The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is ill-named: it is a gay rights group that often disrespects the human rights of those with whom it disagrees. Its latest burst of intolerance recently took place when it attacked David Tyree, the New York Giants’ hero in the 2007 Super Bowl. HRC president Chad Griffin blasted the Giants for hiring Tyree as its Director of Player Development.

Tyree’s sin? He believes, as does most of the world, that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. He also believes that homosexuals can change their identity; he knows men who have. His sentiments are grounded in his religious convictions. Anyone is free to disagree with him, but to condemn a man for espousing such positions shows contempt for his twin First Amendment rights: freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In short, it is un-American.

The attempt to silence public figures for espousing traditional beliefs on sexuality has gained momentum in the gay activist community. It must be resisted, especially by people of faith. It would never occur to Bill Donohue, as the president of the Catholic League, to fire off a statement condemning the hiring of an athlete who shared HRC’s views.

Griffin was particularly exercised over Tyree’s belief that sexual orientation can change. But many gays believe the same. After all, when the LGBT community added a “Q,”—as in LGBTQ—they did so to include “Questioning.” Now what is there to question if sexual orientation is fixed? Their logic implodes.

Recently, cnn.com posted an article on their website called “The Lavish Homes of American Archbishops.”

CNN, playing its Pope Francis card, was stunned to learn that “10 of the country’s top church leaders defy the Pope’s example and live in residences worth more than $1 million.”

Rebel #1 was New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan. He lives in a house that is attached to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, was built more than a hundred years ago, and cannot be sold separately because of its landmark status; it also houses offices, living quarters for other priests, guest rooms, a dining area, etc. What is inexcusable are Dolan’s red carpets—CNN claims they are “thick.” Bill Donohue can attest that the accusation is accurate.

Other rebels that were mentioned include Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, and Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski. George is guilty of having “an unobstructed view of nearby Lincoln Park,” Garcia-Siller’s crime is having a “wet bar,” and Wenski is accused of having a “tiki hut.” Those are problems that can be quickly fixed.

The executives of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, need to turn their cameras on themselves. CEO Jeff Bewkes pulled down $32.5 million last year and has a net worth of over $100 million. Bet his carpets are real “thick.” Others include John Martin, Paul Cappuccio, Gary Ginsberg and Olaf Olafsson; their 2013 salaries, were, respectively, $12.9 million, $7.8 million, $4.1 million, and $4.1 million.

CNN never stops talking about “income inequality.” Here are the current average salaries, respectively, for programmer analysts, media coordinators, and associate producers: $44,812, $50,956, and $44,120. The average media intern at Time Warner gets paid a whopping $8.12 an hour.

In 2008, a fourteen-year-old girl alleges that she told her parish priest that she was being abused by a now-deceased lay member of their parish. The girl alleges the disclosures came during the Sacrament of Confession. Now her parents are suing the priest, and the Diocese of Baton Rouge, for failing to report the alleged abuse. The State’s Supreme Court has ruled that the priest, Father Jeff Bayhi, may be compelled to testify as to whether the Confessions took place, and if so, what the contents of any such Confessions were.

Confession is one of the most sacred rites in the Church. The Sacrament is based on a belief that the seal of the confessional is absolute and inviolable. A priest is never permitted to disclose the contents of any Confession, or even allowed to disclose that an individual did seek the Sacrament. A priest who violates that seal suffers automatic excommunication from the Church.

As a result of this ruling, Father Bayhi may now have to choose between violating his sacred duty as a priest and being excommunicated from the Church, or refusing to testify and risk going to prison. The Diocese says Fr. Bayhi will not testify.

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Just as government cannot compel anyone to follow a particular religion, it likewise cannot prevent anyone from exercising the tenets of his faith. By deciding that Fr. Bayhi must choose between his faith and his freedom, the Louisiana Supreme Court has endangered the religious liberty of all Americans.

The Catholic League supports Father Bayhi and the Diocese of Baton Rouge in their quest for a reversal of this ruling, and a recognition that clergy cannot be forced to violate their faith.

