Pressure on Cardinal Francis George to resign over comments comparing gay rights activists to the Ku Klux Klan continues to increase.

Gay rights group Truth Wins Out called on George to step down in a full page ad that ran in Sunday's The Chicago Tribune.

“Hey, Francis George, gay is not like the KKK,” the ad's headline states.

George, the head of the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Archbishop of Chicago, commented during a Fox Chicago interview that he believes a Gay Pride parade route in Chicago should be altered to avoid passing in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel's front doors.

“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.”

George defended his remarks in a statement: “Organizers [of the Gay Pride Parade] invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan which, well into the 1940s, paraded through American cities not only to interfere with Catholic worship but also to demonstrate that Catholics stand outside of the American consensus. It is not a precedent anyone should want to emulate.”

Joe Murray, executive director of the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM), on Sunday renewed his call for an apology.

“I would remind Cardinal George that there is no Catholic teaching to support selective fairness,” Murray said in a statement. “Even Archbishop [Timothy] Dolan, current president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in the aftermath of the passage of gay marriage in New York that he apologizes to the New York gay community. He is quoted in the National Catholic Reporter as saying, 'to the gay community, I love you very much.' And felt compelled to apologize for statements that might of implied otherwise.”

Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, said his group took out the ad because George “compounded his initial smear with further insults disguised as an apology.”

“It seems the sin of pride is keeping George from saying he is sorry,” Besen added in a statement. “At this point, the only road to redemption is his resignation.”