Chicago Cardinal Francis George Compares Gay Liberation Movement To Ku Klux Klan

Cardinal Francis George introduced himself into the controversy over Chicago's 2012 Gay Pride Parade route on Wednesday. The new route calls for the parade to go down West Belmont, where Our Lady of Mount Carmel has a mass scheduled for about the same time. The route was changed after 800,000 people attended the 2011 parade, causing problems with traffic and crowd control as the parade would somewhat backwards, in a V-shaped pattern. The 2012 parade will start at 10 a.m. (to cut down on drinking) and take a more direct route. "It seems to us that this parade route and time is workable," said parade coordinator Richard Pfeiffer. "This church has multiple masses that go on... they could say for people to come to an earlier mass." Father Thomas Strenn said the parade will have a huge impact on his parish. It's just a sad thing that it's Sunday morning," he said. "We're petitioning -- we're asking for some consideration for that." Cardinal Francis George objects to the planned route, as well. "You don't want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism." he said on FOX Chicago Sunday. Openly gay State Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago), whose district includes the Gay Pride parade route, criticized the Cardinal’s “unfortunate choice of words.” Harris predicted “it probably will provoke other unfortunate words” from some gay activists. The parade is held on the last Sunday in June.