Houston 1991, l’assassinio di un giovane gay e un vescovo coraggioso

Article by Francis DeBernardo published on Bondings 2.0, blog of the Catholic association New Ways Ministry (United States), on 14 August 2016, freely translated by Silvia Lanzi

“This month in the history of LGBT Catholics” is the new Bondings 2.0 column to introduce readers to the rich history - positive and negative - of the last forty years of battles for equality for LGBT Catholics. We hope it helps people by showing them how far the Church has come, where it has regressed, and how far we still have to go. Once a month the Bondings 2.0 editorial team will post a piece of history of the last thirty-eight years of LGBT Catholics. We'll be combing through editions of Bondings 2.0's ancestor, Bondings, New Ways Ministry's print newsletter. We began publishing Bondings in 1978 and unfortunately, because the issues are paper only, in many cases we will not be able to redirect the reader to the source of the news.

1991: The assassination of Paul Broussard

In 1991 the beating to death of a young gay man in Houston provoked a vehement reaction from the local bishop, who stated that hating homosexuals “it means offending God”.

Paul Broussard was brutally beaten by ten young Men – nine of whom were still High school students – as he and his friends were leaving a nightclub In montrose, known as houston's gay district, At the crack of dawn on July 4, 1991. Broussard was a few blocks from his home and during the attack he was fatally stabbed twice.

First aid was slow to arrive, which was normal for Montrose incidents at the time, due to fears of AIDS. The medical examiner later declared that the cause of Broussard's death was to be found in the "delay in aid". In the following days, the police chief declared that he had no intention of investigating, thus triggering protest marches in front of the mayor's house by the gay community, which lasted for several days. These protests became the largest demonstration for LGBT rights in Houston's history. Finally, the criminals were arrested and the defense began to negotiate detention.

On August 9 of that year, right in the middle of the riot, the [Catholic, ed.] bishop of Houston Joseph Fiorenza made an unprecedented decision, making it clear that he condemned the brutality of the attack. No bishop before then had denounced a beating of a gay man in such an explicit manner. On the columns of Texas Catholic Herald, in an article titled “The death of Paul Broussard” monsignor Fiorenza declared: “Hating homosexuals is equivalent to offending God, whose creative love gives life to every person, and is a violation of the teachings of the Church when it affirms that every human being has an immeasurable value and a profound dignity that must be respected by all”.

Fiorenza provided a theological basis for this statement: “… it is a religious truth that every person, despite their lifestyle, is a child of God, created in his image. The image of God in every person, homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual, is what gives him dignity and is the reason why everyone is the subject of human and civil rights.".
The bishop also specified the ways in which to eradicate the homophobia that had caused such a cruel episode: “Hating homosexuals, making jokes about and beating gay people, or calling LGBT people derogatory names is a clear violation of our responsibility to love one another as Christ loved us. Hating or doing violence to another person, no matter who the other person is, perpetuates the cycle of violence that causes other gays like Paul Broussard to be brutally murdered just because they are thought to be homosexual. For God's sake, this must never happen again in our community."

Monsignor fiorenza also recounted some of his recent experiences, which had clarified broussard's murder Better: “Shortly after the event I visited Central Europe and Berlin, where I saw evidence of neo-Nazi anti-Semitism. We cannot forget that the demonic evil of Nazism also condemned homosexuals to the gas chambers. Hitler wanted them eliminated. God forbid that Nazi hatred of homosexuals infiltrates our community too. It is possible, if we are not alert to this danger and fail to teach the dignity, desired by God, of every person."

In a courageous act, the bishop also recognized that failure to proclaim this truth was part of the problem that led to the beating of the man: “Our traditional mediating institutions [religious congregations, schools and homes] have failed in their task if anyone thinks that 'gay beating' is an acceptable diversion or, what is worse, if individual members of such congregations and schools have developed hatred for homosexuals."

The bishop also stressed that the Church should more forcefully proclaim the teaching on human dignity: “The Church has always made a clear and important distinction between homosexual orientation and the sexual activity linked to it. It must not and does not condemn people who have this orientation. Furthermore, every religious faith teaches that gays and lesbians must be respected and loved as brothers and sisters of the human family and that any attack against them is a violation of religious principles. Looking at the tragic death of Paul Broussard, it is time for all religious faiths to forcefully reaffirm this teaching to make it clearly understood and, hopefully, to prevent further deaths of gays due to beatings."

Bishop Fiorenza's example is a clear testimony that should motivate his fellow bishops around the world to speak out clearly against the violence inflicted on the LGBT community. This lesson is especially important for bishops who continue to agree with laws that criminalize and severely penalize gays, lesbians and transgender people. The teaching on human dignity is clear and not at all ambiguous. Its application to these situations should be equally clear and not at all ambiguous.

Original text: The Murder of Paul Broussard: A Catholic Bishop Speaks Out