Buckling under pressure, Bishop Robert Brom came to his knees before the GLBT community Monday evening, apologizing for denying nightclub owner and community leader John McCusker burial services last week. Read by the McCusker family amid television cameras, community leaders and hundreds of supporters packed into The Center, his statement expressed regret for the anguish his unjust condemnation caused the family, and he offered to preside at a Mass in memory of McCusker.

The community felt somewhat vindicated for the insult Brom gave when he ordered all 98 Catholic churches in the Diocese of San Diego to refuse funeral services to McCusker, who died of heart failure March 13 while vacationing at Mammoth Mountain.

Brom pointed to McCusker’s business practices as reason for his order and quoted Cannon Law 1184, labeling McCusker a “manifest sinner.” Adding insult to injury, Brom issued a statement the same day as the funeral listing practices he felt were inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church, specifically a pornographic video filmed at Club Montage. In addition, Brom’s statement referred to several slogans used in advertisements for ReBar, a Levi-leather bar located in North Park, one being “Tired of Playing with Boys, Come Play with Men!” Ironically, this slogan asks a similar question we would like to pose to Bishop Brom.

As community outrage increased, information resurfaced regarding Bishop Brom’s own run-in with scandal in 2002, adding a heaping spoonful of hypocrisy to an already malevolent act. The Boston Globe reported that the Minnesota dioceses of Duluth and Winona paid a legal settlement to a former seminarian who accused Brom, then bishop of Duluth, of coercing him into having sex. The man retracted the claim, but only after collecting $85,000 in hush money. This coupled with the history of child abuse and molestation that plagues the Catholic Church – well known by the church hierarchy, who repeatedly moved pedophile priests from parish to parish – makes Brom an unlikely candidate for his own Catholic funeral.

We could respect the church’s beliefs if they showed an element of consistency here. Why McCusker, an openly gay man who owned two gay businesses? Why not the divorcee, the adulterer, the family using prophylactics? We say to Brom: If McCusker is a manifest sinner unworthy of a Catholic burial, you better get a shovel and start digging up the thousands of sinners you’ve already put in the ground.

Let’s be clear. Brom’s apology is a result of immense public pressure, bad press and the renewed interest in his own questionable activities while presiding over Duluth – not actual remorse. Bishop Brom should have personally apologized to the public, fielded questions, and permitted an open discussion with the GLBT community instead of hiding behind the McCusker family. Brom and his supporters will think twice before making a political statement out of another group’s suffering – which is ultimately what this was.

This victory, no matter how bittersweet, does demonstrate the political clout and growing strength of the GLBT community and its supporters. For this we should be proud. The entire community united. Hundreds attended The Center’s town hall meeting Monday, in what was meant to be a meeting to discuss the community’s response to Brom’s irreverent actions. Instead, thanks to the efforts of many, the hall filled with thunderous applause as the McCusker family read the bishop’s written apology. Following that, Christine McCusker, John’s mom, asked for peace, and for all of us to do what John would have done, “as he was a great advocate of forgiveness and reconciliation.”

Please help us honor this request by attending a candlelight vigil for John McCusker Friday, March 25, at 6:00 p.m. at Trolley Barn Park. A march to The Center will follow the vigil.

John fought for the GLBT community’s civil rights. As a member of the Greater San Diego Business Association and the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation, as a major donor to The Center, and by opening the doors of his clubs to countless GLBT community fundraisers, he would be proud of how our community rallied against such a blatant disrespect of our identity and would remind us to remain vigilant in our fight.