If any of you are still Andrew, we can cure you

In 1963, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a story, titled “Reunion”, which has been anthologised and remembered for nearly fifty years because of its punchline. It is, in structure, simply a shaggy-dog story. The narrator is an alien voice speaking to the humanity of Earth, advising us that we are a long-lost colony abandoned millennia ago because of a harmless but disfiguring genetic disease that had begun to spread through the population. But, the narrator tells us

“People of Earth, you can rejoin galactic society without shame, without stigma. If any of you are still white, we can cure you.”

Several people seemed to think the only problem with the exgay ad that Anglican Mainstream and CORE proposed to run on London buses was that “liberals” would disagree with it: and objected strongly when Boris Johnson stepped in to ban it, though for some it was undoubtedly more of a problem that Boris Johnson had banned the ads than that the ads had been banned:

Harm and serious offence

As I noted two weeks ago:

You can’t “cure” someone of having a sexual orientation.

Individuals and groups who claim they can cure a person of being gay are either bigots or frauds or, quite possibly, both.

But from Monday 16th April, Anglican Mainstream and the Core Issues Trust will be running this ad on the side of 26 London buses:

You can’t be cured when you’re not ill

You can’t “cure” someone of having a sexual orientation.

Individuals and groups who claim they can cure a person of being gay are either bigots or frauds or, quite possibly, both.

The Catholic hierarchy has dealt with the priests who molest children in several ways. For decades at least, they ignored the crimes and covered up after the criminals. (There is written evidence of reports made to the Vatican in 1962 and to Pope Paul VI a year later, about child-molesting priests being returned to parish work where they would again have access to children.) They also attempted to pin the blame on gay men being admitted to the priesthood: but painstaking evidence was gathered to show this was factually wrong. And in some horrible instances, the Church seems to have done both:

Leprosy? Like where my limbs fall off?

From House MD 5.01, “Dying Changes Everything”:

Doctor Gregory House: “Those aren’t bruises. They’re mycobacterial lesions. She has diffuse lepromatous leprosy. Must have caught it on one of her overseas estrogen tours. Chemo wipes out some of the bacteria, she feels a little better. Wipes out most of her immune system, she gets a whole lot worse.”

Patient-of-the-Week: “Leprosy? Like where my limbs fall off?”

House: “Actually, this is the flattering one. It’s also known as “pretty leprosy.” It doesn’t disfigure, it makes your skin look younger, smoother. Don’t let the girls hear. They’ll all want to lick your face. Unless you’re that kind of feminist. [to Taub and Thirteen] Blast her with antibiotics and prednisone. She’ll be fine.”

Lepers. Lesbians. Who can tell the difference, really?

Today in London the Emmanuel Centre church hosted a one-day conference and another half-day tomorrow:

“The Lepers Among Us: Homosexuality and the Life of the Church”

What is this about, you may ask?