Harvard’s Harvey Mansfield once said you could tell in society who’s in charge by who is allowed to get angry. In case you didn’t know who’s allowed to get angry in America these days, it’s the LGBT lobby.
They got plenty riled that actor Gary Sinise and Fox News anchor Bret Baier were to appear before a prestigious group of Catholic CEOs who hold Catholic views, and within hours both Sinise and Baier withdrew from the conference.
Two issues present themselves; first, the patrol of pubic discourse by sexual ideologues, and second, the fear among the otherwise rich and powerful of these sexual ideologues.
The unforgivable sin of this group of Catholic CEOs, called Legatus, is they hold views about homosexuality that are unacceptable to the gay paladins who patrol the ramparts of pubic discourse for any deviation from their ideology. And not just monitor, they also punish.
One of the scheduled speakers at the Legatus conference is former male super model Paul Darrow who left the gay way of life, converted to the Catholic Church and now counts himself among that rapidly growing cohort of “ex-gays.” There is no redder flag to the LGBTs than ex-gays since the gay way is complete, final, irreversible, and irresistible.
Darrow is a member of a Catholic group called Courage that helps those with unwanted same-sex desire to live according to Church teaching on sexual ethics. Such practices and views are seen by powerful LGBT groups as unacceptable and even hateful and must be stamped out.
On Monday, Pink News reported that Sinise was going to appear at the conference. On Tuesday the blog Good As You reported it. Within hours Sinise pulled out, followed quickly by Baier. Pete Coors, of brewing fame, pulled out, too.
What takes the breath away is how fast they caved. Days would have been fast. They caved in minutes. Sinise was actually at the conference site and refused to meet personally with the Legatus people whose headquarters are a few miles away.
According to the Center for Disease Control, gays amount to no more than 1.6 percent of the population, that’s roughly 5 million. There are more Methodists in the U.S. than gays. The number that actually care about Sinise talking to Legatus is probably a fraction of that. Sinise cared more about offending them than in offending 78 million Catholics in America. Granted, those who care about this is far smaller than 78 million, but whatever it is, it’s a larger number than that tiny sliver of LGBTs.
It should be noted that Sinise was not asked to talk about the LGBT issue. He was asked to talk about his faith and his work with wounded veterans to a room full of men and women who no doubt actively support of his work. No matter. Paul Darrow’s life story is not acceptable to Sinise and his LGBT masters.
They say we live in an age of the narrative. We hear constantly that in order to win political debates we need to tell stories, that personal stories cannot be denied. Nonsense. Some stories cannot be told, particularly if they conflict with the dominant sexual narrative.
It should be noted that the views espoused by the group Legatus are fully in accord with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that the homosexual inclination is disordered. The Church teaches that the expression of that inclination is objectively evil. The Church teaches the origins of the inclination are largely psychological and can be treated for those who earnestly want to live according to Church teaching. Sinise says he’s a faithful Catholic.
Sure, this is not Sinise’s battle. He fights other battles, important battles. But, this battle came to him and rather than stand for his faith — however uncomfortable that may have been — Sinise surrendered. What would Lieutenant Dan say?
Austin Ruse is president of C-Fam (Center for Family & Human Rights) and a columnist for Crisis Magazine.