LGBTQ+

Meeting people face to face is often a pretty good way to get over hangups about them. The closer you are to a person the harder it is to remain bigoted about them. I hope this will have some positive effect.

Edit: where I live there are Catholic schools that are explicit about being pro-LGBTQ+, with big pride flags on display and a policy of supporting gay and trans kids against bullying and discrimination. I have known trans kids that were happy at these schools. Their school may not be changing the official stance of the Vatican, and we might rather not have Christian schools at all, but I still think it's worthwhile and important that a Catholic school makes explicit these messages of support and respect for its students. Even without the Catholic church officially progressing, a good number of Catholics and Catholic institutions are.

I'm cynical, but a Catholic friend argues that the church's resistance to change is natural if you consider how long it has existed. Big changes take decades, if not longer. She argues that whilst this sucks for many Catholics who are struggling with a disconnect between their faith and the church in the here and now, that slower changes in the church's stance towards LGBTQ people will make those changes more resilient in the long term.

Effectively, she's saying that on this path, she believes that in 200 years from now, the church will likely still exist and be pushing for LGBTQ rights, and that by operating on a different timescale to countries' politics, they will be an especially effective advocate. An example she used was how Trump's administration has contributed to fickle corporations opting out of pride stuff. For better or for worse, the church is less fickle.

For context, my friend is queer and is in community with trans people (including trans Catholics), but is not trans herself.

They get some (hopefully for them, good) press.