page_title: Dissent from Catholic teaching on homosexuality
section_title: Rainbow Sash Movement
hierarchical_section_title: Dissent from Catholic teaching on homosexuality / Movements / Rainbow Sash Movement
caption_attribution_description: English: The photo was taken by Joe Murray, and it is used internationally as the symbol for the Rainbow Sash Movement
context_page_description: Dissent from the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has come in a number of practical and ministerial arguments from both the clergy and the laity of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that while being gay is not a sin in and of itself, any sex outside of marriage, including between same-sex partners, is sinful, and therefore being gay makes one inclined towards this particular sin.
  A number of Roman Catholics and Catholic groups have sought to change Church teaching to allow for sexual acts between members of the same gender, the acceptance of same-sex relationships, and for gay marriage. Some of these advocate for gay Catholics and other LGBT people. Some also provide ministry to gay Catholics, while others have led protests against Church teaching. Protests have included vandalizing churches and disrupting masses. In several cases they have faced censure or discipline from the Church authorities. Some in the Catholic laity also believe homosexual activity is morally acceptable and that gay relationships should be recognized.
context_section_description: The Rainbow Sash Movement covers two separate organizations created by and advanced by practicing LGBT Catholics who believe they should be able to receive Holy Communion. The sash was first worn at a mass in London, although the movement moved its focus to Melbourne, Australia in 1998. It has been most active in the United States, England, and Australia. Part of the movement split to form the Rainbow Sash Alliance USA, based in Minneapolis in 2004.
  The Rainbow Sash itself is a strip of a rainbow colored fabric which is worn over the left shoulder and is put on at the beginning of the Liturgy. The members go up to receive communion. If denied, they go back to pews and remain standing, but if the Eucharist is received then they go back to the pew and kneel in the traditional way. Supporters of the sash were keen to use it as a "symbol of pride, dignity, and challenge", but sought to reassure clergy that their actions would be "prayerful, reverent, and peaceful in word and action".
  In 1998 members of the movement attended mass at the cathedral in Melbourne, where Cardinal Pell refused them all communion before publicly rebuking their actions to the applause of other parishioners. Members of the movement also took action during mass in Chicago in 2001 where they were likewise refused. However, members did receive communion from officiating priests in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Rochester,  NY, New York City, New Orleans, St. Cloud, Minnesota, and St. Paul in 2003.
  In 2005, Archbishop Harry Joseph Flynn, bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, said that the decision to take Communion lay with individual Catholics as to their state of grace and freedom from mortal sin, but that receiving Communion should not be used as a protest.
  Commenting on why he refused to administer communion, Cardinal Francis Arinze, said that members of the Rainbow Sash Movement disqualified themselves from Communion by displaying their opposition to the Church's teaching.  Chicago Cardinal Francis George has said that "no one wants to refuse to give Communion; it's a painful thing to do. The policy, however, is about the worship of God, which is not to be instrumentalized or manipulated by any group."  Arguing that because the "basic criterion for receiving Communion is unity in faith and in moral discipline," the bishops of the United States have a policy "to refuse Communion to anyone who used its reception as an occasion to protest."
  The movement in Illinois also planned to hold in a cathedral prayer for legalization of same-sex marriage in 2013, an initiative that Bishop Paprocki of Springfield called blasphemous.
caption: The Rainbow Sash itself is a strip of a rainbow colored fabric which is worn over the left shoulder and is put on at the beginning of the Liturgy. The members go up to receive Eucharist
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