This comes from the New Bronx LGBTQ Center who are expressing their desire to engage in dialogue with Cardinal Spellman High School
regarding its intention to have a speaker from an organization that
advocates "treating" LGBTQ individuals to "cure" their "gay addiction"
using principles of 12-step programs address the school.
The new Bronx
LGBTQ Center is deeply
concerned after learning that Cardinal Spellman High School
has invited Father Donald Timone
to speak at its school about LGBTQ issues.
While
we respect freedom of speech, we do not respect bullying and hate
speech, especially when it negatively impacts the lives of at-risk
teenagers. Fr. Timone's misinformed and unenlightened rhetoric adds
to the toxic environment that drives so many LGBTQ youth to
despair—and beyond.
"No
educational institution should be so irresponsible as to invite
someone whose entire approach to LGBTQ individuals is based on bad
science. Exodus International, a Christian ministry that formerly
advocated attempts to 'pray away the gay' (i.e. conversion therapy),
recently disbanded after admitting that a person's sexual orientation
cannot be changed and that reparative therapy is in fact harmful,"
Peter C. Frank, the
Center's secretary stated.
Fr.
Timone is affiliated with COURAGE, an organization that treats gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people as addicts curable by
participation in a 12-step program, instead of accepting and
respecting them as the loving individuals they are. Courage's "free
speech" promotes self-loathing among LGBTQ individuals and
encourages others to hate LGBTQ people simply for being who they are,
thus putting them at a greater risk of being bullied.
We
strongly condemn the notion that being LGBTQ can be "treated"
with 12-step programs or by any other method. Mr. Frank added,
"Cardinal Spellman
High School should instead, like Pope Francis's recent statements, be
sending a message of love, inclusion, and acceptance.”
We join with LGBTQ spiritual
leaders in calling for dialogue
with Fr. Timone and the Archdiocese of New York, as these types of
belief systems lead to violence and homelessness.
 |
| Rev. Carmen Hernandez |
We at the Bronx LGBTQ Center want all youth to know
that you are fine just as you are. There is absolutely nothing wrong
with you, whether you're straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender, or questioning. We accept and celebrate you for who you
are," Rev. Carmen Hernandez, a board member of the
Center, said.
"The
Bronx LGBTQ Center is a safe space for all who are struggling with
issues of sexual orientation or gender identity. Our Youth Group
meets at 4pm every Friday at Union Community Health Center, 260 East
188th Street, 5th Floor, the Bronx,"
Mr. Frank noted.
