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I
feel privileged to participate in this Gala at the 23rd
International Activities for World Peace and I feel honored to be the
recipient of the 2005 “Santa Claus Peace Prize”, presented by the Santa Claus
Foundation here in Antalya, Turkey on this feast of St. Nicholas.
The Santa Claus Foundation is to be commended for courageously choosing
the theme, “Sexual Diversities: The Path to Peace” for the 2005
activities. The Santa Claus Foundation is helping the world community to
overcome its fear and misunderstanding of sexual minorities so that we
may all live more at peace.
I am a Roman Catholic nun from the United States and I have been working
for justice and pastoral concern for lesbian and gay people since 1971.
At that time, I met a young homosexual man named Dominic when I was a
mathematics student at the University of Pennsylvania. Dominic and I
became good friends. He told me about his life of feeling rejected by
his family, the Catholic Church, and society because of his sexual
orientation. He was attending the Anglican Church at the University
campus because the Episcopal Church had begun a ministry to homosexual
people.
Dominic asked me what the Catholic Church was doing to help homosexual
persons. How was the Catholic Church helping to prevent the suicides of
gay people who feel socially ostracized? Dominic asked me what the
Catholic Church was doing to educate people so that they stop the
violence of beatings and murders of gay people. He asked me what the
Catholic Church was doing to foster dignity and self-worth in homosexual
persons.
I
did not know what my Church was doing to help gay and lesbian people. I
spoke with my religious superiors and told them about Dominic and his
friends. I learned that my church, the Roman Catholic Church, had
persecuted and killed homosexual people centuries ago. In the modern era,
my church shunned them, considered them abnormal, and treated them as
outcasts. My religious superiors said that it was now time to treat
lesbian and gay people as Jesus would treat them. Jesus embraced the
social outcasts of his day. He welcomed the Gentiles, the tax-collectors,
and the prostitutes. Jesus cares about lesbian and gay persons, the
social outcasts of today, because they too are created in the image and
likeness of God.
My religious superiors appointed me to a church ministry to work for
peace, understanding, and equality for lesbian and gay persons. This
ministry has continued for almost 35 years now.
While I was at the University, I
organized religious services for Dominic and his lesbian and gay friends
who felt rejected by the Catholic Church because of the prejudice
against them. I have conducted spiritual retreats and pilgrimages to
holy places and shrines for lesbian and gay people, their parents,
families, and friends.
But most of my activities have been speaking and writing about
homosexuality. I have tried to educate people about sexual diversity
because I sincerely believe that correct information will eliminate our
fears and hostility toward homosexuals and promote respect for them.
I
had once accepted all the myths and stereotypes that our society
mistakenly believes about gay and lesbian people, but I have learned
through education and my friendships with gay and lesbian people that
they are as natural and normal as heterosexual people.
I have seen many changes in my Church regarding homosexuality in the 35
years that I have worked in this ministry. The bishops of my church now
say that “Homosexuals, like everyone else, should not suffer from
prejudice against their basic human rights. They have a right to respect,
friendship, and justice. They should have an active role in the
Christian community.” The leaders of my Church are saying that we must
learn to see people of different sexualities, not as an enemy to be
beaten and assaulted, but as persons worthy of respect and friendship.
But unfortunately, we do not always practice what we preach.
The freedom to accept one’s sexuality is a basic human right. Peace
will come only when we respect the human rights of all people. We cannot
have peace in the world unless we have peace in our personal
relationships. We cannot have peace in our personal relationships unless
people can express love and commitment to each other.
Our expressions of love need to be respected.
The late Cardinal Basil Hume of London, England, stated, “Love between
two persons, whether of the same sex or of a different sex, is to be
treasured and respected….When two persons love, they experience in a
limited manner in this world what will be their unending delight with
God in the next world.”
I humbly accept the “Santa
Claus Peace Prize” on behalf of millions and millions of people
who deserve this honor. I would like to tell you about some of them.
In 1998, the people of my country were shocked by the brutal battering
of a young University student. Two men robbed and beat him, and left him
to die in near-freezing temperature, tied to a fence post, because he
was gay. 18 hours later, Matthew Shepard was found, taken to a nearby
hospital and died from his injuries. This
brutal death of a gay man was not the last incident of violence against
sexual minorities in my country. Four months later, a gay man was
bludgeoned to death with an ax by two men. They placed his body on a
pile of tires, poured kerosene over it, and set him on fire. I
accept the “Santa Claus Peace Prize” on behalf of all the lesbian and gay
people in the world who have suffered emotional injury, violence, and
even death because of prejudice, hostility, and lack of understanding.
In the early days of my ministry I met a lesbian couple who were raising
two daughters. I remember how tender, caring, and devoted the women were
to their children. I wished that all children would be given as much
love as these children received. Over the years, I have known countless
lesbian and gay people who gently and affectionately nursed their aging
parents until their death. I accept the “Santa
Claus Peace Prize” on behalf of lesbian and gay people who are
providing love and security in family life.
Many parents are confused or ashamed of their homosexual children
because of social attitudes towards them, but I am recently meeting more
and more parents who love their gay sons and lesbian daughters. These
parents love their religion, but they cannot understand why religious
people do not accept their children who have a different orientation.
They want society and religion to respect the human rights of all their
children. I accept the “Santa Claus Peace Prize” on behalf of all parents who have
children whose sexuality is in a minority.
This year a heterosexual man wrote an article showing how the Catholic
bishops in the United States treat sexual minorities unfairly when
compared to other minorities, such as migrant peoples. He advocated an
open and public discussion about homosexual persons. When the article
was published in a Catholic magazine, his supervisors asked him to
resign from his job. I accept the “Santa
Claus Peace Prize” on behalf of all people of good will, who are
willing to speak out for the rights of all human beings, regardless of
sexual orientation, even at the risk of punitive consequences to
themselves.
The Santa Claus Foundation recognizes that differences of sexual
orientation are not fundamental differences and believes that sexual
identity should not be a cause for division in the human family. Finally,
I accept this award in gratitude to the Santa Claus Foundation for its
efforts to promote peace, compassion,
and harmony in the world through sexual diversities. I wish to
thank the Santa Claus Foundation for helping the world to become more
aware of sexual minorities by graciously giving me the 2005 “Santa
Claus Peace Prize”.
Thank
you so VERY much.
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