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To the Editor:
Cardinal Dolan’s column, “Explaining My Decision to Serve as Grand Marshal” (CNY, Sept. 18) fails in its attempt to rationalize his decision to lead a parade in which a group, interested only in displaying its pride in being homosexual, joins a parade dedicated to the patron saint of the New York Archdiocese and marches in tandem with Catholic school children, Irish counties carrying banners of Irish saints, the Fighting 69th of Father Duffy and poet Joyce Kilmer, and a host of other Irish organizations, none of which identify themselves by their sexual preferences.
The Parade Committee reversed its longstanding policy of not permitting homosexual groups to march under their own banner, due to intense lobbying by gay activists, of parade sponsors such as Guinness, NBC Universal and even some parade participants. Threatened with being labeled “homophobic” if they continued to sponsor the parade, Guinness and Heineken dropped their TV advertising on the NBC station, which carried the parade this year, and Ford Motor Company had threatened to follow.
The committee’s “about face” had little to do with concern about the public misperception of its longstanding policy of not permitting homosexual groups to march under their own banner, and everything to do with the threatened loss of financial resources and potential loss of TV coverage. The committee capitulated to gay activists who have railed for more than 20 years against Catholic teachings regarding homosexual practices, rather than standing up to the financial pressure.
For Cardinal Dolan to depart with his predecessors and lend his prestige and eccelesiastical approbation to what was essentially a financial decision by the Parade Committee is most discouraging.
Kathleen O’Connell
Manhattan
