Making "Moles" Again: Governing Gay Priests’ Silence at the Time of Gay Marriage

This paper will describe, from a multi-site ethnography, the current state of ecclesial practice of secrecy that manages homosexuality among catholic clerics in the West. In an institutional and policy environment marked by a relative liberalization of attitudes toward and rights for LGBT couples as well as increasing social expectations for sincerity in sexual matters, this paper examines how and why the Catholic Church has reactivated the norm of silence among homosexual clerics. In doing so, we will propose the hypothesis that the Vatican’s aim in fighting its perceived enemy, “gender theory”, silences the voices of these homosexual clerics, thus calling into question their existence and legitimacy to speak out on LGBT policy issues more broadly.