I Wish That I Didn’t Have To Write This

But when religious beliefs ostracize and are used to marginalize a community we need to speak up.

Pope Francis says transsexuals and homosexuals should be 'welcomed' and embraced by the Catholic Church

• Pope Francis said Catholic priests should not abandon transgender people

• He said said everyone should be 'welcomed' and embraced by the Church

• Religious leader said children should not be taught about sex changes

The Daily Mail
By Jenny Awford and Chris Summers
Published: 4 October 2016

Pope Francis has said all transsexuals and homosexuals should be 'welcomed' and embraced by the Catholic Church.

He said Jesus would never have turned away transgender people and revealed he had ministered to homosexuals as a priest, bishop and now as Pope.

'When a person arrives before Jesus, Jesus certainly will not say, 'Go away because you are homosexual',' the religious leader said.

'Each case must be welcomed, accompanied, studied, discerned and integrated. This is what Jesus would do today.' 

But he also said…

And when asked to elaborate on his comments by reporters aboard the papal plane as he returned to Rome, he said: 'What I was talking about was the nastiness that is present today in indoctrinating people in gender theory.

'It is one thing for a person to have this tendency, this option, and even change sex,' he said.

'But it is another thing to teach it, gender theory, in schools along these lines in order to change mentality. I call this ideological colonisation.'

Francis said he had ministered to gay people throughout his career in the Catholic Church.

The Advocate had this to say,

Then in the plane ride back to Rome, the pope told reporters that he had intended only to be critical of teaching children in school about what it means to be transgender. He reportedly used the word “transgender,” and he compared it to being gay. The church acknowledges people are gay but claims it’s a sin to act on same-sex attraction.

"It is one thing for a person to have this tendency, this option and even to have a sex change, but it is another thing to teach this in schools in order to change mentalities,” said the pope on the plane, according to Catholic News. “This I call ideological colonization.” The pope described teaching kids about being transgender as “indoctrination.” And the pope told two stories about trans people he knew.

In other words, shut up! We will embrace you if you just don’t talk about it.

That is something that the trans community knows all too well; how many times have we heard that?

I accept you but just don’t talk it.

I don’t know how many times I heard “friends” say that me; well if you accept me then you accept all of me including what I want to talk about.