A new television show called “The Knick,” began airing on Cinemax (whose parent company is Time Warner) in August. During a recent episode, Sister Harriet, a nurse who runs an orphanage, visited an Irish Catholic woman. The woman, Nora, said she wanted to have an abortion. Nora didn’t want her husband to find out.

•  Sister Harriet: “Your husband will know nothing of it. I promise.”

•  Nora: “Will God forgive me? I don’t want to go to hell for killing a baby.”

•  Sister Harriet: “He knows that you suffered. I believe the Lord’s compassion will be yours.” [The audience is led to believe that the nun performs the abortion.]

It is no secret that Hollywood is a big pro-abortion town, but to depict a nun who performed an abortion is a new low.

The only saving grace in the episode was the real-life recognition of the woman who was about to have the abortion: she admitted that her baby was going to be killed.

There was to be a “Black Mass” performance at the Oklahoma City Civic Center on September 21, using a consecrated Host. But on August 21, after Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley succeeded in getting a judge to issue a restraining order, on the grounds that the Host had been stolen, the attorney for the Satanic group returned the Host to a Catholic priest. The archbishop then dropped his lawsuit.

Here is how the story played out over the summer. When we learned of this scheduled performance, we issued a news release on July 2 calling attention to what a “Black Mass” entails. We quoted directly from the website of the Satanic group: “The consecrated host is corrupted by sexual fluids then it becomes the sacrifice of the mass. The blasphemy remains intact along with corruption of the Catholic Mass.” The person who was to lead this obscene event is Adam Daniels, a registered sex offender.

Bill Donohue quickly put the authorities on notice: “Oklahoma City had better think twice about this. The Civic Center is funded by the taxpayers, many of whom are Catholic, and they are not obliged to pay for attacks on their religion. Moreover, there are strictures that must be respected. To be specific, performances at the Civic Center are not permitted if they violate ‘community standards,’ including works that are ‘illegal, indecent, obscene, immoral or in any manner publicly offensive.’ One does not have to be Catholic to know that if Catholics believe that a consecrated Host is considered sacrosanct, then public displays of desecration meet the criteria as outlined.”

Donohue also warned that Oklahoma City was setting itself up for a lawsuit, calling attention to the 1984 Lynch v. Donnelly decision. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger explicitly said that the Constitution “affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any” (our italics).

Kudos to Archbishop Coakley on a great victory.

We know that every time there is a Christian holiday, jokes about Christianity proliferate. Ramadan recently ended, so it was a good time to see how TV hosts treated Islam over the last four weeks, vis-a-vis Catholicism.

Not unexpectedly, Ramadan was not an occasion for jokes about Islam. Over the summer, four jokes were told about Islam: Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, and “Saturday Night Live” each made one, but only one of them—Maher’s—was offensive.

By contrast, even though there were no Christian holidays during this period, there were 33 jokes made about Catholicism, 13 of which were offensive. Those who made the most offensive jokes were Bill Maher, David Letterman, and Daniel Tosh. Those who cracked jokes that were uniformly inoffensive were Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, and “Saturday Night Live.”

If Meyers, Fallon, Conan, Colbert, and “Saturday Night Live” can joke about Catholicism in a light-hearted manner, surely the likes of Maher and Letterman can do the same. That they refuse to do so speaks volumes about their character.

Dissident Catholics are now attacking the composition of the Catholic Church for being Catholic. The problem they have identified—and here Bill Donohue is talking about the editorial board of the National Catholic Reporter—is the Synod of Bishops. What’s wrong with it? It is nothing but a “tiny representation of humanity, celibate and exclusively male.” And why is this demographic so revolting? Because in the eyes of this body, “humans are reduced to the level of baboons.” Got it.

In October, the Synod of Bishops will discuss family issues. For most people, that means the discussion will revolve around fathers, mothers, and children. But for the Reporter, this is another problem. Like many media outlets and pundits these days, this newspaper has gone gay crazy. To be exact, it is furious over the Church’s teachings tying sexual activity to procreation. “Love and procreation are reduced to biological necessity,” they complain. Notice they didn’t quote anyone.

