January
Los Angeles, CA – Jaguar Distribution, a company that edits movie content for airlines’ onboard entertainment, edited the word “God” out of the film “The Queen.” After a public outcry, unedited versions of the film were sent out to airlines to replace the edited version.
January
Seattle, WA – Accoutrements, a novelty toy company, advertised two items on its website called “Nunchuck” and “Nunzilla.” “Nunchuck” is a plastic toy gun that catapults little toy nuns from it. “Nunzilla” is a plastic wind-up toy nun, in full habit and clutching a ruler, that spits sparks from its mouth as it moves forward.
January 22
Providence, RI – The Trinity Brewhouse hosted a party that “welcomes Catholics to a free choice celebration marking the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.” Rhode Island State Senator Joshua Miller owns the pub. Roger Limoges of the notorious pro-abortion group Catholics for a Free Choice, which has twice been denounced by the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference as a fraud, spoke at the event. In conjunction with the event, the pub posted on its website a picture of the Last Supper with various American celebrities substituting for Christ and the apostles.
January 22
Phoenix, OR – Ephemera, Inc., a company that produces novelty items, featured items such as a magnet that reads, “I gave my body to Jesus but now he never calls” and one with the image of the Virgin Mary and the caption, “Member of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Shopping.”
February
An English company called Made by Niki launched its “Rosary Collection” in stores worldwide. The company claimed the collection came with instant redemption because it featured Swarovski crystal and Czech glass Rosary necklaces suspended from straps or chastity belts, or worn separately.
February
Elk Grove Village, IL – Collections Etc. sold on its website a “Cat Nativity” scene, with figurines of cats replacing the Holy Family.
February 6
Jeffersonville, IN – CBS Outdoor, a division of the CBS Corporation, posted anti-Catholic billboard ads on the Indiana-Kentucky border along Interstate 65. The Eternal Gospel Church, a breakaway sect of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, bought the ads. The Eternal Gospel Church is an anti-Catholic group that, in the billboard ads, accused the Pope of being the Antichrist.
In response, the Catholic League contacted CBS Outdoor asking them to post a billboard ad in the same area that read, “CBS Sponsors Anti-Catholicism.” After the request was denied, the Catholic League posted the e-mail address of Wally Kelly, the CEO of CBS Outdoor, in a February 6 news release. After being bombarded with letters of protest, Kelly contacted the Catholic League and said the Eternal Gospel Church ads would come down the next day.
Billboards on Interstate 65 along the Indiana-Kentucky border. MMM is 666 on the telephone, a.k.a. “The Mark of the Beast.”
February 21
South Carolina – A Catholic member of the state Highway Patrol was ordered by his supervisor to remove ashes from his forehead on Ash Wednesday, on the grounds that the ashes violated uniform policy. The trooper refused to remove the ashes and completed his shift without incident.
April
Sewickley, PA – We received several complaints about a portrait of Pope Pius XII hanging near a urinal in the men’s room of the Sewickley Café. We sent the café’s owner several copies of the league’s reader, Pius XII and the Holocaust, and asked him to make them available to patrons. “You have said you thought the portrait would make an impression on visitors walking into the men’s room,” we wrote. “[We are] confident that reading about Pius’ works will have a more profound and lasting effect.”
May
Washington Mutual Bank ran radio advertisements on the west coast portraying a ruler-wielding nun as a mortgage lender. A man asked the nun questions about getting a mortgage, to which she answered “no” and hit him with the ruler. A public-relations official at the bank called the Catholic League to apologize and said that the ads would be pulled.
July
American Greetings featured several greeting cards that were offensive to Catholics. One card featured two nuns lifting up the skirts of their habits while wading into a lake; one nun said, “Why wouldn’t Mother Superior let us wear a bikini?” and the second nun replied, “Don’t worry, the seminary is across the lake.” Another card had three nuns on the front; the first nun said “Loud, raucous music,” the second nun said, “Excessive drinking,” and the third said, “Lewd, unspeakable acts;” the inside of the card said, “Sounds like your birthday’s going to be one heck of a good time.”
July 8
Santa Fe, NM – The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Seams Unusual, a custom-clothing shop, created “a slew of naughty nun outfits” for an event at a local bar.
August
New York, NY – Manhattan Mini Storage placed a billboard on Manhattan’s West Side Highway in August that showed a large wire hanger with the inscription, “Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose.” The Catholic League took exception to the company’s crude cultural commentary, as well as its depiction of the pro-life community, which is primarily Catholic and Protestant, as oppressive.
Manhattan Mini Storage displayed this crude billboard in order to take a cheap shot at the pro-life community while promoting its business.
