Cardinal Francis George, the head of
the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Archbishop of Chicago,
has said he fears a new Gay Pride parade route in Chicago because it
would pass in front of a Roman Catholic church.
George told Fox
Chicago that he agreed with Our Lady of Mount Carmel's concerns
about the parade route. The church has asked the city to force
organizers to alter their plans.
“I go with the pastor,” George
said. “He's telling us that he won't be able to have services on
Sunday if that's the case. You don't want the gay liberation
movement morph into something like the Klu Klux Klan, demonstrating
in the streets against Catholicism.”
George defended his stance when the
host called it “a little strong.”
“It is, but you take a look at the
rhetoric. The rhetoric of the Klu Klux Klan, the rhetoric of some of
the gay liberation people. Who is the enemy? Who is the enemy? The
Catholic Church.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of
this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Last year, George opposed Illinois'
civil unions law, which is now in effect.
“Marriage is what it is and always
has been, no matter what a legislature decides to do; however, the
public understanding of marriage will be negatively affected by
passage of a bill that ignores the natural fact that sexual
complementarity is at the core of marriage,” he wrote.