National
Vatican official speaks at online LGBTQ event
Queer Catholics invited to participate in worldwide Synod consultations
In what organizers say was a first-of-its-kind appearance, a nun who serves as the Undersecretary of the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops in Rome spoke to on April 3 to a worldwide audience of over 1,000 LGBTQ people who participated in an online webinar sponsored by the U.S. LGBTQ Catholic group New Ways Ministries.
The Mount Rainier, Md., based group said people from 37 different nations including the U.S. registered for the Zoom event entitled “Synodality: A Path of Reconciliation,” in which Sister Nathalie Becquart was the keynote speaker.
Becquart, a native of France, told participants that the Synod of Bishops is an international deliberative and advisory body for the Catholic Church created by the Vatican in the 1960s. Church observers say Pope Francis has strengthened the Synod’s role in advising the church on sometimes controversial issues.
According to Becquart, at Pope Francis’s direction, the current Synod taking place from 2021 through 2023 has for the first time ever invited Catholics of all walks of life rather than just Roman Catholic bishops, to participate in Synod sessions taking place in Catholic dioceses throughout the world.
“I am truly grateful to have this opportunity to be with you today, listen to you, share with you,” Becquart told the online gathering. “And it’s my joy to be with you with New Ways Ministry and all of you who are here to hear more about the Synod,” she said. “That is a very important part of the church today. So, I am delighted to have this time with you.”
Among other things, Becquart presented a video explaining the role of a Synod in the Catholic Church and the unique role of the current ongoing Synod that has been expanded to include lay people as well as church officials. Becquart said she believes that Pope Francis “truly” would like the full diversity of Catholics, including LGBTQ Catholics, to participate in the local church Synod sessions.
Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry’s executive director who served as moderator of the event, presented questions to Becquart after she completed her presentation in what he said was a distillation and summary of hundreds of questions submitted by participants in the U.S. and other countries.
“People have been saying as members of the LGBTQ community they have often not felt respected by church officials,” DeBernardo told Becquart. “So, the question that they ask is can we trust that our perspective will be heard this time by church officials as part of the Synod?”
Becquart thanked the participants for that question. “We can recognize that,” she said. “And as I said, you know Synodality is a way to recognize reality, the wounds. And it’s a call to be very humble,” she said.
“And I can’t say in advance what will happen,” she said, but added that the expanded scope of the current Synod would bring in new voices of support for those who are calling for reconciliation among all the diverse members of the Catholic Church, including the LGBTQ community.
“So, you can be confident that we will try to have you contribute and give your voice to find this dialogue,” she said.
“I think that during the question period, a lot of the pain and sense of rejection that many LGBTQ Catholics experience from the church was expressed,” DeBernardo told the Washington Blade. “I think it was important for Sister Nathalie, the highest-ranking woman in the Vatican at this time, to hear these emotions and challenges,” he said. “How can we be sure we will be heard? Will our speaking out do any good?”
Added DeBernardo, “My sense from her answers is that she genuinely wants to reach out to all people, including LGBTQ people, to participate in the synod consultations. For her, the synod is a form of reconciliation, and she was very sincere in encouraging LGBTQ people to participate.”
He noted that in the U.S., while many Catholic dioceses and church parishes are organizing synod sessions and reaching out to the community, many are not. “Here in the Archdiocese of Washington, I know that both St. Matthew’s Cathedral and Most Holy parish in Georgetown have done specific listening sessions for LGBTQ people,” DeBernardo said.
He said New Ways Ministry has conducted two virtual synod sessions and will be hosting another one on Sunday, April 24. A video recording of the April 3 webinar with Sister Becquart will be available on the New Ways Ministry website soon, DeBernardo said.
Access to the upcoming New Ways Ministry synod session on April 24 can be accessed at the New Ways website.
National
LGBTQ Catholic groups slam Trump over pope criticism
‘Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate’
LGBTQ Catholic groups have sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.
Leo on April 13 told reporters while traveling to Algeria that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after the president described him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in response to his opposition to the Iran war. (Trump on the same day posted to Truth Social an image that appeared to show him as Jesus Christ. He removed it on April 13 amid backlash from religious leaders.)
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, during a Fox News Channel interview on the same day said “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance on April 14 once again discussed Leo during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., saying he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Díaz; and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are among those who have criticized Trump over his comments. The president, for his part, has said he will not apologize to Leo.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” said Leo on Thursday at a cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon.
Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization. He told the Washington Blade on Thursday that Trump’s comments about Leo “are one more example of the ridiculous hubris of this leader (Trump) whose entire record shows that he is nothing more than a middle-school bully.”
“LGBTQ+ adults were often bullied as children, and they have learned the lesson that bullies act when they feel frightened or threatened,” said DeBernardo. “But secular power does not threaten the Vicar of Christ, and Pope Leo’s response illustrates this truth perfectly.”
DeBernardo added Trump “is obviously frightened that Pope Leo, an American, has more power and influence than the president on the world stage.”
“Like most Trumpian bullying, this strategy will backfire,” DeBernardo told the Blade. “Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate. Trump’s actions are not an example of his power, but of his impotence.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an LGBTQ Catholic organization, echoed DeBernardo.
“He [Trump] has demonstrated throughout both presidencies that he doesn’t understand the basic concepts of any faith system that is founded on the dignity of human beings, the importance of common good,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s just appalling.”
