“I could have pled guilty and served a lesser sentence but as a gay, proud man I wasn’t going to do it,” Baran told EDGE in a recent interview.

After spending 21 years in constant fear for his life, being beaten, raped, verbally assaulted and shuffled from penitentiary to penitentiary, Baran was conditionally released in 2006 (monitor restriction, barred from leaving the state, home curfew) when hidden evidence and inflammatory misconduct came to light, overturning his conviction. While he regained his freedom seven years ago, Bernie continues working to wipe the slate clean.

There were so many days, weeks, months when minute to minute he felt nothing but his life ticking away, evoking suicidal thoughts, Baran confessed, saying, “What got me through it all was the love and support of my mother and family, but most importantly was knowing in my heart the truth would come out.”

The truth did come out, but without amends. The accusations were a witch hunt. The trial was a mockery. The assistant district attorney Daniel Ford’s actions throughout the trial were questionable.

Baran was a teacher’s aide at the Early Childhood Development Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Allegations of sexual abuse surfaced as parents learned of his sexual orientation. By the time of his trial, six alleged victims, both boys and girls, had come forth with accusations goaded by their parents, psychologists and the prosecution. Refuted interview techniques, such as using puppets to emulate abuse, were used to lead false testimony. Though several of the children’s accusations were either recanted or unconfirmed in court, the jury was not swayed, finding Baran guilty on all counts.

The courtroom was closed during testimonies of the children, violating the rights of their accused to a public trial. According to Baran, an “expert” witness for the prosecution, a child psychologist, was years later learned to be unqualified to testify for not holding a doctorate in her professional field.

St. Patrick himself may have had a relationship tinged with homoeroticism. Tirechan, a late seventh century cleric who wrote about St. Patrick, tells the story of a man Patrick visited and converted to Christianity, who had a son to whom Patrick took a strong liking. Tirechan wrote that “he gave him the name Benignus, because he took Patrick’s feet between his hands and would not sleep with his father and mother, but wept unless he would be allowed to sleep with Patrick.” Patrick baptized the boy and made him his close lifelong companion, so much so that Benignus succeeded Patrick as bishop of Armagh.

This article was originally posted on the Bilerico Project and written by Terence Weldon, a UK based gay Catholic activist, one of the organizers of the London Soho Masses for LGBT Catholics. He is currently researching a book on queer church history, and writes on general matters of faith and sexuality at Queering the Church, and on LGBT church history at Queer Saints and Martyrs.

I also saw this on SteveXS ‘s .All Natural and More.

First of all, let me say that I am not Catholic.  In many ways I respect the Catholic Church and have attended a mass conducted by Pope Benedict.  I also find the idea of papal elections to be fascinating and I have followed the events since Pope Benedict announced his retirement.  But I have to wonder like so many people, what will Pope Francis do about some of the most pressing issues surrounding the Catholic Church?

For decades the Catholic hierarchy has been in need of desperate reform. In his life, Jesus condemned gays zero times. In Pope Benedict’s short time in the papacy, he made a priority of condemning gay people routinely. This, in spite of the fact, that the Catholic hierarchy had been in collusion to cover up the widespread abuse of children within its care. We hope this Pope will trade in his red shoes for a pair of sandals and spend a lot less time condemning and a lot more time foot-washing.