Bishop Tells People Not To Attend LGBT Month Because It’s ‘Harmful To Children’

Pixabay/@ThomasJTobin1/Twitter

A Bishop of a city in Rhode Island has told his congregation not to support or attend LGBT Pride Month events, causing a massive backlash on social media.

Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin addressed all Catholics yesterday (June 1) at the beginning of Pride Month, claiming such events are ‘harmful for children’.

Tobin’s tweet has since gone viral, attracting thousands of responses in a matter of hours, with many criticising the Bishop for his ‘ignorant’ and ‘bigoted’ views.

@ThomasJTobin1/Twitter

Addressing his 4.7K followers, Tobin made his views clear and warned people away from the events ‘that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals’.

The Bishop tweeted:

A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ ‘Pride Month’ events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children.

Tobin quickly faced a massive backlash from people on Twitter, with the post attracting more than 60K comments in just 24 hours, as well as more than 4.4K retweets.

In particular, many were quick to label the Bishop as a ‘hypocrite,’ referring to a grand jury report last year which said the Catholic Church covered up decades of sexual abuse of approximately 1,000 victims.

As reported by the Evening Standard, more than 300 priests were implicated in Pennsylvania, where Tobin was previously posted.

Last year, Tobin acknowledged to the Providence Journal, as per the Evening Standard, that he ‘became aware of the incidents of sexual abuse’ in Pittsburgh. He then went on to tell the newspaper that his responsibilities did not include ‘clergy misconduct’.

Getty

Thousands of social media users, including some celebrities, called the Bishop out for his ‘hypocritical’ views and made their own stances on the subject clear.

Actor Mia Farrow slammed his comments, writing:

This is pure ignorance & bigotry. Ignore this hate-filled hypocrite. His mind set leads only to suffering. He brings to mind those priests who molested my brothers.

Of COURSE we should embrace our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and children. Jesus spoke of love

Martina Navratilova, a former professional tennis player, wrote:

A reminder that Catholic clergy has been a lot more dangerous to kids than LGBT. Just so you don’t forget….

Actor and activist Patricia Arquette called his thinking ‘poisonous,’ writing:

Shame on you. LGBT kids are thrown out on the streets and abandoned because of poisonous thinking like yours.

The Bishop is yet to remove his tweet or respond at all, despite the hugely negative response he’s had from thousands of people.

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Lucy Connolly

A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).