The Catholic Church isn’t anti-gay, but are its bishops?

"On Meet the Press earlier this month, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, claimed that the Catholic Church is not anti-gay. “We’re pro marriage, we’re pro traditional marriage, we’re not anti anybody. We’ve been out-marketed, we’ve been caricatured as being anti-gay,” he explained to the show’s host, David Gregory. Dolan’s right. The Catholic Church isn’t anti-gay, but evidence suggests its bishops certainly are..."

http://michaeloloughlin.religionnews.com/2013/12/12/catholic-church-isnt-anti-gay-bishops/#sthash.vKSirUjW.dpuf

Some very worthwhile reader comments follow the article. Among my favorites:

"... The bishops are destroying their own influence, not just among lay Catholics, but among all Americans, when they shriek the most vitriolic hate speech against LGBT Americans, but what has angered Americans is the crass political machinations committed by the bishops. We know Catholic bishops have committed criminal acts in violation of California campaign finance and disclosure laws because the US Supreme Court has an email the bishops wrote to Mormon bosses agreeing to make secret, illegal contributions to the California 2008 anti-gay H8te Vote:
Here is documentation about that email:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/documents-show-close-links-between-prop-8-campaign-and-mormon-catholic-churches.html#comments

The email was included in the evidence the US Supreme Court reviewed before that Court affirmed the revocation of the 2008 California anti-gay H8te Vote. Clearly, the criminal acts committed by Mormons and other anti-gays failed..."

And another:

"I have just read the story of Michael Griffith. Yet another beloved teacher fired for being gay.
The Catholic Church lives in hypocrisy. If the Church just as rigorously went after those who practice birth control or divorce, or support the death penalty, they would at least have the benefit of consistency. But they would also have empty hallways.
Mr. Griffin’s was a civil marriage, not a religious one. Should the church also expel any Catholic who marries a non-Catholic? What about those who marry outside the church? Are they expelled?
What about the wealthy parents who don’t give a hoot about the poor, who scorn the downtrodden? When will the Church expel them?
A cohort of the Church is obsessed with homosexuality. Even the Pope sees how damaging this obsession has been, at the expense of issues that truly matter.
But gays and lesbians are safer victims, and they also feed the Catholic leadership’s own rage. The acceptance of gays and lesbians has not only depleted their ranks of easy fodder for the rectory and nunnery, but at the same torments their own inner devils. Ruled by a coven of closeted gay men, Church leaders absolutely hum with suppressed envy at the thought of men living out their lives with the love that each of us deserves to know in this lifetime.
The greatest shame is for Mr. Griffin’s students. They have now been taught that he is a lesser human being who, by publicly expressing the most important aspect of who he is, does not deserve to teach them.
Any parent who continues to send their children to such a school must ponder the lessons their children will learn. Twenty years from now, and probably sooner, they will look to you the way children today look back at those who self-righteously sent their kids to segregated schools in the South. They will be ashamed of you and your parenting."