Sullivan and Hannity, Together At Last

It's an absolutely riveting segment on Hannity and Colmes, where Sean Hannity is exposed as someone who preens as an orthodox Catholic in public, and is subsequently called a hypocrite by a theocon priest. Hannity, you see, supports legal, accessible birth control, as I do. By so doing, Hannity has dissented from the Catholic hierarchy's view of sex: that it must invariably be open to procreation. And that very doctrine is the sole reed on which the entire edifice of the Church's opposition to gay relationships stands: not that gays are incapable of love, but that we are barred sex, because such sex cannot be procreative. That's why the Church (until its recent calumnies against "intrinsic disorders") could always claim it wasn't homophobic. They were simply saying: hey, it's the same rule for straights, guys. Pity that means you can't have any sex - but they have to only have procreative sex with one other person their entire life. That's not so easy either.

So Hannity's position and my position are identical. And I feel his pain as a dissident Catholic. But, of course, I support legal birth control for straight couples, and he opposes even civil unions for gay couples. I've got his back but he ... well, let's leave that metaphor right there, shall we? The good news is: Finally, a right-wing Catholic is hoist by his own theocon petard. And notice how Hannity doesn't really engage the theology, as I have tried to do. He just hurls the sex abuse crisis back in the priest's face. Class-act, Hannity. Every time.

Still, the exchange does seem to me to open all sorts of possibilities for the theocons. Why not ask of all allegedly Catholic politicians: do they support legal access to birth control, and do they use it? If Benedict wants to enforce total public orthodoxy on issues important to Catholicism, he should be consistent. He should demand obedience not just on abortion, but gays and contraception as well. I have a feeling a lot of Catholic conservatives are going to find themselves seeing the bright side of secularism all of a sudden. Which leads to a fascinating question: will the Catholic hierarchy treat Giuliani the way they treated Kerry? And will the theocon right react the same way?

Stupid poetic justice, as Homer would say.