No. 3
Pope Francis says, “Who am I to judge (gays)?” In stark contrast to 2,000 years of homophobic, oppressive and
exclusionary dogma that has kept LGBT clergy and congregants of the Catholic church labeled as disordered, damned and discarded, Pope Francis posed the rhetorical question to reporters during an in-flight press conference, “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?” Although there was some moderate “damage control” by the Vati-
can after Francis’ statement, this pope has been named both Time magazine’s andThe Advocate’s “Person of the Year” for 2013.
No. 4 No. 5
Tammy Baldwin’s inauguration There are only 100 of them in the entire country and never before
had there been an openly LGBT person elected to become one of the few, the powerful: the members of the United States Senate. Then came Senator Tammy Baldwin (D. Wisconsin). The symbolic
and substantive value of having a lesbian senator among the 100 members of “the most exclusive private club in the world,” as the Senate is sometimes called, is inestimable.
President includes “gay” in second inaugural speech President Barack Obama was greeted with sizeable protests in Los
Angeles early in his administration because of his perceived tepid support for gay rights and his pre-evolution opposition to marriage equality. In 2012, the president did evolve. Contrary to conventional wisdom, which said Obama would have to wait until after he was reelected to change his mind about same-sex marriage or be defeated, he was reelected. Vice President Joe Biden may have forced the president’s hand by saying, in March of 2012 that he was “completely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. Then, in January of 2013, during his second inauguration speech,
Barack Obama did what no other president in U.S. history had done: He mentioned gay Americans directly. “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—
that all of us are created equal—is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall...” he said.
JANUARY 2014 | RAGE monthly 27
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