What makes me sad is that nothing stands in the way of this discourse, which doesn't really demonstrate evangelical love," he added. "That signs of affection between men or between women are intolerable to a minority that is active in our churches doesn't surprise me. It isn't just a moral or theological disagreement, but something interior, a malaise, or an even deeper wound."įor his part, Joël Burri, who runs the Protestinfo website, wrote in a column entitled "As long as we don't see them" that "what makes this picture dirty is everything we project." "Why are we shocked when we see two men lying against each other expressing their love? Being shocked suggests a very intimate part of our identity is affected by this image. "The aim of the image is to make us ask ourselves questions," he added.
That is also the role of a church magazine," he wrote. By dealing with the delicate issue of recognising the sexual orientation of LGBTI people, we wanted to show our solidarity and our recognition that these people are persecuted in many countries outside Europe. "We did not want to say that Christ was homosexual. He addressed the accusation of blasphemy. It shows the dignity of homosexual relations," he wrote. It is a work of art designed to make one think. There is a confusion in some people's minds. "Looking back, we could have accompanied this image with an explanation. "The movement is quite strong in Vaud," he said.īourquin posted a response to his critics on the website Jan. Most of the unhappy readers are residents of the canton of Vaud and members of the reformed church's evangelical movement, according to Guillaume Henchoz, editor of the website. The mental block it has provoked overshadows the contents of the special report. "Some even said they didn't want to receive the magazine anymore because this photo was more than they could bear. "They said the photo was offensive, blasphemous, sacrilegious and scandalous," said Bourquin, who is also a theologian. Around 100 readers of the magazine - the official periodical of the reformed churches of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Berne and Jura, with a circulation of 190,000 - emailed its offices to say they were "shocked," "scandalised," "offended," and "disgusted." The special report focused on how the Protestant Church in Switzerland welcomes the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community. The image by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin depicts two naked men, one white, the other black that many say resembles a crucifix. "A work of art is designed to make you think," is how Gilles Bourquin, the co-editor of Réformé, a Swiss monthly, described the lead photo of a special report about sexual minorities. It starts with a Life feature from 1964 headlined “Homosexuality in America” (“A secret world grows open and bolder”) and another from a 1967 issue of Look about “The sad ‘gay’ life of the homosexual.” The covers progress through the “gay drive for acceptance,” Anita Bryant, the AIDS crisis, the “limits of tolerance,” the emergence of gay politics, and on to gay marriage and “the first gay president.” Along the way, the imagery evolves from shadowy photographs of men in leather bars to couples holding hands and finally embracing.Īnd now, kissing.A Swiss magazine has shocked readers with the photo of two naked men intertwined on a bed in a way that evokes a crucifix but editors have rejected charges of blasphemy. Writing for The Atlantic Wire, Elspeth Reeve compiles a survey of this evolution in Time and other newsweeklies, and as we consider the achievements of the gay rights movement this week, it’s a fascinating way to see how the issues have played out in the popular culture.
Time‘s take on the issue might not be quite as cutting-edge as it seems to think ( New York magazine was already on to gay divorce on a nearly identical cover three weeks ago), but it’s still a striking moment in the evolution of a magazine whose attitudes have so closely tracked the evolution of American culture over the last four decades. As usual, New York is way ahead on this one.