Teddy Kennedy Catholic funeral embraces LGBT Community

August 30, 4:30 PMBisexual ExaminerSheela Lambert

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Bisexual Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Senator Edward Kennedy

End of an Era

I was four years old when Ted Kennedy’s brother, Senator John Kennedy was elected President…the first President I was really aware of. I was seven when President Kennedy was shot, a traumatizing event for our family and the whole country. The news reels of that assassination are burned into my brain. I remember Bobby Kennedy’s inspirational run for President and the shocking news, and news coverage, of his assassination. Ted Kennedy, entered the Senate when I was six and has been there for most of my life. Since I was born, one of the three Kennedy brothers* was always in office. Now there are none.

I am not the CSPAN junkie my father was. But I have tuned in when LGBT rights issues were being debated. Ted Kennedy was always someone I could count on to make an impassioned and inspiring speech in favor of our rights. In fact, I have stood up and cheered in my living room, after some of the speeches he has made. I have always counted on him to fight for causes I believed in, like civil rights, minimum wage increases, health care, immigration reform, disability rights and voting against the Iraq war but passing legislation to get body armor and armored vehicles for the soldiers who had to fight there but were sent ill equipped. According to President Obama, "For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts." Dubbed the “Liberal Lion” of the Senate, he was one of the last liberals in national politics.

I have been riveted to the coverage of Teddy Kennedy’s death and celebration of his life all week. I have learned many things about him I didn’t know, like the fact that he started fighting for universal health care back in the 60’s, his ability to reach out across the aisle to get legislation passed and his deep friendships with Republican Senators he spent much of his time fighting on the Senate floor. But I was astonished yesterday, when even during his funeral, he was fighting for the disenfranchised people of this country, including the LGBT community.

At the beginning of the funeral mass, primarily younger members of the Kennedy family, grandchildren, nieces and nephews went up to the podium to offer prayers, mostly taken from Teddy’s own speeches.

Jack Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s 16 yr old son, offered this LGBT inclusive prayer:

In a renewed season of hope, that my Uncle Teddy envisioned, we will rise to our best ideals and close the book on the old politics of race and gender, group against group and straight against gay. We pray to the Lord.

I wasnt the only person who noticed how unusual it was to hear that at a Catholic Mass. An ABC News commentator noted:

I’m not sure in how many Catholic churches there have been prayers lifted for reconciliation between straights and gays. But I think it appropriate at Senator Kennedy’s funeral mass, given his beliefs, that that prayer went up.

With Teddy Kennedy gone, I worry that our most effective liberal legislator has been removed and wonder what will happen to the health care bill, LGBT rights and our country, without him there to fight for us.

*Joe Kennedy, the oldest brother, was killed in WWII, before he had a chance to enter politics.