House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has
described an upcoming march being organized by gay marriage foe the
National Organization for Marriage (NOM) as “venom masquerading as
virtue.”
Pelosi, who represents San Francisco,
made her comments in joining scores of other California leaders
calling on San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to skip the
group's second annual March for Marriage. Former presidential
candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee are also expected to speak
at Thursday's rally and march to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2008, Cordileone played a critical
role in getting Proposition 8 on the ballot. The NOM-backed
constitutional amendment was a response to a California Supreme Court
ruling striking down the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
Proposition 8, which re-instituted a marriage ban, was struck down as
unconstitutional last year.
According to the San
Francisco Chronicle, Pelosi made her appeal in a letter to
the archbishop.
“While we may disagree on the subject
of marriage equality, we do agree that every person is a child of
God, possessed of the spark of divinity and worthy of respect,”
wrote Pelosi, one of the country's most powerful Catholics.
The campaign to pressure Cordileone to
skip the appearance started last week, when San Francisco Mayor Ed
Lee, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and dozens of other prominent
leaders called
on Cordileone to forgo the event. An additional 27,000 people,
as of Sunday, have signed a
Faithful America petition calling on Cordileone to not “speak
at hateful anti-gay rally.”
But if his remarks this week are a
guide, Cordileone isn't planning to cancel.
While attending the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) summer meeting in New Orleans, Cordileone,
who heads the USCCB's Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of
Marriage, called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution
prohibiting gay couples from marrying.
“An amendment to the U.S.
Constitution is the only remedy in law against judicial activism,”
he told bishops.