National
Chicago cardinal compares LGBT Pride to ‘Ku Klux Klan’
Strong language leads to rebukes, calls for resignation
Cardinal Francis George has yet to apologize for comparing LGBT activists to the 'Ku Klux Klan.' (Photo by Adam Bielawski via Wikimedia Commons)
“You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism,” the Cardinal told Fox News Chicago on Sunday.
“That’s a little strong analogy, isn’t it? Ku Klux Klan?” the Fox reporter said to the Cardinal in response.
“It is, but you take a look at the rhetoric,” he responded. “The rhetoric of the Ku Klux Klan, the rhetoric of some of the gay liberation people. Who is the enemy? Who is the enemy? The Catholic Church.”
The Rev. Eric Lee, Executive Director for the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — an organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — was quick to speak out against Cardinal George’s remarks.
“I have spent most of my adult life engaged in the civil rights struggle for African American people who have been terrorized by racist Klan violence,” Lee said in a statement. “I am insulted by the comparison of the Klan to the current LGBT movement. When we distort the history of terror for cheap political aims, we only inflict pain on those whose lives have been scarred by the Klan.”
The Pride parade controversy stems from a planned change to the route and start time of the annual LGBT Pride parade, which attracts over 750,000 people to the north side Chicago neighborhood every year.
After police complained about overcrowding and violence along the parade route in 2011, organizers planned to change the event’s route, and moved the start time up to 10:00am to noon to curb morning drinking.
The new route, however, takes the parade down Belmont St. in front of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church during crowded Sunday mass. Pastor Father Thomas Srenn and the church asked parade organizers to make changes to avoid a collision between the parade festivities and the Sunday service. Parade organizers — including openly gay city alderman Tom Tunney whose district the parade takes place in — and the parish agreed to changes that move the parade start time back to the original 12:00pm.
Fr. Srenn told the Windy City Times that the agreement satisfies Mt. Carmel’s concerns. “It was a good and reasonable solution that we all came to.”
According to the Windy City Times, Our Lady of Mount Carmel hosts the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach, and Srenn told the paper that the parish’s reservations about the event “had nothing to do with the content of the parade.”
In a statement this week, openly gay State Rep. Greg Harris, whose district includes the planned route, lamented the Cardinal’s “unfortunate choice of words.”
“It probably will provoke other unfortunate words [from some gay activists],” Harris said.
Cardinal George and the Archdiocese of Chicago have clashed on multiple issues this year, including the passage and implementation of Civil Unions in Illinois, and same-sex foster and adoptive parents, which resulted in Catholic Charities ending foster care placement services in the state in order to avoid being forced to place children with otherwise qualified same-sex couples, which the church objects to.
“Cardinal George’s horrific comparison of the LGBT movement to the Ku Klux Klan drives an unnecessary wedge between Catholics and the hierarchy,” Director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion & Faith Program, Dr. Sharon Groves said in a statement. “This is a sacred time of year for many people of faith, a time when we should be creating and cherishing unity in our communities — not casting about dangerous and divisive rhetoric. As people of faith we should expect better from our leaders.”
“As a lay Catholic, I am profoundly saddened that Cardinal Francis George defiles his office by comparing our LGBT family, friends and fellow Catholics to the Ku Klux Klan,” said Anne Underwood, co-founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality. “His rhetoric rings particularly off-key coming the week before Catholics celebrate the birth of Christ. As a Catholic who responds to our historic Church teachings to stand with all marginalized people, I work for freedom and fairness for my LGBT friends. I feel dismissed and betrayed by our hierarchy, but not by our God, for whom Cardinal George did not speak.”
“The Cardinal’s remarks are offensive and bombastic,” stated Anthony Martinez, executive director of Illinois LGBT group The Civil Rights Agenda. “To equate the LGBT movement for civil rights with that of a terrorist organization is incredibly offensive. I challenge the Cardinal to show me how these remarks are Christian.
“The Civil Rights Agenda has tried to make inroads with the Archdiocese many times through The Faith Project. Throughout Illinois we have heard from and work with many LGBT individuals who are practicing Catholics that only seek compassion and acceptance from their faith community. Comments such as these only further perpetuate the hate-filled rhetoric that surrounds the public and religious debate with regards to LGBT personhood and relationships, as opposed to opening up an honest and meaningful dialogue.”
Other LGBT leaders around the nation reacted to the Cardinal’s comments with even stronger language, including calls for his resignation.
“Cardinal George’s outrageous comparison of the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan was so degrading and hurtful that apologizing will not be sufficient,” said Wayne Besen, Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director. “George’s only road to redemption is handing in his resignation. If he has a shred of dignity and a shard of class he will immediately step down.”
Online petition site, Change.org has already posted a petition calling for the Cardinal’s resignation. The petition is more than half way to its goal of 500 signatures.
Federal Government
US Census Bureau testing survey on LGBTQ households
Agency proposing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity
The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking public comment on a proposed test of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the American Community Survey. The test would begin this summer and continue into next year.
The Census Bureau published the request as a Federal Register notice. In its press release the agency noted that the ACS is an ongoing survey that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data. It allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
As part of the process for adding new questions to the ACS, the Census Bureau tests potential questions to evaluate the quality of the data collected.
The Census Bureau proposes testing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to meet the needs of other federal agencies that have expressed interest in or have identified legal uses for the information, such as enforcing civil rights and equal employment measures.
The test would follow the protocols of the actual ACS — with one person asked to respond to the survey on behalf of the entire household. These particular questions are asked about people 15 years of age or older. Households are invited to respond to the survey online, by paper questionnaire or by phone.
The current Federal Register notice gives the public a final opportunity to provide feedback before the Census Bureau submits its recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The public may provide feedback through May 30 online.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
In a statement shared via the Human Rights Campaign, Shepard said, “This unexpected honor has been very humbling for me, Dennis, and our family. What makes us proud is knowing our President and our nation share our lifelong commitment to making this world a safer, more loving, more respectful, and more peaceful place for everyone.
“I am grateful to everyone whose love and support for our work through the years has sustained me.
“If I had the power to change one thing, I can only dream of the example that Matt’s life and purpose would have shown, had he lived. This honor reminds the world that his life, and every life, is precious.”
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with the Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
“Judy Shepard has been a champion for equality and President Biden’s choice to honor her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a testament to what she’s done to be a force of good in the world,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
“A mother who turned unspeakable grief over the loss of her son into a decades-long fight against anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and violence, Judy continues to make a lasting impact in the lives of the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.
“It is because of her advocacy that the first federal hate crimes legislation became law and that countless life-saving trainings, resources and conversations about equality and acceptance are provided each year by the Matthew Shepard Foundation,” Robinson said. “We are honored that Judy is a member of the HRC family and know that her work to create a more inclusive and just world will only continue.”
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality — about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
“It is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.”
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