Father Reese wrote, "churches and religious believers feel that they are being vilified for simply maintaining centuries-old teaching." I expect that's right, that those people do believe that. But in that case, it's a disgraceful kind of belief, and it's no wonder that many LGBTQ people think religious believers are deplorable bigots. Inasmuch as homosexuality gets any attention in biblical literature and Catholic moral theology -- it does, but not very much, and never in a matter of central importance -- , it amounts to saying no more than that God is displeased by homosexual conduct; given that the orthodox Christian disposition does not assign normative value to Leviticus, there is nothing in our "teaching" that should recommend active persecution of LGBTQ people. And so for Christians to invest so much interest in opposing LGBTQ rights looks perverse, cruel, and in fact un-Christian. These people were always homophobes at heart, glad to be confirmed by a few minor Bible texts.