September
Milwaukee, WI & San Francisco, CA – A logo for Miller beer appeared on a poster advertising the Folsom Street Fair, a gay sadomasochistic street festival held annually in San Francisco. The Catholic League issued a news release on September 25 calling on Miller to have its logo removed from the poster, which featured half-naked gay men mocking the Last Supper with sex toys on a table standing in for bread and wine. The next day, Miller issued a statement saying that it had asked the fair’s organizers to remove its logo from the poster.
We then learned that one of the charitable beneficiaries of the Folsom Street Fair was a group of gay men known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who dress in mock nuns’ habits and ridicule the Church. Featured at the fair were sex toys in the shape of Catholic items, such as crucifixes and rosaries. We alerted Miller to this and asked that the company withdraw its financial support of the fair, but it refused.
The Catholic League demanded an apology for four offenses: The Last Supper poster; the antics of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; the selling of religious objects as sex toys; and the hoisting of a woman stripper and a man dressed as Jesus in cages over a Catholic church on Sunday.
We quickly received an apology for the first offense but Miller refused to extend an apology for the other three. Therefore we launched a two-prong protest: A boycott of Miller beer and an anti-PR campaign of the brewing company.
The latter consisted of a mass mailing, to religious and secular leaders in Milwaukee, of photos of men having sex in the street and other incredibly lewd behavior.
Once Miller granted an apology for the remaining three offenses, we ended our protest.
Miller’s Sponsorship of Anti-Catholicism
In late September the Catholic League launched a boycott of Miller Brewing Company over its refusal to withdraw its support of San Francisco’s sadomasochistic and anti-Christian Folsom Street Fair. Here is a chronological rundown of our campaign against Miller.
September 25: “We have contacted Miller Brewing and expect that they will cooperate and do what is ethically right.”
—Bill Donohue, regarding Miller Brewing’s logo on a Folsom Street Fair featuring half-naked gay men mocking the Last Supper
September 26: “We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately.”
—Miller Brewing news release
September 26: “Tomorrow night, the group that Miller is funding via the festival will hold ‘The Last Supper With the Sisters,’ an event that will ridicule this sacred moment in history. Indeed, on its website it describes this sick stunt as the best way ‘to prepare your mortal flesh for the kinkiest weekend on Earth.’ (Its emphasis.)”
—Bill Donohue, referring to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of gay men who dress up as nuns and ridicule the Catholic Church
September 26: “Apparently, Miller has decided to side with a small band of depraved and bigoted gays against Catholics (25 percent of the population) and Protestants (60 percent of the nation). This is an ethical and marketing fiasco of colossal proportions…. The collision course that Miller wants with Christians is now on.”
—Bill Donohue, after the Catholic League learned that Miller decided to continue its sponsorship of the Folsom Street Fair
September 27: “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.”
—Bill Donohue, after Miller again refused to withdraw support of the fair even after learning that some money raised at the event was going to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
September 28: “Miller Brewing will now be known as S&M Miller, and that is because it has apparently decided to drop anchor with the sadomasochistic festival that it is proudly sponsoring on Sunday [Sept. 30] at the Folsom Street Fair…. If S&M Miller doesn’t pull its sponsorship, we will announce a game plan on Monday that will make the company regret it ever decided to insult Christians.”
—Bill Donohue, on Miller’s continued refusal to drop its support of the fair
October 1: “We regret that our failure to adhere to our own policy led to an inappropriate use of our trademark and apologize to anyone who was offended as a result, particularly members of the Christian community who have contacted us to express their concern. We are conducting an immediate audit of our procedures for approving local marketing and sales sponsorships to ensure that this does not happen again.”
—Miller Brewing news release
October 1: “We called Miller today asking for clarification of this statement, and we are pleased to note that a full-scale review of all its promotional policies is underway…. We expect that Miller will resolve this issue before too long.”
—Bill Donohue, responding to Miller’s statement
October 4: “If Miller wants to be so bold as to throw Catholics and Protestants overboard for the sake of siding with the most morally depraved persons in our society—persons with whom no self-respecting heterosexual or homosexual would ever associate—then it must suffer the consequences. The boycott is on, and now the campaign to blanket religious and secular leaders in the Milwaukee community with the evidence of Miller’s complicity in this sordid affair has begun.”
—Bill Donohue, after Miller failed to promise never again to sponsor an anti-Christian event
October 9: “It is hard to imagine the Coors family, with its stellar reputation, as well as the Molson’s, a distinguished Canadian family, wanting to support public displays of religious bigotry and sodomy. That is why we are asking them to carefully examine Miller’s promotional policies and pledge that sponsorship of these kinds of morally indefensible events will never happen again.”
