I don't really care what they think as individual people. I would simply avoid them, if that were a positive, realistic thing to do.

The trouble is, that these church people so often, whether they intend to or not, fuel fires of hatred again queer people. I've been an advocate and activist almost all my life, so that's not something I can just ignore.

When Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury fly to Africa and announce together that gay people are sinful, then they are guaranteeing more violence and death.

Things aren't exactly that dire in the United States, usually, but they're still pretty bad.

So of course I'm angry at religious institutions and religious leaders who do this — but I reserve a far more fierce anger for supposedly leftist or progressive people who cover their eyes and put their fingers in their ears and refuse to see evil.

Which of course means that they refuse to call it out. Which means that progress becomes far more difficult.

Major churches that teach that we queer people are inherently immoral are hurting us grievously even when we don't believe those teachings at all.

Because way too many people DO believe them, and way too many other people have decided to just be silent about it, because religion is, pardon the pun, a sacred cow.

I refuse to respect societal norms that say religion is off limits to criticism. I really wish more people would throw those norms in the garbage.