J. Bryan Lowder writing at Slate about an "anti-gay day" organized by some students last week at McGuffey High School in Claysville, Pennsylvania, in which it's reported that these students posted bible verses on gay students' lockers, harassed them verbally and physically, and allegedly created a "lynch list" targeting gay students:
The exact motivations of the students behind "anti-gay day" aren’t yet known, but it's hard not to see this sort of coherent, religiously inflected action as part of the larger backlash LGBTQ people are currently experiencing in the United States under the banner of "religious liberty" and the like. Aside from showing that certain students at McGuffey need to reflect on how they interact with their classmates, this incident should serve as a reminder that large-scale successes like those expected with same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court this summer will not end the struggle for LGBTQ acceptance—far from it. As McGuffey’s queer students now know, even basic safety at school isn’t guaranteed.
And as this backlash rolls forth (and it will keep doing so, as Lowder correctly predicts), and as people push the envelope in discussion threads at Catholic blog sites, throwing around terms like "sodomites" and "pansies," where will responsible Catholic blog sites with a commitment to building a church of mercy that welcomes everyone and defends those on the margins stand?