WELL, NO SURPRISE, the new pope has condemned gay marriages. He says gay marriages are "anarchy." Funny, many of those "anarchic" gay marriages last for decades. My marriage ended after 15 years; a gay couple in my synagogue have been married for about 25 years. I know quite a number of gay and lesbian families, with two parents and children. They love their children, raise them to be caring, productive citizens, send them to school, make them do their homework, go on vacations, send them off on playdates and sleepovers, have the grandparents over for dinner, just like single-parent families do. Just like families with two parents who are opposite genders do. Just like extended families with several generations living under one roof do. Just like interfaith families do; just like multi-ethnic families do. No anarchy there at all.

On the other hand, there are heterosexual families that fight constantly, throw things at each other, call each other names. There are heterosexual families where the male spouse beats up the female spouse on a regular basis, or humiliates her in front of other people. There are heterosexual families where children are raped, by the loving father; or molested, by the adoring mother. There are heterosexual families that exist in cold silence, and that eke out affection as if affection were the last cup of water in a desert.

Then again, there are heterosexual families filled with as much love, stability, and emotional connection as the gay and lesbian families I know. There are also gay and lesbian families that are completely dysfunctional, just like those disordered heterosexual families I mentioned.

But which marriages and which families are anarchy? If the pope thinks it's the families with two parents of the same gender, regardless of how long-lasting, committed, and loving those families are, then he is the one who needs to be liberated -- from disordered thinking.

Via Memeorandum.