—Bill Donohue, after Miller and Molson Coors Brewing announced they would combine U.S. operations as early as the end of 2007
October 23: “I would like to apologize to anyone who felt that the image was disgraceful to their religious beliefs. Indeed, the poster was created in order to affirm our community, not to disgrace anyone else. No malicious intent was involved…. The mission [of the fair] is to create volunteer-driven leather events that provide the adult alternative lifestyle community with safe venues for self-expression while emphasizing freedom, fun, frolic and fetish and raising funds to benefit charity.”
—Andy Cooper, president of the Folsom Street Fair Board of Directors, explaining a promotional poster for the fair that mocked the Last Supper
October 24: “We are not asking for much. Just as important, we will not settle for less. Any corporation that sponsors events that belittles people on the basis of religion is no better than one that belittles people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation. Why this even has to be argued is testimony to the incredible double standard at play in our society.”
—Bill Donohue, once again calling on Miller to pledge never to support anti-Catholic events such as the Folsom Street Fair; at this point Miller had only yanked its logo from an offensive poster promoting the fair, not its sponsorship of the fair itself
October 25: “The poster was the least offensive part of this Catholic-bashing forum. What was even more offensive was the sight of Christian symbols being sold at this Miller-sponsored fair as sex toys. The obscene and blasphemous names of these vulgar sex toys are so disgusting that no mainstream newspaper would print them. Then there was the incredible sight of a stripper and a man dressed as Jesus hoisted in cages above a Catholic church on a Sunday. This was done to provoke, taunt and insult Catholics…. The Folsom Street Fair news release on this subject shows how utterly clueless its officers are.”
—Bill Donohue, rejecting Cooper’s apology because it did not address the anti-Catholic acts and objects that permeated the Folsom Street Fair
October 26: “Miller Brewing Company today issued a formal apology for the offense caused by the use of Miller brand logos on a poster promoting the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. The company said it has taken action to ensure that such an incident will not happen again.”
—Miller Brewing news release apologizing once again for the company’s logo appearing on the offensive Folsom Street Fair poster
October 29: “They either don’t get it or they think we’re stupid. Miller’s latest apology is nothing but a rehash of what it has been saying all along—it limits its apology to the use of its logo on the offensive Last Supper promotional poster for the Folsom Street Fair. But it still refuses to apologize for the anti-Catholic nature of the event itself. As we have repeatedly said, sacred symbols were sold as sex toys at the Miller-sponsored event, a stripper and a man dressed as Jesus were hoisted in cages above a Catholic church on a Sunday, and men mocked nuns in the street. Evidently, Miller thinks these kinds of things are okay.”
—Bill Donohue, rejecting Miller’s apology for failing to address the core issues regarding the anti-Catholic nature of the fair
October 30: “We are aware of other disrespectful activities, objects and groups associated with or present at the fair which, like the promotional poster, violate our marketing policies. We extend our original apology to include these unfortunate events and items as well.”
—Miller Brewing Vice President Nehl Horton
October 31: “The Catholic League is happy that Miller has reconsidered this ugly issue and has no plans to revisit it again…. Now it’s time for everyone who enjoys Miller beer to resume consumption again.”
—Bill Donohue, accepting Mr. Horton’s October 30 apology and ending the boycott
The poster advertising the Folsom Street Fair.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, one of the charitable beneficiariesof Miller’s support of the Folsom Street Fair.
A stripper in a cage hoisted over a Catholic church at the Folsom Street Fair. Sex toys in the shapes of crosses and other religious imagery could be found at the fair, which also featured public acts of sodomy.
October
Medford, NY – Residents at a gated community, Country Pointe at Coram, were told to remove religious statues from gardens and other common areas, or else face a fine. The ban did not apply to the display of non-religious items, calling the rule’s legality into question. The Catholic League urged residents who had a grievance to contact the New York State Division of Human Rights; the league told the media that “this confrontation could have been avoided altogether had respect for diversity been operative.”
October
Spirit Halloween (a division of Spencer Gifts) carried particularly offensive costumes this Halloween. “Happy Priest” was a costume of a priest with an erection, and “Thank You Father Nun” depicted a pregnant nun.
October
Bolingbrook, IL ― The Evil Intentions house featured “skeletons dressed as priests and nuns-crucified upside down” as well as “dead babies strung up on barbed wire.”
October
Grayslake, IL ― The Dungeon of Doom haunted house had a crewmember dressed “as a priest with a large, bloody cross ‘burned’ on his forehead.”
