Appearing on Fox’s Chicago station, Cardinal Francis George compared next year’s Gay Pride Parade to the Ku Klux Klan.
Cardinal George said that the Gay Pride Parade route in late June of 2012 might cause Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church to cancel Sunday mass for the first time in almost 100 years.
“You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism,” Cardinal George said.
“That’s a little strong analogy, Ku Klux Klan,” Fox Chicago’s Dane Placko noted.
“It is,” Cardinal George agreed. “But you take a look at the rhetoric, the rhetoric of the Ku Klux Klan, the rhetoric of some of the gay liberation people. Who is the enemy? The Catholic Church.”
Upon hearing the church’s concerns, parade organizers agreed to move the event start time from 10 a.m. to noon.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D) on Wednesday called on Cardinal George to apologize.
“The Cardinal’s unfortunate choice of words in comparing the LGBT community to the Klu Klux Klan is offensive,” she told ChicagoPride.com.