Chicago, Ill., Jan 9, 2012 / 16:11 pm
Chicago's Cardinal Francis E. George says he compared gay activists to the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan out of “fear for the Church's liberty,” not as a blanket accusation against homosexuals.
“I am personally distressed that what I said has been taken to mean that I believe all gays and lesbians are like members of the Klan,” Cardinal George said in a statement posted on the Archdiocese of Chicago's website Jan. 6. “I do not believe that; it is obviously not true.”
He acknowledged that he had used an “inflammatory” analogy during a December 2011 episode of Fox Chicago Sunday, when he said he did not want the homosexual pride movement to “morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”
The analogy was prompted by a question about the 2012 Gay Pride Parade, and a local pastor's concern that its route and timing would interfere with Catholic worship. After the Fox Chicago Sunday taping, Cardinal George defended his remarks on the subject in a Dec. 27 written statement.