FOX Chicago Sunday Reporter's Notebook:Gay Rights Activists Urge Repeal of Catholic Church Tax Exemp

Chicago - If religious leaders lobby government officials on issues of moral concern such as gay rights, their churches and temples should be forced to pay taxes.

That’s the position of gay rights activist Tracy Baim, publisher of the Windy City Times. She told Fox Chicago Sunday that Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George and other religious leaders should be forced to choose between such lobbying and their traditional tax exemption.

Baim, who also serves as executive editor of the gay-oriented newspaper, sharply criticized recent comments by the Cardinal. Appearing on Fox Chicago Sunday last week , he said, “You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”

In a written, follow up statement Wednesday, the Cardinal suggested that gay rights leaders share a goal with Klan marchers of 70 years ago: delegitimizing the Church as a political player in American society.

The Illinois Catholic Conference – representing all the state’s bishops -- has been a staunch opponent of gay rights legislation. The bishops suffered a series of setbacks in recent years, culminating in Gov. Quinn’s decision to strip Catholic Charities of tax-paid adoption services contracts worth tens of millions of dollars annually. Quinn acted after Catholic Charities refused on moral grounds to handle adoptions by gay couples. Other states, including New York, have enacted gay civil rights legislation that specifically allows religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of conscience, while retaining government contracts for adoption and other services.

Joining Baim at Friday’s taping of Fox Chicago Sunday was Joe Murray, executive director of the gay Catholic group Rainbow Sash. Both demanded that the Cardinal apologize for comparing gay rights activists to the Klan.

The Chicago Tribune’s editorial page weighed in on the issue in Friday’s editions. An editorial noted mockingly, “That’s right: as recently as 70 years ago, the KKK openly demonstrated against the Catholic Church. What that has to do with the (gay) pride parade is lost on us.”

The dispute began when openly gay Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) and organizers of the Gay Pride Parade changed its route to take it past the parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. An aide to Tunney said he meant no disrespect and added that the funerals of both of Tunney’s parents were held in that church. The pastor, though, said he was not consulted before the parade route and hours changed. And the pastor said he was initially ignored when he asked for revisions so the parade would not conflict with Sunday morning Mass. Organizers eventually agreed to push the start time back to noon, instead of 10 a.m.