Bishop Salvatore Cordileone has
compared gay marriage to male breastfeeding.
Cordileone, an outspoken opponent of
gay nuptials who in 2008 backed passage of Proposition 8,
California's ban, was recently installed as the leader of the
Archdiocese of San Francisco. He is also the chairman of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee for the
Promotion and Defense of Marriage.
(Related: Catholic
bishops file briefs in Supreme Court gay marriage cases.)
Cordileone made the comparison in
comments to the United Kingdom's Catholic
Herald.
He cautioned against using the term
“gay marriage” because talking about it could lead people to
being fooled into believing it is possible. Cordileone then compared
such unions to another impossibility: “Legislating for the right of
the same sex to marry is like legalizing male breastfeeding.”
In response to opponents who have
called him homophobic, Cordileone answered: “All our detractors can
do is call us names. Big deal if they shout at us or throw insults!”
Among U.S. Catholic bishops, Cordileone
is among the most outspoken on the issue.