Signorile Talks to Catholic League's Bill Donohue about Towleroad

Yesterday I mentioned that The Catholic League's Bill Donohue would guest on Michelangelo Signorile's Sirius radio show to discuss his demand that the DNC pull Towleroad's press credentials for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Signorile sent out these clips today.

Donohue called on Convention CEO Leah Daughtry to "nix" Towleroad and feminist blog Bitch Ph.D.'s media credentials at next week's convention. According to Donohue, we are the "most offensive" of the more than 120 blogs offered credentials.

Said Donohue: "Towleroad describes itself as ‘A Site with Homosexual Tendencies.’ Accordingly, it shows men in jock straps and underwear. It also has a post on Pope Benedict XVI that takes him to task for wearing a cape with ermine. Some of those who commented on this described the pope in a vile and profane way. Both of these blogs should be cut immediately from the list of credentialed sites. Neither functions as a responsible media outlet and both offend Catholics, as well as others. To allow them access to the Democratic National Convention sends a message to Catholics they will not forget."

I responded to Donohue in this post.

Below, in the first clip, Signorile has a general discussion about Donohue's 'call to action' for the DNC:

In the clips below, Donohue reads specific comments from the blogs that offend him, and attempts to link the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal with the bathhouses of New York in the 80's. Signorile also gets him to respond to "cheeky" comments Donohue he once made about Signorile's ass.

Thanks to Mike for taking this on.

In the Jaws of the Pit Bull [the gist]

Background
Catholic League's Bill Donohue To DNC: Pull Towleroad Credentials [tr]
Respecting God's Creation: The Pope Wears Ermine [tr]

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Catholic League's Bill Donohue to Guest on Signorile Show

The Catholic League's Bill Donohue will be on Michelangelo Signorile's Sirius radio show today at 3:30 ET to discuss his anger at the DNC for giving credentials to Towleroad and Bitch PhD at this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

In other Catholic news, a Roman Catholic Priest in Fall River, Massachusetts has fled the country to Brazil after being accused of sexually assaulting a minor in Connecticut.

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Catholic League's Bill Donohue To DNC: Pull Towleroad Credentials [tr]

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Racy Images from Abercrombie and Equinox Gym Rile Conservatives

UPDATE: Virginia Beach police DROP obscenity charges...

Police seized two murals from an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Virginia Beach over the weekend, citing local obscenity laws. One is the image above. The other is of a woman with her hand over her breast.

Hampton Roads reports: "Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman, said the seizure and the issuance of the summons came only after store management had not heeded warnings to remove the images. The citation was issued under City Code Section 22.31, Bernstein said, which makes it a crime to display 'obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles.'...The manager was not arrested but faces a fine of up to $2,000 and as much as a year in jail, if convicted. Bernstein said that in a meeting last week with store management, the officer - who is assigned to routine patrol of the mall - said he understood it was a corporate decision as to what would be displayed in the stores. But he explained that that didn't exempt the local store from complying with the city code. Bernstein said management was told specifically: 'We want those advertising signs taken down.'"

Meanwhile, some Catholic groups are up in arms about the latest Equinox Fitness Club ads that depict a group of nuns drawing a well-built nude male as if in a life drawing class.

WCVB Boston reports: "C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts said the ad shows contempt for the Catholic religion. 'It says a great deal about this perverse obsession in both the fashion industry and the advertising industry of exploiting and mocking and sexualizing Catholic religious imagery,' Doyle said. The fitness company responded with a written statement saying, 'Our ad campaigns are based on personal motivation and fantasy and throughout history the body has been considered a form of art.'"

Catholic League go-it-aloner Bill Donohue, of course, was aroused roused by the ad as well. He said: "...this patently stupid ad that Equinox is floating suggests that it must hype its edgy image in order to compete. That’s too bad—apparently their targeted demographic group isn’t lured by the prospect of more barbells and fruit bars. Hence, the need to rip off Catholic imagery in a sophomoric soft-porn ad. Of course, Equinox could have asked Fallon to replace the nuns with Islamic women covered with veils. But that was probably too edgy, even for these trendy types. Guess there are some envelopes that no one wants to push these days. How telling."

Donohue should just settle down. The photo could have been captioned: "Suck it Jesus, this man is my God now."

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Kathy Griffin Rips Catholic League's Bill Donohue a New One

[[SPOILERS - if you've still got Kathy Griffin's Straight to Hell on your DVR waiting to be watched, you may want to skip this segment.]]

In a new one-hour special, Kathy Griffin reenacts her "Suck it Jesus" moment and talks about her critics, specifically the Catholic League nut/publicity whore Bill Donohue, and puts him in his place.

Donohue last reared his ugly head during the controversy surrounding Miller Lite's sponsorship of the Folsom Street Fair.

AFTER THE JUMP, Griffin takes on Larry Craig and Paris Hilton in two more clips from Straight to Hell.

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Catholic League Launches Boycott of Miller Over Folsom Poster

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has taken his displeasure with Miller Brewing one step further than asking them to remove their logo from this year's Folsom Street Fair "Last Supper" parody poster. He has contacted over 200 religious groups and called for a boycott of the company.

Writes Donohue: "This all started when we learned that Miller was sponsoring an event that featured an obscene ad thrashing the Last Supper. After being pressured, Miller offered a lame statement of regret and said it was pulling its logo from the ad. Not only has it not done so—it is still posted on the website of the street fair—Miller refuses to withdraw its sponsorship. To top it off, when we informed them that some of the money being raised at this festival was being funneled to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they were unimpressed. Accordingly, Miller leaves us with no options: we are calling on more than 200 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations to join with us in a nationwide boycott of Miller beer. We feel confident that once our religious allies kick in, and once the public sees the photos of an event Miller is proudly supporting, the Milwaukee brewery will come to its senses and pull its sponsorship altogether. If it doesn’t, the only winners will be Anheuser Busch and Coors."

Donohue is also extremely excited to show off the collection of Folsom Street Fair pictures he has amassed.

(via slog)

Background
Miller Pulls Logo from Folsom Ad Over "Last Supper" Parody [tr]
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Kathy Griffin Wins Emmy, Gets Censored for Jesus Remark

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Griffin's remarks were classic Griffin:

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus...Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now."

Following the remark, Catholic League President Bill Donohue called on the TV academy to "denounce Griffin's obscene and blasphemous comment" which he then thanked them for doing.

He still demands Griffin apologize: "The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences reacted responsibly to our criticism of Kathy Griffin’s verbal assault on 85 percent of the U.S. population. The ball is now in Griffin’s court. The self-described ‘complete militant atheist’ needs to make a swift and unequivocal apology to Christians. If she does, she will get this issue behind her. If she does not, she will be remembered as a foul-mouthed bigot for the rest of her life."

Congrats to Griffin on the well-deserved win.

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Kathy Griffin on Her Love Affair with Gay Men [tr]
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