Abp Cordileone and the HRC meme

During the Prop8 arguments, the Human Rights campaign started a meme where they dyed their equality logo red for love.  This took over avatars on facebook and twitter, and many fun versions of it appeared.  Did you put it on your social media? 

Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco responded in kind, in a way that is hardly flattering to Roman Catholics. They put up a division sign with a scriptural citation: The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

This was supposed to be a commentary about how people are divided, but that's not how it was received. The Archdiocese eventually removed the image due to the flood of negative comments from people dismayed at the symbolism. From KQED

"It infuriated me," said Don Wagda, a Bay Area attorney. "I thought it was highly disrespectful when they posted the division symbol. It was the most divisive of all."

Naturally, the Archdiocese are now claiming that they are victims of an organized hate campaign. Because, you know, Catholics are victims of marauding gays.

But Michael Cole-Goldschwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said the group had not responded to the parodies of the "=" campaign that its marketing director, Anastasia Khoo, dreamed up. He noted the division symbol on the archdiocese Facebook page. "Frankly, I thought it characterized the opposition," he said. "We're happy that our message got out and it's unfortunate that they're using this for their own anti-gay message. But it is what it is."

 Recall that the SF Archdiocese is home to Abp Salvatore Cordileone, father of Prop8 and an archconservative who is rapidly rising in the hierarchy. As we've discussed here on several occasions, Abp Cordileone is no friend to gay people. He is very smart, and frankly, this expression of division exactly fits his attitude.

Do you think that the Archdiocese was making a commentary, or thumbing its nose at the LGBT community?


H/T Joe My God