‘We've come so far on gay rights. The church's attitude shows that the dinosaurs are flailing’
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Version 0 of 1. The Pope hasn’t watched television in 25 years. The Vatican has responded to the life-affirming, joyful vote for gay marriage in Ireland by declaring it to be “a defeat for humanity” and calling for hatemongers to double-down on evangelism. You can’t help but think that a binge-watch of Transparent or Orange is the New Black might have done the Apostolic Palace a bit of good. Given that even the archbishop of Dublin accepted this overwhelming will of the people by admitting that the Catholic church needs a “reality check”, it is extraordinary to see the Vatican in such denial about the standards the modern west expects for its citizens. It’s as if they’ve lost the match but, instead of shaking hands at the net, they’ve thrown their racket at the ball boy. (Apologies to all lesbians for being unable to come up with a non-tennis sporting reference.) But there is also something oddly heartening in witnessing such bigotry laid bare, because it is a reminder that the dinosaurs are flailing. What a contrast between an overwhelmingly positive democratic vote and the cloth-eared prejudice of the high and cloistered. And what a remarkable indication of how far certain parts of the world have come – and how quickly – with LGBT equal rights, which are now entrenched in the least likely quarters. It was there when gay marriage was legalised in the UK by the Conservative-led coalition. (The Tories’ new equalities minister, Nicky Morgan, voted against it, twice, but she’s changed her mind, everyone!) It’s there in the Daily Mail’s sidebar of shame, which now covers same-sex celebrity couples with the same intrusive slobbery-tongued reporting as it once did heterosexual pairings. It’s there in the respectful way in which Bruce Jenner’s gender transition has been reported by the tabloid press, and in the instances where people such as Jamie Foxx are slapped down, gently, for responding to Jenner’s news by making a crass and dated joke about “his and hers”. Because that’s not really how we talk about trans people any more. It’s in Tony Abbott rejecting calls for an Australian referendum on gay marriage in the immediate aftermath of Ireland’s, then quietly conceding that it is “an important issue” and suggesting he may allow a vote of conscience among his MPs, after all. It’s there in the US, in the Republican party – which is presumably tired of its members preaching brimstone and hellfire about gay people then getting caught in compromising situations with other men in bars or on Grindr, which almost suggests – imagine this – that there is something unnatural about homophobia, rather than homosexuality. The campaign group Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry believes that supporting equal marriage is what is needed to modernise and break through to under-30s who may not be convinced by the prospect of stockpiling personal wealth, and celebrity GOP supporters such as Adam Sandler and Jessica Simpson. The much-older Republican presidential candidates, or likely candidates, remain largely resistant to supporting same-sex marriage. Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Rand Paul favour the T-word – “traditional” – that pathetic death-rattle of weakening prejudice, though Cruz does say that he’d be fine with a daughter turning out to be gay, which is good of him, so long as she doesn’t want to, y’know, do anything “traditional” like make a lifelong commitment to the person she loves. However, there is now a clear reluctance to offer outright condemnation, too, and the careful, wishy-washy language these politicians use shows an awareness that they are swimming against the tide of rapidly evolving public opinion. (Sixty-one per cent of Americans are in favour of equal marriage, up five points from a year ago, and up 20 points in the past six years.) And yet, there is an “and yet”. This swooping panorama of progress, pulled back into a beautiful wide shot, looks as if it represents an unstoppable march towards freedom and equality. I would love to believe that is the case and, on bright days – like the ones after Ireland’s vote – I let myself think that it could be the future. But there are times when it feels like a fragile achievement that could crumble unless carefully nurtured. Outside of a relatively small western bubble, gay people are facing discrimination and even death for who they are. Inside it, on the smaller stage of everyday life, homophobia still exists, pernicious and creeping. A stranger drives past you on the street when you have an arm around your girlfriend and screams “dirty” out of the car window. A creep in the pub muscles in on a kiss between two women and asks if there’s room for him, then comments on how nice it is to watch. A man is beaten to the point of hospitalisation after leaving a gay bar, just because it is a gay bar. All of these things have happened to me or people I know in the past 12 months. I’m overjoyed that the Catholic church appears to be shouting hatefully into an empty chamber, and I am pleased that young Republicans support equal marriage – and I see the evolution in how tabloids now report on Cara Delevingne’s romantic life without so much as a shrug. But it is worth keeping in the back of our hopeful, happy, loving minds that we are not quite there yet. |