"We neglect the gay movement at our peril."
These aren't the words of some advisor to the Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama campaigns, nor were these words muttered by some gay rights leader trying to fire up apathetic queers.
Nope, these are the words of the Right Rev. Joseph Devine (the "Right" part is debatable), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, Scotland. He gave this dire warning during a lecture at St. Aloysius' College in Glasgow on March 11.
"I want to ask you if you are able to see the giant conspiracy that's taking place before our eyes, even if we didn't see it at the time. I take it you're beginning to see that there is a huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy taking place, which the Catholic community missed," Devine said according to a report by The Scotsman. "It's a very small group of people, but very active and organized – and extremely indulgent. The opposition know exactly what they're doing. We don't."
"The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups," Devine said. "It is ever present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial – as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution."
Well of course gays are at the holocaust memorial service each year. I mean, sure, a memorial service isn't exactly a parade, but Lord knows how much queers love pageantry!
Right.
And what's with the whole gays "creating for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution" business? What, does he imagine that gays were lining up at the train stations, begging to get loaded into boxcars knowing how much it would piss off the Catholics and every other group that seeks to sanitize history? "Oh, if only the gays weren't there," they say, "this whole thing would be so much easier to talk about…" As if not acknowledging the gays rounded up and killed in the Holocaust somehow makes the whole thing more palatable.
In his speech Devine also blasted actor Sir Ian McKellen, who was, according to 365Gay, honored by the Queen this year. "In this New Year's Honours List, I saw actor Ian McKellen being honored for his work on behalf of homosexuals," Devine said. "A century ago, Oscar Wilde was locked up and put in jail."
Ah, yes. England a century ago. A kinder, gentler time and place.
According to BBC News, Stonewall Scotland Director Calum Irving said Devine's remarks were "delusional and offensive."
"I would defend the bishop's right to practice his faith and yet he would deny me basic dignity and respect," Irving told The Scotsman. "Worse, he appears to hanker after an age when Oscar Wilde was put in jail for being gay. Worse still, he seems to infer that gay people have no right to be remembered as victims of the Holocaust."
Offensive? Check.
"I'm flattered that the bishop thinks we could mount a 'huge and well-orchestrated' conspiracy, but he is much deluded," Irving told the Scotsman newspaper. "After all, which 'lobby' really has the greater resources and political access?"
Delusional? Check.
Surprising coming from a Catholic Church honcho? Well, to say yes would make me seem like the delusional one here and I wouldn't want to steal Mr. Devine's thunder.
