@ Anon-e-Moose:
I think that it's important not to give Pope Francis too much credit on this issue. I don't know the context of the particular quote, but really it doesn't matter all that much. Conservative Catholics aren't quite like conservative evangelicals when it comes to their view on homosexuality (or on a lot of things quite frankly) which makes it all the more insidious. They tend to accept the evidence that sexuality is not a choice and many if not most also accept that sexuality is generally fixed. The obvious implication is that Catholics don't believe that being gay is a sin. That implication, taken in the strictest sense, is true.
That sounds almost progressive, right up until you realize that it doesn't matter anywhere near as much as it sounds like it does. Catholics recognize that being homosexual or bisexual is not a choice, but then that's never really been the heart of the issue. They believe that the desire is either inborn or developed unconsciously through a complex interplay of nature and nurture, and that therefore it's not immoral itself. *But* they still believe that it's immoral to act on it.
The idea that having sex with people of the same sex is alright because it's not a choice really isn't a great argument, honestly. It dodges around the issue, and it also has shitty implications. On the one hand, it kind of implies that being gay is something shameful that's *only* okay because it's not a choice. On the other, there are actually desires that a person doesn't choose that *would* be immoral to act on. Ultimately, it's not immoral to be gay because...well, why in the fuck would it be? The answer that Catholics have to that question is somewhat more sophisticated than "because God said so", but that is kind of what it boils down to. It's a terribly cruel idea when it comes down to it, regardless of the flowery language and philosophical rhetoric used, and one that also has awful implications for women's reproductive rights.
So, I wouldn't give him so much credit here. As a bisexual person myself, I can honestly say that he seems like a sincere and caring man who can still take his beliefs on sexuality and shove them right up his own ass because of all of the harm that they cause.
