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.”
