Thought the new year moved civilization forward, toward more compassion, mindfulness, and understanding? Headlines from this week demand we rethink how those in Connecticut view ourselves.

First, we have two examples of blaming a murder victim for his death. The Republican American headline reads:

In the rehashed version of the story published by the Courant, the title remained equally distasteful:

screenshots taken, because headlines change
screenshots taken because headlines change

Words matter.

Headlines are first impressions and frame the story. The message here is not that the person who brutally murdered another is to blame, but that the victim’s alleged sexual advance triggered this. The headlines announce that a perceived or real advance is the cause, not someone’s homophobia.

Then, when we wonder what kind of climate would permit such crime and thoughtless use of language to describe it, we gain some answers by reading about compassion in sheep’s clothing,a program that claims to support gays and lesbians in the Catholic community, just so long as they actively deny a part of themselves that heterosexuals are permitted to explore by the same Church.

2012: gays and lesbians still treated as separate and unequal.