Posted on 03/22/2014 11:32:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Catholic League President Bill Donohue said that he will not be marching in New York City's gay pride parade with a "straight is great" banner as he initially requested, after objecting to the organizers' rules.
"For the past few days I have been engaged in an e-mail conversation with officials from the Heritage of Pride parade, New York's annual gay event; the dialogue has been cordial. I asked to join the parade under a banner that would read, "Straight is Great." The purpose of my request was to see just how far they would go without forcing me to abide by their rules. It didn't take long before they did," Donohue explained in a statement on Friday, following a request for comments by The Christian Post.
"Today, I informed Heritage of Pride officials that I objected to their rule requiring me to attend gay training sessions, or what they call 'information' sessions. 'I don't agree with your rule,' I said. They responded by saying that attendance was 'mandatory.'"
Donohue explained that just like the Heritage of Pride has its own rules, so does the St. Patrick's Day parade, which bars groups from marching under their own banner.
Last week, several sponsors pulled out of St. Patrick's Day parades, including The Boston Beer Company and Guinness, in objection to organizers refusing to allow groups to express their homosexuality while marching in the event.
"Guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all. We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year's parade. As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation," the brewing company said in a statement on Sunday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also publicly announced that he would not be participating in the city's parade because of his objection to the regulations.
"I will be participating in a number of other events to honor the Irish heritage of this city," de Blasio said at a press conference. "But I simply disagree with the organizers of that parade."
In response to Guinness' decision to boycott the parade, the Catholic League in turn decided to boycott the brewing company, and created an online petition.
"Guinness is showing its disrespect for diversity, its support for intolerance, and its contempt for the First Amendment rights of everyone associated with the St. Patrick's Day parade," the petition states.
Pro-LGBT group GLAAD welcomed Donohue's initial request to participate in the NYC Pride parade in June, calling it a "drastic change" for him on Thursday.
"As a fellow Irish New Yorker, I'm hoping Bill will march with me at NYC Pride," said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. "I look forward to the day when I can march openly with Bill in the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade, and not be turned away because of who I am."
In Friday's news release, however, Donohue wished good luck to the Heritage of Pride participants in the parade, noting that he will be watching it from afar – without "downing a Guinness afterwards."
"It is hypocritical for gay activists to complain about having to abide by the mandatory rules of the St. Patrick's Day parade, and then inform me that I cannot march in their parade unless I respect their mandatory rules, rules that I reject," the Catholic League president concluded.
PFL
I’ve quaffed my last liter of Guinness and Sam Adams. No great loss; my thirst will now be refreshed by the likes of Shiner Bock and the Rahr Brewery, good Texas breweries.
Care to weigh in here?
Nobody is prohibited from marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade because of "who they are". They are not allowed to advocate for organizations or issues in the parade. So you could be excluded for what you want to DO, not for what you ARE.
This is the thing the gays and the left are trying hard to confuse people about. It is the same with the baker not wanting to make a cake for a wedding. The gays say it is about who they are, the baker says it is about what they want to DO.
Probably targeted the wrong city. This should be done someplace that allowed the homosexuals to take over part of their parade; using the same rules.
But, I do wonder what the manditory “training” session involves for the homosexual parade.
They called his bluff. He looks like a fool.
Why, yes, thank you.
During the pre St Pat’s Day discussions, a few were calling for some Catholics to crash the Gay Pride Parade It makes sense, but only if done in the same way the militant gays want to crash the St. Patrick parade, which is: to convert others.
The organizers of the St Pat’s Day Parade have no interest in any such activity, as St Patrick himself was one of the greatest converts and converters of all time, and they are content to celebrate just that.
The gays wish they could be as successful at converting and convincing That conviction is a big part of the attraction and its why they won’t give up easily. They’ll never win.
Mr. Donahue is right. He would march if he could march as a converter of gays to the Catholic faith. He is also right in taking them on. There’s a great lesson there
When conservatives take a look at this they can see that being convicted/ convinced about ones beliefs, they can just quit asking liberals to approve of them.
Donahue wins because he knows his faith, its rules, and he’s willing to take it to them. Their hypocrisy outs and with little effort
Wl they change? Not likely. But he did his job and very well.
He called their bluff and the media spins it to make him look foolish. There would never be a different outcome. And when the righteous stop worrying about the press this is what that looks like
If you don’t think he’d march in the parade wth a sign calling for the gays to rethink their lifestyle, you don’t know him
Why is he the only one?
I say, anyone criticizing him, look at the flight schedules and the dates of the parade and go up to NY and march with such a sign. Or say nothing at all
Not really; they wanted him to abide by rules he thought were unfair...they wouldn’t let him march unless he attended their MANDATORY meetings.
Just like HE had rules for the parade that they had to abide by...
That’s a pretty weak argument. The “mandatory rule” he’s complaining about is attending an information meeting? Every parade I’ve ever been involved with has required representatives from each group in the parade to attend a mandatory info session. Like the original poster said, they called his bluff - this info session stuff is just Donohue’s (pretty weak) attempt to save some face here.
It was dumb for Donohue to get involved in this. Who the hell even wants to be in the same city as one of these queer orgies.
The rule was he had to attend an indoctrination seminar.
Could have been fun. Could have turned it into ( even more) of a farce.
Could have been material for a great column.
This is why I like Bill Donohue. Make a mockery of them, Bill.
Some mockery:
Bill: “I demand to be allowed to march in your parade.”
Homosexuals: “Ok.”
Bill: “Uh, never mind.”
Did you read the same article as the rest of us??
Yea. He made a stink about being to allowed to march. They said yes. He said no thanks.
What a putz.
As if they would attend a catholic indoctrination class?
Agreed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.