Pope Francis And Kim Davis Meeting Causes Outrage In LGBT Community

The gay community has generally been supportive of Pope Francis, with many believing he is the first gay-friendly Pope. Most LGBT websites were singing the praises of Pope Francis during his visit to America last week. However, after learning that Pope Francis met with anti-gay county clerk Kim Davis, feelings of betrayal have consumed many in the LGBT community. Towleroad broke the news yesterday.

“After previous reports that the Vatican would neither confirm nor deny that a meeting took place between Kim Davis and Pope Francis, the Vatican on Wednesday confirmed that the meeting had taken place but had no comment to add.”

The comments section showed a lot more anger than usual for the site.

“OK, so I’m an Episcopalian rather than a Catholic, but… I am beyond incensed at this. He had no authority nor rationale for meeting with this so-called Evangelical Christian, who was a never-ending sinner in the eyes of the actual Catholic Church,” said commenter Preston.

“The pope’s meeting with Kim Davis and her fourth husband, at the Vatican Embassy in D.C. shows us that despite his grandfatherly smiles and nice words, he is a homophobic bigot,” says commenter Andrew.

Popular gay site Queerty wrote an editorial titled “No More Benefit Of The Doubt For Pope Francis — Ever.”

“By choosing to meet with Kim Davis, the reigning pin-up queen of homophobia, Pope Francis has sent the clearest possible signal about where he stands when it comes to LGBT rights.”

As others have said, Queerty also believes Pope Francis has undone any of the good will that he generated during his visit to the U.S. last week. Once again, the comments section after this article is filled with feelings of betrayal.

It’s quite interesting that the Advocate, one of the first popular gay publications that has kept its relevance for years, named Pope Francis “Person of the Year” in 2013.

“While 2013 will be remembered for the work of hundreds in advancing marriage equality, it will also be remembered for the example of one man,” the magazine stated in the preface of the article.

The article adds that Pope Francis has persuaded hearts and minds to open up to the LGBT community. They said that like President Obama, the Pope can make a historical difference in rights for the LGBT community worldwide. Perhaps, the magazine is eating its words now. Even then, some of the commenters after the article were suspicious.

“I think the media’s over hype of the ‘who am I to judge’ quote [which was really in a response in the context of a question about the so-called ‘gay lobby’ at the Vatican] has been used to suggest a softening that was never there,” said commenter David Dismas at the end of 2013.

The anger from the LGBT community is widespread on Twitter.

It’s quite interesting that the media, who a lot of people consider very liberal, treated Pope Francis like a saint last week, despite the history of the Catholic Church. Now that the meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis has become public knowledge, the media is turning against him as well. What do you think about the backlash against Pope Francis? Let us know in the comments section.

[Feature photo by Franco Origlia (Stringer) for Getty Images]