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NYC Gay Pride Parade Welcomes Catholic League & 'Straight Is Great' Sign
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 20, 2014
Modified Mar 20, 2014
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Parade photo from Getty Images
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 20, 2014
Modified Mar 20, 2014
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Yesterday, Catholic League president Bill Donohue was complaining about Guinness pulling its support from the St. Patrick's Day Parade, because organizers don't allow gay groups to march with signs in the annual event. Then he said he wanted to march in the NYC Pride parade, with a banner that says, "Straight is Great." Well, as it happens, the gay pride parade's organizers are totally cool with that!
In a statement issued this morning, David Studinski, the March Director of NYC Pride, proclaimed, "Mr. Donohue and his group are free to participate in the 2014 March. His group’s presence affirms the need for this year’s Pride theme, ‘We Have Won When We’re One.’ Straight is great - as long as there’s no hate." NYC Parade Managing Director Chris Frederick also said, "Straight allies are great. We have thousands of straight people participating in the Pride March, including Catholic groups, who support LGBT youth, families and married couples."
Frederick told us that the Catholic League truly is welcome to march, pointing that it's "probably not the first time" that a "Straight is Great" sign has been shown in the parade. He emphasized that Donohue and his fellow Catholic Leaguers can join in what is certainly one of NYC's most joyful parades "as long as he's not infringing" on other people's beliefs.
The parade organizers also included this information about Donohue's views:
GLAAD's Commentator Accountability Project provided background information on Bill Donohue's recent statements on LGBT people. On February 27, 2014, Donohue gave a video interview with World Over with Raymond Arroyo in which he stated, "If I wanted to get into their gay pride parade with my own float with big banners saying 'straight is great,' they would have a right to feel put-upon and I wouldn't do that to them." Video footage is at 12 minutes and 30
seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoATmGJG3DAMr. Donohue has been an outspoken opponent of legal recognition of LGBT people, loving LGBT families, the science of sexual orientation and HIV/AIDS education. He continually refers to marriage equality as "crazy" and "one of the most bizarre ideas in human history," and he has equated the marriage equality movement with the "minority of people in South Africa who took away the rights of Black people;" insists “we’re not going to allow gay people to adopt children, that’s against nature, it’s against nature’s God;” champions a program called Courage, which tells LGBT people that a chaste, celibate life is the only acceptable option; and on multiple occasions, Mr. Donohue has referred to AIDS as "self-inflicted" and due to going against “natural order.” For more information visit: http://www.glaad.org/cap/bill-donohue
P.S. Parade registration is still open!
Anyway, back to Guinness and the St. Patrick's Day Parade brouhaha: Donohue had suggested the company was "declaring war on Catholics" and launched a boycott against Guinness, "The rollout of this campaign is visible here at our headquarters: the staff is busy assembling a list of Catholic organizations, Irish groups, pub owners, and all those persons and associations that have worked with us in the past, to boycott Guinness. There will be public statements, paid advertisements, and more. Of course, we will continue to blanket the media. While we will not refrain from addressing other issues, the Guinness boycott is our top priority." Good luck with that!
In addition to his war on homosexuality, Donohue has dabbled in art—when he was protesting a photograph of a crucifix soaked in urine, he put an Obama bobblehead in a jar with faux feces—so he's a true Renaissance Troll.
Tagged
Bill Donohue
Catholic League
gay pride parade
Guinness
nyc pride parade
Straight Is Straight
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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