Outside the box: Bishop of Elphin & Being Gay or Female

AND so to the Bishop of Elphin, and his pronouncements on rape, parenting, and homosexuality, writes Suzanne Harrington.

First, let us reflect on how many different groups of people he has offended, all crammed into a single radio interview. That takes some doing. Given the bishop’s own lifestyle choices — celibate, childless, and definitely not female (his Church doesn’t do gender equality) — what does he know about the subjects upon which he so blithely opined?

Let’s start with how gay couples with children “are not parents”. Who can verify this claim? Perhaps children being raised by gay parents. There are loads of them where I live. I start with two teenager boys, whose mums shared everything, including a pregnancy each. ‘Your parents are not your parents’, I suggest. They laugh. Loudly. As though I have said something so bizarre it’s funny. A straw poll — a quick ask-around of my children’s friends from same-sex families — suggests that such an idea is laughable, were it not so cack-handedly offensive.