Why did New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz, Sr. falsify New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s article on marriage to attack the gay community? Guest post by New York City-based novelist and freelance journalist Scott Rose, who frequently writes about human rights.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who was last year elected President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote an article, titled “Marriage: the core of every civilization,” which begins by alleging that Dolan was once protested, when exiting from a mass in Milwaukee, for being overly accepting of homosexuals.

“Outside of St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Milwaukee, where I, as archbishop, was celebrating Sunday Mass on an otherwise magnificent Wisconsin autumn day, were a couple dozen very vocal protestors, representing some off-brand denomination, shouting vicious chants and holding hateful signs with words I thought had gone the way of burning-crosses and white hoods.

 

In his press release Thursday, the extremely anti-gay New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz falsely characterized the contents of Dolan’s article – which itself already constituted ill-intentioned anti-equality political propaganda – by stating that the protesters about whom Dolan had written were for, not against gay rights. Diaz then repeats Dolan’s phrase about “burning crosses and white hoods” clearly to imply that equality supporters are like the Ku Klux Klan.

 

“This frenzied group, taunting the people as they left Mass, were rabid in criticizing the Catholic Church, especially her bishops, for our teaching that homosexuals deserve dignity and respect.

“To be more precise, this group was yelling at us because, they objected, the Catholic Church was so friendly, welcoming, and defensive of gay (they used other foul words) people. They waved placards explicitly quoting and condemning #2358 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which affirms the dignity of those with same-sex attraction, and warns against any form of prejudice, hatred, or unjust discrimination against them, and insists that homosexual acts, not persons, are not in conformity with God’s design.”

Dolan seems to have intended to convey the idea that though he unyieldingly opposes equality, he “loves” and “respects” gay people. Dolan emphasized his alleged disapproval of those anti-gay protestors by writing that they “were shouting vicious chants and holding hateful signs with words I thought had gone the way of burning-crosses and white hoods.” (This reporter finds no documentation of the anti-gay protest of which Dolan alleges having been a target. Dolan was the Archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009.)

In his press release Thursday, the extremely anti-gay New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz falsely characterized the contents of Dolan’s article – which itself already constituted ill-intentioned anti-equality political propaganda – by stating that the protesters about whom Dolan had written were for, not against gay rights. Diaz then repeats Dolan’s phrase about “burning crosses and white hoods” clearly to imply that equality supporters are like the Ku Klux Klan.

“I read on the Archbishop’s blog that he has been greeted with a similar backlash of contempt by many who want our marriage laws changed,” New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz writes in his press release bragging that he had “accepted New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s invitation to record an episode of his weekly radio show, A Conversation with the Archbishop.”

“For example, he wrote about a group that waited for him after a Mass in Wisconsin shouting vicious chants and holding hateful signs with words I thought had gone the way of burning-crosses and white hoods.

“It’s horrible to see the bullying tactics and uncivil discourse that continue to be showcased in public and online just to get votes to change our marriage laws.”

Senator Diaz Thursday was contacted with the request that Senator Diaz acknowledge that he published an untruth, a lie, about Archbishop Dolan’s blog. As of publication time, New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz has not responded.

Diaz’s malignant implied likening of equality supporters to a hate group, the Ku Klux Klan, on the basis of a lie about Dolan’s blog, is particularly heinous. In addition to acknowledging that he lied about Archbishop Dolan’s blog, Diaz should 1) apologize for the lie and 2) leave his press release in this matter as it stands on his own blog, but publish an update to it acknowledging the inaccuracy and explicitly stating that equality supporters are not comparable to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Archdiocese of New York, too, was contacted for a statement about how Diaz told a lie about Dolan’s blog in order to smear equality supporters as being akin to the KKK. In its reply, the Archdiocese sidestepped the issue, by merely referring to Dolan’s blog, and saying that Diaz should be contacted for a statement.

The problem with the Archdiocese’s condescending sidestepping of the issue, though, is that Thursday, Dolan taped a segment of his weekly A conversation with the Archbishop radio show with Senator Diaz. The topic of discussion was to be same sex marriage legislation. If Dolan now does not state that New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz should publicly acknowledge having misrepresented Dolan’s blog, the appearance that Dolan and Diaz may have colluded on the propagandistic uses of the “burning crosses and white hoods” phrase is only strengthened.

Dolan is saying “Who me?” and New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz is ignoring the criticism altogether, evidently hoping that additionally inflaming anti-gay bigotry in his followers will be sufficient to help him succeed in perpetuating sexual orientation apartheid in New York.

(Image: Archbishop Timothy Dolan, left. New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz, right.)