The dissidents wax poetic saying the bishops simply do not understand a “community of love.” And what is that? “It is about far more than producing offspring.” So what is it about? “Responsible parenthood involves so much more than making certain that each instance of sexual expression could result in another child.” They’re getting warmer.

So where is this leading? “And dare we mention the reality that keeps pressing on us with a logic that seems to be accepted more and more by segments of the community (would that be the “community of love”?)—homosexuals in a committed, loving relationship?” You got it—all dissident roads lead to homosexuality.

What accounts for them acting out? They are alternating between rage and depression. They thought Pope Francis would usher in their dream—the Protestantization of the Catholic Church—but instead they have come to the conclusion that they will not get their way this fall. But only a baboon would have thought they were going to win in the first place.

Here is what Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and his writers consider a joke: “A Spanish hotel inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey [a popular porn book] is having its opening delayed because officials are concerned that it’s too close to a nearby Catholic Church. ‘We don’t want to be next to all those creepy perverts’ said the hotel.”

Bill Donohue would bet his last dime that those who wrote this live a twisted sex life. Why does he say this? Because in discussions he has had with media executives, they say it is widely known that many of these late-night monologues are written by such folks.

Meyers, of course, is under no obligation to use this material. If we substituted “gay bathhouse” for Catholic Church, he would reject the joke. For obvious reasons, no such joke would ever be submitted to him.  So once again, bigotry and cowardice are at work at NBC.

This offensive riff has broken new ground for Seth Meyers. Up until this point, he has managed to be funny without being crude. We hope it doesn’t signal a new turn.

During a recent episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” the host mocked Fox News for a soft interview with Sen. John McCain. Pretending to be a reporter, Stewart asked of himself, “Is Jon Stewart fair to Republicans?” Although this skit had absolutely nothing to do with Catholicism, Stewart managed to turn it into another one of his vintage Catholic-bashing moments.

Stewart: “Does the pope s*** [bleeped] in the woods? Because if not, not only am I not fair to Republicans, I think a bear wearing a hat gave me Communion.”

[Next was an image of Stewart kneeling with his hands folded in prayer, and a large bear dressed as the pope holding a Host and ciborium; Stewart was kneeling waist high to the bear.]

Stewart: “I’m not going to make that other joke that I was just about to make—it was about one of us not using our teeth.”

In response to this, Bill Donohue stated “If I belonged to some other religion, I would do more than knock his teeth out. Lucky for Stewart, I am a Catholic.”

On a recent episode of the “Late Show with David Letterman,” the host began by saying Pope Francis was thinking about lifting the celibacy requirement. “That’s right, the pope is saying that priests can be in a marriage with a woman and have sex.” [Women are shown cheering.]

The pope was also shown speaking to bishops and cardinals, his words dubbed over. “When two people love each other very much, they become more than just good friends. Eventually they might even get married and have a baby. The mommy and daddy make the baby together, but it grows inside the mommy.”

Letterman: “So if a priest sees someone out there in the crowd that he likes, he might send over some Communion wine.” [Letterman was shown pointing and winking at someone.] Off camera, band leader Paul Shaffer replied by stating, “That little lady over there.” To which David Letterman replied, “Priests having sex, can you believe that?” [The clip of the cheering women was replayed.]

David Letterman is a sick man who is constantly being treated for his afflictions, so he needs to be very careful about what he says.

Here is the leading sentence from a CBS News story on the married host that was dated October 2, 2009: “David Letterman admitting on his show Thursday night that he’d had sex with female staffers and revealing he was the subject of a related extortion try could help keep his image from being tarnished, experts agree.”

Here is the leading sentence from an AP story that was dated January 7, 2013: “Three years after an extortion scandal that led him to bare his infidelities, David Letterman said he sees a psychiatrist once a week to try to be the person that he believed he was.”