Bill Donahue, president of anti-LGBTQ hate group Catholic League, accused LGBTQ people and allies of trying to “hijack” Christmas by advocating for inclusive representation.
Donahue’s meltdown came about in response to public criticism of Fuller House actress Candace Cameron Bure, who recently stated that LGBTQ couples would not be featured in holiday movies on the Great American Family Channel, of which she is chief creative officer.
“I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core,” Bure said in a Wall Street Journal profile. Bure received backlash for her comments and then blamed the media for “seeking to divide us.”
Donahue defended Bure in a press release, saying that she “wants Christmas movies to feature moms, pops and kids, and for this she is being blasted by homosexual activists and Christian bashers in Hollywood.”
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He then nonsensically said that “exclusion” is “what diversity is all about” because celebrating something automatically means excluding other things.
“In February, we celebrate Black History Month, a time of celebration that excludes everyone who is not black.”
“In March, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, a time of celebration that excludes everyone who is not Irish. We just got finished celebrating Veteran’s Day, excluding all non-Veterans.”
And because Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, he continued, it must exclude other religions, even though many LGBTQ people are Christian.
“Christmastime is also a special time of the year for families, for children, in particular. Now it is a fact of nature that homosexual acts are incapable of reproduction, and therefore homosexuals are denied the opportunity to naturally create a family.”
He lambasted “gay activists” for not respecting traditional values and declared that “no one has the right to hijack the holiday to promote their own agenda.”
Bure’s comments came as Hallmark, where she starred in over two dozen made-for-TV Christmas movies, is set to premiere its first holiday movie centered on a gay couple.
In recent years, the network had been criticized for the lack of diversity in its holiday programming. Given Bure’s departure from the network just as it seemed to be embracing diversity, media outlets took note of what she had to say about Great American Family’s focus on “traditional marriage.”
Afterward, Bure accused the media of fanning “flames of conflict and hate” by reporting on her quote.
“I would like to address my comments on Great American Family’s programming as reported in The Wall Street Journal,” Bure wrote in a long Instagram post. “All of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people. It absolutely breaks my heart that anyone would ever think I intentionally would want to offend and hurt anyone.”
She went on to blame “the toxic climate in our culture right now” on the media “seeking to divide us,” concluding that “we need Christmas more than ever.”
