In the February 17 edition of the Village Voice, there was a public notice ad for a pair of vocalists that ended with the following sentence: “Must be dedicated, creative, not afraid to offend everyone and anyone. NO CHRISTIANS.”

After reading this, Catholic League president William Donohue called the Classified section of the newspaper requesting that the following ad be placed: “A pair of male vocalists to play with band. Must be dedicated, creative, not afraid to offend everyone and anyone. NO GAYS.”

Donohue describes what happened next:

“The woman who fielded my call paused at the mention of ‘NO GAYS’ and said she would have to check to see if this was okay. After checking, she said that it wasn’t acceptable. When I asked why it wasn’t, she hesitated, saying that there was a word for something like this. Being a nice guy, I volunteered, ‘bigoted’? Yes, she said. I then informed her that she must be mistaken because the Village Voice certainly has no problem with bigotry, offering as an example the ‘NO CHRISTIANS’ ad. That was an error, I was told, and against the rules. I then asked for a copy of the rules and, lo and behold, she was unable to provide me with them. Disturbed again, she twice consulted with someone else, and then I finally disclosed who I was and what this was all about (but not before telling her that I didn’t believe a word she said).

“The Catholic League is not interested in suing the Village Voice, but it is interested in letting everyone know just how tolerant these Kings and Queens of Tolerance really are. As for our courageous rock performers, it is obvious that when they brag about offending everyone and anyone, they really don’t mean what they say, otherwise they’d start bashing some group other than Christians.”

The February 4 episode of the Comedy Central cartoon, “South Park,” featured a boxing match between “Jesus” and “Satan.” In addition to the violence, the script included a priest character who shouts, “Jesus, you’re gonna kick ass”; a boy who coaches Jesus saying, “Goddammit, Jesus, snap out of it”; another young boy who discusses how he stuck an envelope “up my ass”; and, as usual, the chef sings sexually explicit songs to the boys. Moreover, “Satan” slams “Jesus” around the ring, fakes losing the match and “Jesus” bemoans that he was betrayed because everyone bet against him.

William Donohue issued the following statement on this program:

“In July, one of the creators of ‘South Park,’ Trey Parker, boasted of his agenda by saying, ‘I can guarantee it’s gonna be the raunchiest thing on TV and it’s gonna piss a lot of people off.’ He wasn’t entirely honest—he should have had the guts to say that it was Christians whom he wished to offend.

“Everyone complains how decadent the pop culture has become. But it doesn’t take a blue ribbon commission to figure out why: with people like Parker emulating people like Larry Flynt, it’s no small wonder why things are the way they are.

“To those who say that ‘South Park’ is just a cartoon, I have a suggestion: write to Mr. Parker and ask him to deliver the same message of blasphemy, sex and violence by substituting Martin Luther King for Jesus and Bull Connor for Satan. After all, that should tick a lot of people off, too.”

The Catholic League has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Orthodox Jewish students at Yale University who have had their religious liberties abridged. The league’s brief, prepared by William Bentley Ball, was recently filed in United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Yale contends that it has a right to force freshman and sophomore students to live on campus and abide by its living arrangements; if students object, they can live off campus, but only if they agree to pay the nearly $7,000 room and board fee to the university. The Catholic League believes that the objecting Orthodox Jewish students should not be penalized for opting to live off campus. The students ask only that Yale respect their religious convictions: they cannot in good conscience accept living arrangements that allow for coed dorms and bathrooms, condom machines and “safe sex” literature.

Catholic League president William Donohue explained the league’s involvement in this case:

“In his Catholic League brief in Hack et al. v. Yale, William Bentley Ball said that Yale’s policy represents ‘a serious imposition upon the religious liberty of Orthodox Jewish students.’ Indeed it does, which is why we are fighting this case on both free exercise grounds and freedom of association.

“If the effect of Yale’s policy were to incidentally burden religion, there would be little reason to protest. But this policy directly clashes with the religious rights of the students, so much so that it is ‘severely coercive.’

“It says something about Yale’s alleged commitment to tolerance and diversity that it openly practices such intolerance for the diversity that these students seek. This case should never have wound up in the courts. That it has is demonstrative of Yale’s obstinacy.”