Duddy-Burke praised Leo and the American cardinals who have publicly criticized Trump.
“The pope’s popularity — given how much more respect Pope Leo has than the man sitting in the White House — is a blow to his ego,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade. “That seems to be a sore sport for him.”
“It’s such an imperialistic world view,” she added.
Leo ‘is the real peacemaker’
The College of Cardinals last May elected Leo to succeed Pope Francis after his death.
Leo, who was born in Chicago, is the first American pope. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023.
Francis made him a cardinal in 2023.
Juan Carlos Cruz — a gay Chilean man and clergy sex abuse survivor who Francis appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — has traveled to Ukraine several times with Dominican Sister Lucía Caram since Russia launched its war against the country in 2022. Cruz on Thursday responded to Trump’s criticism of Leo in a text message he sent to the Blade from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
“I am in Ukraine under many attacks,” said Cruz. “Trump is an asshole and has zero right to criticize the Pope who is the real peacemaker.”
Tennessee
Charlie Kirk Act advances in Tenn.
Bill would limit protests, protects speakers opposing ‘transgender’ identities
The Tennessee legislature has passed Senate Bill 1741 / House Bill 1476, dubbed the “Charlie Kirk Act,” which, if signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, would reshape how public colleges and universities regulate speech on campus.
The measure targets all public higher education institutions and requires them to adopt a “free expression” policy modeled on the University of Chicago’s framework. That framework emphasizes that universities should not shield students from controversial or offensive ideas and requires state schools to formally embrace institutional neutrality — meaning they do not publicly take a stance on political or social issues.
Under the legislation, publicly funded schools cannot disinvite or cancel invited speakers based on their viewpoints or in response to protests from students or faculty. Student organizations, however — like Turning Point USA, an American nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses, founded by Charlie Kirk, and often lack widely represented liberal counterparts — would retain broad authority to bring speakers to campus regardless of controversy.
The law includes broad protections for individuals and organizations expressing religious or ideological beliefs, including opposition to abortion, homosexuality, or transgender identity, regardless of whether those views are rooted in religious or secular beliefs. It further prohibits public institutions from retaliating against faculty for protected speech or scholarly work.
The bill, which has been hailed by supporters as an effort to “preserve campus free speech,” ironically also limits protest activity. Shouting down speakers, blocking sightlines, staging disruptive walkouts, or physically preventing entry to events are now considered “substantial interference” under the legislation, making those who engage in such actions subject to discipline.
Some of those disciplinary consequences include probation, suspension, and even expulsion for students, while faculty who protest in ways deemed to violate the policy could face unpaid suspensions and termination after repeated violations.
Supporters of the bill argue it strengthens free expression on campus. State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), the bill’s sponsor, said it reinforces a commitment to “civil and robust” debate at public universities.
“The Charlie Kirk Act creates critical safeguards for students and faculty and renews the idea that our higher education institutions should be centers of intellectual debate,” Bulso told Fox 17. “This legislation honors the legacy of Charlie Kirk by promoting thoughtful engagement and defending religious freedom.”
Critics, including Democratic lawmakers, have raised concerns that the legislation effectively elevates certain ideological viewpoints — particularly those tied to religious objections to LGBTQ identities — while exposing students and faculty to punishment for protest or dissent.
“It’s ironic that this body is talking about free speech when we had professors in Tennessee schools expelled and suspended when they did not mourn the death of Charlie Kirk — when they said that his statements were problematic and that the way he died did not redeem the way he lived,” state Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) told WKRN.
Kirk, the right-wing activist and founder of Turning Point USA, for whom the bill is named, was assassinated in September 2025 at a public event at Utah Valley University. His legacy and rhetoric remain deeply polarizing, particularly among LGBTQ advocates, who have cited his history of anti-LGBTQ statements in opposing his campus appearances.
The bill now heads to Lee’s desk for his signature.
National
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
Capitol Police arrested five protesters
A group of protesters interrupted Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought during his testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
Vought was at the Cannon House Office Building to give testimony to the House Budget Committee.
Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) began the hearing by touting what he described as economic accomplishments of the Trump-Vance administration’s economic accomplishments. Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) disputed those claims in his opening statement.
Boyle went on to admonish Vought for not attending a committee hearing in the previous year.
Vought, the “Project 2025” architect, was invited to speak after Arrington and Boyle made their statements.
Shortly after Vought began reading his statement, Housing Works CEO Charles King stood up in the gallery and began shouting, “PEPFAR saves lives: spend the money!”
The U.S. Capitol Police moved quickly to escort King from the room. Other activists began chanting with King as they unfolded signs bearing a picture of Vought’s face and statements such as, “Vought’s cuts kill people with AIDS,” and “Protect PEPFAR from Vought.”
The group of HIV/AIDS activists included independent activists, former U.S. Agency for International Development and PEPFAR staff, members of Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Treatment Action Group. Six activists were escorted from the hearing and the U.S. Capitol Police detained five of them.
The HIV/AIDS treatment activists protested at the hearing in response to the dismantling of global health programs, including PEPFAR, a federally-funded program credited with saving millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Russell Vought is directly responsible for illegally withholding Congressionally appropriated funds for PEPFAR and related global health initiative,” King said in a statement provided to the Washington Blade. “These funding disruptions have already contributed to preventable deaths and threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV worldwide. Enough is enough. Congress must ensure Vought stops this deadly sabotage.”
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