MINNESOTA: Gay Reporter Grills Archbishop John Nienstedt About His Sexuality And Views On LGBT Rights

Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt, who spearheaded his state's campaign against same-sex marriage, is being investigated over allegations that he has had "inappropriate sexual relations" with priests, seminarians, and other men. This week a gay local television reporter grilled him about his sexuality and his views on gay rights. Via Minnesota City Pages:

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.

Start the clip at 9:00. This is good stuff.

(Tipped by JMG reader Rick)

Archbishop John Nienstedt: I'm Not Gay

Early this month it was disclosed that the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis was investigating claims that scandal-plagued Archbishop John Nienstedt has had "inappropriate sexual relations" with priests, seminarians, and other men. Today the Minneapolis StarTribune asked him point blank:

Nienstedt said he believed that the investigation involved five allegations of sexual impropriety, including from the time he served in the Detroit Archdiocese in the 1990s. The allegations were made by priests and seminarians. The archbishop denied that he was a homosexual or engaged in homosexual acts. "I’m not gay,” he said. “And I’m not anti-gay.” When he led the charge for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota in 2012, he said he was only arguing that marriage should be between a man and a woman. “It wasn’t to put down people with same-sex attractions,” he said. When asked why Catholic priests and seminarians alleged he had same-sex attraction, Nienstedt responded, “I have no idea.” “But I made a lot of enemies by the stands I’ve taken in Detroit and here,” he said. “I assume it feeds into that.” Nienstedt didn’t know when the investigation would be complete. However, when it is, he said it would be sent to the papal nuncio in Washington, D.C., and a “statement will be made.” He didn’t know if the report would be made public.

Nienstedt is refusing to step down despite widespread outrage over evidence that he shielded pedophile priests from prosecution. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the archdiocese and Nienstedt says that other bishops have advised him to consider declaring bankruptcy, presumably in order to evade paying any judgments.

ST. PAUL: Crackpot Mayoral Candidate Calls Twin Cities "Sodom & Gomorrah"

From Wonkette's Docktor Zoom:

While the mayoral election in Minneapolis has attracted a bit more attention for its wide variety of oddballs (especially lake-coffee man Jeff Wagner), St. Paul has its own stable of “characters” too. So here is St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman — the incumbent, which is something that Minneapolis does not have in its election — having a very hard time suppressing the giggles at a mayoral candidate forum Thursday, mostly in response to “perennial candidate” Sharon Anderson, who is kind of like the Basil Marceaux of St. Paul. The St. Paul Pioneer Press politely says that Anderson, who runs for attorney general just about every chance she gets, despite not being an attorney, occasionally gave answers that veered off topic.  She also likened St. Paul and Minneapolis to Sodom and Gomorrah, and compared light rail to Nazi train cars carrying Holocaust victims to concentration camps.

Well, she's not boring.