Angelina Jolie Calls Moviegoers “Ignorant” If They Do Not Approve Of Homosexual Marriage Showcased In Eternals

ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 24: Angelina Jolie attends the red carpet of the movie "Eternals" during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 24, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Marvel)

Eternals actress Angelina Jolie, who plays Thena in the film, described moviegoers as ignorant if they do not appreciate or approve of the homosexual marriage showcased in the film.

LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 27: Angelina Jolie attending the UK Gala screening of Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” at BFI IMAX Waterloo on October 27, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney)

Related: Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige Confirms Gay Character for The Eternals: “He’s Married. He’s Got a Family.”

A homosexual marriage was confirmed to be in the film by Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige back in August 2019.

He told Good Morning America, “He’s married. He’s got a family, and that is just part of who he is.”

Related: Marvel’s The Eternals To Feature MCU’s First Gay Kiss Between Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos And His Husband Played By Haaz Sleiman

At the time Feige did not reveal which character would be in a homosexual marriage. However, actor Haaz Sleiman would eventually tell New Now Next in February 2020 that the character was Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos.

Not only did he confirm the character was Phastos, but Sleiman also revealed the film included a homosexual kiss scene.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 18: Haaz Sleiman arrives at the Premiere of Marvel Studios’ Eternals on October 18, 2021 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

Sleiman said, “I just shot a Marvel film with the first openly gay superhero, The Eternals. I’m married to the gay superhero Phastos, played by Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry, and we represent a gay family and have a child.”

The actor was then asked if they kiss. He said, “Oh, yeah, absolutely, and it’s a beautiful, very moving kiss. Everyone cried on set.”

“For me it’s very important to show how loving and beautiful a queer family can be,” he added.

Source: “Introducing The Eternals” Featurette | Marvel Studios’ Eternals, Marvel YouTube

Related: Middle Eastern Countries Reportedly Ban Marvel’s Eternals Film Over Homosexual Kiss Scene

Due to this scene being included it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that the film had been banned in a number of Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.

THR’s Alex Ritman reported, “Sources suggest the decision was likely made over the inclusion of a same-sex couple in the film and the MCU’s first gay superhero. In one scene, the character, Phastos (played by Brian Tyree Henry), and his on-screen husband, Ben (Haaz Sleiman), share a passionate kiss.”

Source: Eternals

Deadline would further report the film was also banned in Bahrain and Oman as well.

Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione explained the decision to ban it there and in Saudi Arabia, “In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, the censors were seeking further cuts beyond any scenes of intimacy and that Disney opted not to make the edits, hence distribution certificates weren’t issued.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 27: Angelina Jolie attends the UK Gala Screening of Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” in London, UK on October 27, 2021.

Jolie would be asked about these countries banning the film over the homosexual kiss scene during a press roundtable.

As reported by Australia’s News.com.au, Jolie said, “I’m sad for [those audiences]. And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out.”

She continued, “I still don’t understand how we live in a world today where there’s still [people who] would not see the family Phastos has and the beauty of that relationship and that love.”

“How anybody is angry about it, threatened by it, doesn’t approve or appreciate it is ignorant,” she concluded.

ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 24: Angelina Jolie attends the photocall of the movie “Eternals” during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 24, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Marvel)

Related: Variety’s Clayton Davis Claims Eternals’ Rotten Tomatoes Score Is So Low Because It’s Directed By A Woman

The Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality is quite clear.

Section 2357 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church begins the section titled “Chastity and homosexuality.” 

It reads, “Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures.”

It continues, “Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordrered.’ They are contrary to the natural law.”

The section concludes, “They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”

ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 24: (L-R) Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie and director Chloé Zhao attend the press conference of the movie “Eternals” during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 24, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Marvel)

Section 2358 elaborates, “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered constitutes for most of them a trail.”

“They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition,” it states.

Finally, Section 2359 concludes the section titled “Chastity and homosexuality.”

It reads, “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.”

ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 24: (L-R) Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, director Chloé Zhao, Kit Harington and Gemma Chan attend the photocall of the movie “Eternals” during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 24, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Marvel)

Along with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a 26-page paper titled “Ministry to Persons with  Homosexual Inclination” in 2006.

In that paper it reads, “the Church teaches that persons with a homosexual inclination ‘must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.’ We recognize that these persons have been, and often continue to be, objects of scorn, hatred, and even violence in some sectors of our society.”

The paper continues, “Sometimes this hatred is manifested clearly; other times, it is masked and gives rise to more disguised forms of hatred. ‘It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs.’”

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 18: Angelina Jolie is seen onstage at the Premiere of Marvel Studios’ Eternals on October 18, 2021 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

Related: Eternals Producer Casts Doubt On Whether Marvel Will Make Sequels For Eternals

Later in the paper it also states, “Because of both Original Sin and personal sin, moral disorder is all too common in our world. There are a variety of acts, such as adultery, fornication, masturbation, and contraception, that violate the proper ends of human sexuality. Homosexual acts also violate the true purpose of sexuality.”

The paper explains, “They are sexual acts that cannot be open to life. Nor do they reflect the complementarity of man and woman that is an integral part of God’s design for human sexuality. Consequently, the Catholic Church has consistently taught that homosexual acts ‘are contrary to the natural law. . . . Under no circumstances can they be approved.'”

Brian Tyree Henry, Director/Screenwriter Chloé Zhao and Angelina Jolie pose at the Premiere of Marvel Studios’ Eternals in Hollywood, CA on Monday, October 18, 2021
(Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)

They go on to cite St. Paul’s First Letter to the Romans.

St. Paul states, “Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural
relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.”

The paper then clarifies the Church’s position, “While the Church teaches that homosexual acts are immoral, she does distinguish between engaging in homosexual acts and having a homosexual inclination. While the former is always objectively sinful, the latter is not.”

It continues, “To the extent that a homosexual tendency or inclination is not subject to one’s free will, one is not morally culpable for that tendency. Although one would be morally culpable if one were voluntarily to entertain homosexual temptations or to choose to act on them, simply having the tendency is not a sin. Consequently, the Church does not teach that the experience of homosexual attraction is in itself sinful.”

Bob Chapek, Alan Bergman, Angelina Jolie and Alan Horn pose at the Premiere of Marvel Studios’ Eternals in Hollywood, CA on Monday, October 18, 2021
(Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)

Related: Eternals Actor Kumail Nanjiani Sets Up Tired Hollywood Narrative In Case Eternals Flops At Box Office

The paper reiterates and clarifies, “It is crucially important to understand that saying a person has a particular inclination that is disordered is not to say that the person as a whole is disordered. Nor does it mean that one has been rejected by God or the Church.”

It continues, “Sometimes the Church is misinterpreted or misrepresented as teaching that persons with homosexual inclinations are objectively disordered, as if everything
about them were disordered or rendered morally defective by this inclination. Rather, the disorder is in that particular inclination, which is not ordered toward the fulfillment of the natural ends of human sexuality.”

“Because of this, acting in accord with such an inclination simply cannot contribute to the true good of the human person. Nevertheless, while the particular inclination to
homosexual acts is disordered, the person retains his or her intrinsic human dignity and value,” it states.

ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 24: (L-R) Kit Harington, Angelina Jolie, Chloe Zhao and Gemma Chan attend the red carpet of the movie “Eternals” during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 24, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Marvel)

What do you make of Jolie calling moviegoers who do not appreciate or approve of homosexuality as ignorant?

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