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The Catholic Church's financial support of anti-gay initiatives like California's Proposition 8 and Maine's Question 1 is far from a secret. These are only two of the most recent examples of the church's hypocrisy on gay issues, according to activists.
A new website, ChurchOuting.org, says that a big part of the problem is closeted priests unwilling to speak out about the church's homophobia. The site encourages gay priests in the Archdiocese of Washington to come out of the closet or risk being outed.
DC-based activist Phil Attey, who launched the site last month, said the idea to collect stories on both closeted gay priests and sexually active heterosexual priests has been in the works for some time. He bought the domain in 2004 but was sparked into action by the church's recent salvos against gay rights. He cited a pastoral letter which stated that same-sex marriage stands against "the common good."
Attey says closeted priests are part of a "cycle of spiritual abuse" that he hopes his site will help break.
"It irritated me to see these priests allowing their churches to be money-collecting vehicles for efforts to strip gay families of civil rights," Attey told Guide magazine. "That was the last straw. This has got to stop."
Within a week, Attey said, the site generated international attention, both positive and negative. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights chastised the initiative for "bullying" and "intimidating" Washington priests. But some people praised the site, saying they wanted to launch similar efforts within their own archdioceses.
Attey maintains the site's purpose is not to force priests out of the closet against their will.
"Our goal is to not have these stories ever see the light of day. We want to see them be open in their parishes and live openly," he said. "If they don't do that, they're leaving us with only one option--to expose them."

Author Profile:  Joseph Erbentraut

Joseph Erbentraut is a Wisconsin-born freelance writer and editor currently living in Chicago. His articles on politics, music and culture have been featured in the Village Voice and other publications. He also blogs at Chicagoist.