LGBT Catholics rip Vatican missive on gender

A view of St. Peter's Square during a Pentecost Mass celebrated by Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Sunday, June 9, 2019. The Pentecost Mass is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A view of St. Peter's Square during a Pentecost Mass celebrated by Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Sunday, June 9, 2019. The Pentecost Mass is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican issued an official document Monday rejecting the idea that people can choose or change their genders and insisting on the sexual "complementarity" of men and women to make babies.

The document, published during LGBT Pride Month, was immediately denounced by LGBT Catholics as contributing to bigotry and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Advocacy group New Ways Ministry said it would confuse individuals questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation and at risk of self-harm.

The text, "Male and Female He Created Them," was intended to help Catholic teachers, parents, students and clergy address what the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education called an "educational crisis" in the field of sex education.

It called for a "path of dialogue" and listening on the issue of "gender theory" in education. But even priestly advocates for LGBT Catholics noted that the text appeared to have relied entirely on previous papal pronouncements, Vatican documents, and philosophers and theologians.

"The real-life experiences of LGBT people seem entirely absent from this document," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who wrote a book on improving Catholic Church outreach to the LGBT community, titled Building a Bridge. "We should welcome the congregation's call to dialogue and listening on gender, and I hope that conversation will now begin."

Pope Francis has repeatedly argued that people cannot choose their genders. But the document represents the first attempt to put the Vatican's position into an official text.

The document called for a new alliance among families, schools and society to offer a "positive and prudent sexual education" in Catholic schools so children learn the "full original truth of masculinity and femininity."

It called gender fluidity a symptom of the "confused concept of freedom" and "momentary desires" that characterize post-modern culture.

Francis DeBernardo, head of New Ways Ministry, said such concepts are outdated, misinformed and ignore contemporary science on factors beyond visible genitalia.

"Gender is also biologically determined by genetics, hormones and brain chemistry -- things not visible at birth," DeBernardo said in a statement. "People do not choose their gender, as the Vatican claims, they discover it through their lived experiences."

A Section on 06/11/2019

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