Posted on 09/01/2003 6:52:24 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
For the past 33 years, "gay" pride parades have distinguished San Francisco as the epicenter of the homosexual movement in America. On June 29, I was present to videotape and document with a small group of Catholic and pro-family journalists the parade and events at the Civic Center rotunda. I witnessed frontal nudity, lewd conduct, simulated acts of sodomy, and even profane slogans and caricatures mocking the pope and bishops. I filmed at least one Catholic priest, Father Edward Phelan, and members of his parish in the parade, advertising their affiliation with Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church (San Francisco.) A 15-year-old student at Mercy Catholic High School in Burlingame, Marina Gatto, daughter of a lesbian couple, trumpeted her pride in participating in the parade as a grand marshal.
The sisters of perpetual indulgence drove by on a float with the sign, " Weapons of Ass Destruction," with characters dressed as the pope and a cardinal. The character dressed up as the pope was enclosed in a cage. Beside them was a missile named "Cheney" (for Vice-President Cheney) made up as a phallic symbol with a character with a Bush mask riding the missile. One transvestite paraded a sign that said, "Sodomize me. It's legal." Another sign read, "I had sodomy for lunch!" It was curious to see representatives of the Church marching between leather-bound, bare-bottomed advocates of sodomy, sex toy shops (good vibes.com), and black-winged, bare-chested devils in leathers, dancing on a float decorated with hell fire.
I contacted the archdiocese of San Francisco to inquire about the participation of a Catholic parish and pastor in his clerics in a gay pride parade. Although no one returned my call, I corresponded by e-mail with the director of communications, Maurice Healy to ask if the Catholic Church in San Francisco was giving, at least, tacit approval to the San Francisco Gay pride parade by allowing Father Phelan to participate in it.
Mr. Healy responded on July 2 saying the archbishop was out of town but that my message would be forwarded to him when he returned. In part he wrote: "As a matter of common sense, I think it would be wrong for you to assume that all marchers agree with or approve of the raunchy examples you cite." In response, I wrote that the spectacle in San Francisco was not only raunchy but pornographic and the parade conveyed a serious, political message with hundreds of identical signs proclaiming, "Support AB205 Domestic Partner Rights" (a reference to the "gay" marriage bill winding its way through Sacramento) and "We All Deserve Freedom to Marry." These signs were placed all along the parade route.
I asked Healy, "can there be any justification for a Catholic priest and his parish to participate in a blatantly pornographic public display? Would German Catholic bishops and priests have marched with the National Socialists and saluted Hitler in 1939, or Lot and his family cavort with the perverted and decadent people of Sodom?" I received no response.
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