and more Catholics are resolving by siding with Catholic social teaching and its unconditional support for the dignity and rights of every person and by questioning a Catholic sexual ethic that restricts the civil, political, cultural and ecclesial rights of LGBT persons.

Catholic social teaching has long opposed prejudice, bias and discrimination, and at Vatican Council II the Church argued in Gaudium et Spes that “every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social condition, language, or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.”[4] This is clear, unambiguous, and authoritative.

It is therefore appropriate for us to condemn as contrary to Catholic social teaching all biased, intolerant, and unjust speech. As the Vatican argues, this sort of speech “reveals a kind of disregard for others which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society.”[5] But it is also necessary for us to resolve, at least for the Gonzaga community, any underlying ambiguity about the Catholic position on homosexuality by taking a clear and firm stand against every form of discrimination and bias against LGBT persons and communities and by tirelessly supporting the rights of LGBT persons to participate fully and freely in every sector of our community and society.

Therefore, we, by our signatures below as members of the GU community, commit ourselves to address these tensions in the Church as they affect our university community, a community committed to the Catholic, Jesuit, and Humanistic traditions. We affirm the civil, political, cultural, and ecclesial equality of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender members of our community.We encourage members of the community to learn, reflect, and discuss issues of equality with the goal of promoting full equality for our students, faculty, and staff.

This letter is a project of “GU Affirms Equality” (GUaffirmsequality.net).

1

[1]Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. 1986, no. 10.

[2]National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers. 1997.

[3] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons, 1992, no.11-12; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,Letter on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. 1986, no. 10;Congregation for Catholic Education, Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders, 2006, no. 2;Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, 2003; Mike Allen, “Cardinal sees Marriage Harm in Partners Bill,” New York Times ( May 25, 1998) A1.

[4]Vatican II, The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 1965,no. 183.

[5]Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Letter on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. 1986, no. 10.