Anti-Gay Catholic Leader Trying To Slip Out Of Agreement To March In Gay Pride Parade?

Falsely Claims NYC Pride ‘Trying To Impose Their Agenda’ On His ‘Straight Is Great’ Marchers

Bill Donohue is the head of the highly-profitable Catholic League. From his office suite that adjoins the New York Archdiocese headquarters, Bill Donohue sits, waits, and then attacks. He attacks same-sex marriage and its supporters. He attacks women’s reproductive rights and its supporters. He attacks those who oppose the church’s handling of its pedophile priests. And he attacks any social issue that might challenge the authority or positions of the Roman Catholic Church.

And for that, Bill Donohue makes $407,000 a year.

His Catholic League is rated just two out of four stars by Charity Navigator. Of the $3.7 million Donohue’s Catholic League — which many believe is just Donohue and a secretary or two — took in during 2012, a whopping 23.4% went to administrative costs, and another whopping 22% went to fundraising.

So why are we telling you all this?

Because Bill Donohue is a blowhard and a coward.

This week, Donohue went ballistic, after learning that Guinness beer pulled its sponsorship of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade over the parade’s anti-gay policies. Being an Irish Catholic, no doubt the parade is near and dear to Bill’s heart, but apparently the free market system is allowed to go just so far for Donohue.

He launched a boycott of Guinness, which he said was acting “like a corporate bully.”

So in retaliation, and no doubt trying to find discrimination, Donohue made a big stink about trying to get into the New York City gay pride parade. He demanded organizers allow him to march under a “Straight is Great” banner.

Much to Donohue’s surprise, they did — immediately.

Hours later, the head of GLAAD asked to march with him. Turns out, Sarah Kate Ellis is “a fellow Irish New Yorker.”

Now, in a cowardly and hypocritical way, Donohue is trying to claim organizers are stalling and trying to block him, so he can wiggle out of marching in the parade.

The problem, for Donohue, is that they’re not.

“Their initial response was okay, you have to come to a training session,” Donohue said in an interview yesterday with NewsMax TV. “People have to wear LGBT paraphernalia … Now they are dancing. They are saying, well … we have our own rules and what not,” Donohue is claiming.

“Quite frankly as a straight guy, I don’t go to gay training sessions,” Donohue said. “I’m pretty much of an untrainable guy when it comes these things.”

“I said, look I want to be clear, can I march with my banner ‘Straight is Great?’ My members will wear t-shirts ‘Straight is Great’ – I’m waiting for the final answer.”

“Before I attend your training sessions, I just want to know … They’re not giving me an unequivocal answer.”

In this video, Donohue admits his entire reason for wanting to march is to make up his own rules. Now that he’s done so, and they’ve been accepted, he is twisting the organizers’ response:

 

 

Well, that’s totally false, according to the NYC Pride organizers.

The New Civil Rights Movement reached out to the official organizers of NYC Pride, Heritage of Pride, Inc.

Here’s what they said to us, via email:

We require all March registrants to have group leaders attend an event operations training. This is for the safety for our participants. The requirement is not unique to Mr. Donohue.
Mr. Donohue sought prior approval on his group’s slogan, “Straight is Great.” We acknowledged his message and said the text was fine. At no point have we instructed Mr. Donohue as to what must be printed on his group’s shirts. The NYC Pride March Rules & FAQs sheet can be found here (as public on our website):

http://www.nycpride.org/uploads/2013NYCPrideMarch-Rules&FAQs.pdf

As of [this] writing, neither Mr. Donohue nor the Catholic League have submitted registration for the 2014 NYC Pride March.

So, a safety training class to Bill Donohue is “gay training.”

He got his “final answer” immediately, and he knows it — as does everyone else who’s been following the news.

NYC Pride clearly did not state that he or his group “have to wear LGBT paraphernalia,” nor does their four-page list of rules address attire, with the exception of noting nudity below the waist is illegal in New York City.

Donohue is a fraud, a coward, and a blowhard.

Frankly, this latest stunt is an embarrassment to the Catholic Community he claims to represent and defend, and they should tell him to stop speaking for them.

If Bill Donohue — whose anti-gay views, comments, and attacks are beyond ugly — demands to be allowed to march in the NYC gay pride parade, and he’s welcomed, he should follow through, or be held up as a coward too afraid to walk the streets of New York with LGBT people by his side.