In case reporters are too stupid to not offend the LGBT Catholic community or don’t work for BuzzFeed, GLAAD is making it easy. On Thursday the gay and lesbian rights group released a rulebook for journalists covering Pope Francis‘s visit to Philadelphia in September.
“Despite 60 percent of Catholics in the U.S. supporting marriage equality, the media and Church hierarchy frequently misrepresent the experiences of LGBT Catholics by focusing on pundits and reinforcing a ‘God vs. gay narrative,'” says a release.
The rulebook includes allegedly offensive terms to avoid when addressing LGBT Catholics.
Some examples: 1. Avoid the word “homosexual” since it is “aggressively used by anti-gay extremists to show that they are somehow diseased.” Preferred: gay, lesbian and bisexual. 2. Avoid the phrase “gay lifestyle.” It is offensive to say “gay lifestyle” or “homosexual life.” They explain, “the phrase ‘gay lifestyle’ is used to denigrate lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, which suggests that their orientation is a choice and therefore can and should be ‘cured.'” Preferred: “Gay lives.” 3. Avoid the phrase “special rights.” Preferred: “Equal rights. Equal protection.”
GLAAD also urges reporters to practice specific reporting techniques.
For instance: 1. Avoid speaking only to Catholic anti-LGBT activists about LGBT people. 2. Avoid minimizing the advancements of then Catholic LGBT community. 3. Avoid “associating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people with pedophilia, child abuse, sexual abuse, bestiality, bigamy, polygamy, adultery and/or incest.”
There are also story ideas in case you want to further GLAAD’s agenda as opposed to, say, covering the events any way you damn well please since this is the United States of America and there’s something known as a free press.
Story ideas include: 1. LGBT allies in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. 2. LGBT Catholics who are denied inclusion because of their identity. 3. The relationship between the transgender community and the Roman Catholic Church.
See the full oppressive guide here.