MINNESOTA
City Pages
[with video]
By Aaron Rupar Mon., Aug. 4 2014
Last week, embattled Archbishop John Nienstedt did the media rounds, granting one-on-one interviews to most local outlets. (Our invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail…)
Fox 9 reporter/anchor Tom Lyden’s interview with the archbishop was especially noteworthy. Lyden, who’s married to a man he’s been in a relationship with for more than two decades, grilled Nienstedt about his own sexuality and anti-gay views. The line of questioning culminated in the archbishop acknowledging that his beliefs about the sinfulness of same-sex sexual relations don’t seemingly make much sense at all.
Here’s a transcript of the portion of Lyden’s interview that came right after Nienstedt denied being homosexual or ever having partaken in homosexual relations, followed by the raw video:
Nienstedt: I’m not against gays. I look at all individuals [as] children of God and they deserve the respect and the dignity of their personhood.
Lyden: That’s not what you said about Brokeback Mountain the movie. You came out pretty strongly about that being an immoral movie.
N: I was critical of the movie, yes. I don’t know if I used the word ‘immoral.’
L: And yet that seems to contradict what you’re telling me now, your criticism of that movie.
N: The church makes a clear distinction between someone who would have an attraction that would be same sex and the behavior itself.
L: So when you say you have nothing against homosexuals, you have nothing against homosexuals as long as they’re not having sex.
N: We believe, correctly, that sexual relations take place within the context of a committed marriage relationship.
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