San Francisco Chronicle - Monday December 18, 1989
Randy Shilts

To say the least, these protesters are embracing a disturbing double standard.

Just imagine how inflamed the gay community would be if militant Catholics burst into the gay Metropolitan Community Church in the Castro area, scribbled anti-homosexual Bible verses on the walls and stopped the sermon until the police showed up.

You don't need to hire astrologer Joan Quigley to predict the outpouring of fury that such a protest would evoke among gay leaders. And you don't need much imagination to figure out the reaction of a lot of people to the recent wave of protests directed at the Catholic Church by AIDS protesters.

Catholic churches in North Hollywood and West Hollywood were vandalized two weeks ago by protesters who criticized Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony's opposition to the distribution of condoms.

Last week, members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) invaded services at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City to protest Cardinal John O'Connor's opposition to safe-sex education. One protester even grabbed a Communion wafer -- which, to Catholics, is the body of Christ -- and threw it on the church floor. They had to be dragged out of the church by police.

The same day, members of the gay artists group Boys With Arms Akimbo plastered the front door of St. Mary's Cathedral with posters and red handprints meant to symbolize the blood on the church's hands for their gay-related teachings.

Taken together, the actions represent a troubling new turn in the wave of confrontational AIDS protests that has swept America in the past year.

It's not surprising, of course, that these protests should materialize.

The Catholic hierarchy's staunch opposition to condoms and safe-sex education has long been derided by people working to prevent AIDS and just about every credible spokesman in the public health community.

The church's sole advice to prevent AIDS -- strict monogamy within one lifelong heterosexual marriage -- might fit theological doctrine, but most experts say such messages alone are not enough to stop the spread of the HIV epidemic in a world where a lot of people are not inclined toward either monogamy or heterosexuality.

Moreover, the church's long-standing enmity to all things homosexual also was bound to attract AIDS protesters, most of whom are from the lesbian and gay community. Many Catholic gays harbor deep-seated -- and justifiable -- anger toward a church that affirms homophobia as, quite literally, an article of faith.

In fact, many gays perceive the Catholic Church as a central reason that they are sometimes deprived of their basic rights. The church's role in defeating San Francisco's domestic partner's bill last month only furthered the resentment.

That, however, does not give gay protesters the prerogative to deny Catholics their rights, including the right to worship and the right of their leaders to deliver whatever pronouncements they like without having to worry about the intimidation of vandals.

It is not only morally wrong to violate these rights -- it is strategically stupid.

The first question, of course, is whether church teachings on AIDS-related issues are influential enough to warrant the protests.

AIDS organizers would have a very difficult time proving this. American Catholics have spent the past two decades largely ignoring their prelates' admonitions against abortion and birth control. It is doubtful that they would suddenly start falling back to the fold today when it came to proscriptions about safe sex and rubbers.

The protests, therefore, are clearly out to serve a broader symbolic purpose -- which gets to the bigger problem for the AIDS militants. Any battle of symbolism that involves the defacing of churches is going to end up with the vandals as losers.

Messing around with houses of worship makes new enemies, not new friends. Most Americans -- whether Catholic or Protestant, heterosexual or homosexual -- do not approve of vandalism, especially the vandalism of churches. It is wrong, no matter who does it or for what reason.

There is another unseemly side to the recent protests. America has a long, ugly tradition of anti-Catholic prejudice, and undercurrents of it are certainly present in the rhetoric of some of the AIDS protesters.

It is not surprising that San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos has called for prosecuting the St. Mary's vandals under felony provisions of the state Hate Crimes Act. As Agnos said, "No person, and no cause, is made larger and more important as a result of diminishing those who differ or by acts of criminal hatred."

There is a difference between opposing the doctrine of the Catholic hierarchy and opposing Catholics. It is a distinction, however, that seems lost on some of the dissenters.

The gay-rights cause and the push for a better response to the HIV epidemic has rested on the plea that society should cast aside old prejudices and understand that every human has an intrinsic right to be treated with dignity, even if some of the person's actions might be repugnant to others.

If the protests of the past two weeks are any indication, this is a message that both sides of the AIDS debate should take pains to heed.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1989. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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