After Minority Leader Pelosi, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, a host of other elected officials, and a cadre of LGBT organizational leaders called out his planned appearance at the National Organization For Marriage's anti-gay "March For Marriage" (June 19th in D.C.), San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a lengthy response in which he purports to "explain" why we are all mistaken about NOM, its allies, and their intentions. This is Cordileone's letter, in full:
With all due respect to the Archbishop, his letter is rife with untruths. Heck, I'll just say it: he's lying in much of it.
On point one, the idea that the march is not anti-gay: Has Archbishop Cordileone even looked at the list of fellow speakers? One of the speakers, William Owens, has on multiple occasions equated homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia. Harry Jackson has claimed that marriage equality is “a satanic plot to destroy our seed" and that LGBT activists are creating a debate that is "just like during the times of Hitler." Jim Garlow has compared children of gay parents to children who lost their parents on 9/11. And much, much more.
Then there are the sponsors. The Family Research Council alone, which Cordileone mentions by name in his letter, has issued pamphlets that directly equate same-sex marriage with man-on-horse marriage (complete with horse picture), has senior staff members who have openly declared their support for criminal sanctions against homosexuality, has a in-house religious leader who claims that gay people are controlled by "their malevolent master"..."the devil," and has aggressively and offensively condemned every single LGBT rights proposal to ever come down the pipe. Tony Perkins, the president of FRC, has one of the most offensive quote banks, and agendas, in all of the political world. It is literally impossible to be more anti-LGBT than the FRC.
As for Cordileone's second point in which he tries to absolve NOM of its recent attempt to connect same-sex marriage and pedophilia: BULLCRAP! BULL, BULL, BULL, BULL, BULL!
Here is the text from the NOM blog post in question, words attributed to Brian Brown:
When professors from Harvard and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine get together to discuss ways in which "minor attracted persons" can be involved in the DSM revision process—watch out.Enquiring people want to know: Will pedophiles become "minor-attracted persons" in our culture? Will courts which endorse orientation as a protected class decide down the road that therefore laws which discriminate against "minor-attracted persons" must be narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest?Here's the fundamental truth: Ideas have consequences and so do words—because they contain ideas, because they are the vehicle through which and by which human beings describe reality.The reality that men and women need each other, and that children need a mom and dad, is the truth most at risk in the same-sex marriage debate.
Brian Brown was suggesting that the same-sex marriage will create a world where "truth" is "at risk," which will then lead to a society that is open to the pedophilia he had just described. There is no other read than that! Let's cut the crap here: Brian Brown mentioned pedophilia in this email blast about same-sex marriage because he wanted to link the two idea in people's minds. Cordileone can spin it all he wants, but he can't make us believe his lies. The NOM post is on record, and most of us have basic reading comprehension skills. (**Plus Brian has said and done plenty of other anti-gay stuff too)
Moving on to Cordileone's third point: No, there is simply no comparison between the harsh rhetoric that LGBT people have faced and continue to face and the stuff that Cordileone cites in order to make it seem like intolerance goes both ways. And I say that as someone who condemns truly harsh rhetoric, wherever it exists and from whomever it comes. The fact of the matter is that LGBT people are only pushing back against the onslaught because certain people chose to "culture war" against us. Yes, political debates often get too harsh, all around, and that is an unfortunate part of the territory. But let's be clear: this is not a two-sided, "let's agree to disagree" debate—this is a situation in which one side is attempting to subjugate, roll back the rights, and even forcibly "change" certain human beings who they insist are broken, undesirable, and undeserving. The two sides are inherently different.
LGBT people are not holding marches meant to roll back straight and/or cisgender people's civil rights. Period. Full stop.
Moving on to Cordileone's fouth and final point: He doesn't want us to form opinions based on out-of-context quotes? Okay, then—let's have over two minutes of him telling the world that gay people need to stop being gay so that they can avoid "harmful effects" of "behaviors and lifestyles that so often end in self-destruction":
In fact, I probably should have just led with that video. It tells you all you need to know about Cordileone—and NOM.