Move over, Uganda and Russia

It has really been stunning the way repressive anti-gay laws have been put into effect in the recent past, most notably, in Uganda and Russia.    Uganda imposes long jail sentences just for being gay, but reconsidered and limited the death penalty to more "aggravated" homosexual acts.  Russia's provocative 2013 law has no such harsh penalties, but does proscribe any efforts at "promoting" homosexuality, which includes public identification or attending protest rallies.    Inevitably, with such encouragement to the forces of hate, anti-gay violence has already increased in both countries.

Closer home, and therefore even more shocking, is the "morality clause" in the new contract for teachers employed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati.    According to a Human Rights Campaign, the clause calls "not only for the firing of gay and lesbian school employees, but also cites support of the 'homosexual lifestyle' as grounds for dismissal."  Teachers in 94 parochial schools in the archdiocese will be affected by this contract.

If they choose to enforce it this way, even making a contribution to a gay civil rights organization or attending a Pride event with your gay daughter could be considered grounds for firing.

Surely this is not consistent with Pope Francis' new spirit of acceptance, nor with the majority of RC laity;  but, as HRC points out, the Council of Catholic Bishops seem to be digging in their heels.

Ralph