Last week our assistant editor John Ferrannini broke the story of how San Francisco's Roman Catholic archbishop was advising local priests on how they could get away with not blessing same-sex couples after the pope's historic announcement allowing the blessings just before Christmas. 

"A source came forward and gave me the archbishop's letter," Ferrannini said. "A very local, specialized story? Yes, but one with big implications. It's that 'Inside Baseball' kind of stuff, that attention to detail, that's the role of our local papers. When that starts to slide on the small stuff, it's bad for civil society."

When John Ferrannini alerted us to the document he had obtained, news editor Cynthia Laird quickly determined that an editorial was in order.

“The Bay Area Reporter has followed Archbishop Cordileone since before he became leader of the Archdiocese of San Francisco,” Laird said. “He was a main supporter of 2008’s Proposition 8, the state’s same-sex marriage ban, and when he held a news conference after being named archbishop in 2012, he bemoaned the fact that all anyone wanted to ask him about was Prop 8. He has long been a foe of the LGBTQ community.”

Prop 8, which voters narrowly approved 15 years ago, was eventually ruled unconstitutional and same-sex marriage became legal in the Golden State in 2013, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized such unions in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

Laird said that she and publisher Michael Yamashita realized what Cordileone was really up to in his memorandum, which says that in some instances, priests do not have to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

“He was searching for a stealth way for his priests not to have to offer blessings to same-sex couples,” Laird said, adding that his memo fit that scenario. “He stated that it was ‘supplemental,’ as in adding to Pope Francis’ directive to make it seem more legitimate. But what it really does is instill a sense of fear and reluctance in both priests and same-sex couples.”

This article and follow-up editorial affecting our community was first reported in the Bay Area Reporter, which is the only news organization in the San Francisco Bay Area focusing on LGBTQ people.

Support our mission with a one-time, monthly or annual contribution to ensure that the Bay Area reporter remains free to LGBTQ community members regardless of their ability to pay.