On Wednesday's Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN host Piers Morgan mocked Catholic League president Bill Donohue's declaration that Catholicism demands that gay children should still be loved by their parents by suggesting in a later segment that he would have more respect for Donohue's opposition to gay marriage if he would just claim to "hate" homosexuals instead of being "wishy washy." Morgan:
To me, that's where the whole argument starts to crumble, you know. I almost would respect them more if they came out and said, "I hate gay people, I hate everything about them." I respect that more than this wishy washy nonsense about, you know, "Well, I would love them. Of course I would."
Morgan's mockery of Donohue and those who oppose gay marriage came as the CNN host discussed the day's news with singer and gay rights supporter Clay Aiken, during a program in which the entire hour was devoted to a discussion of President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage, and the aftermath of North Carolina's vote to amend the state constitution to ban such marriages.
After the segment which included Donohue and a gay marriage supporter had ended, Morgan brought aboard Aiken and at one point posed to him:
When you hear Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League - and I'm a Catholic, you know, Joe Biden's a Catholic - when you hear him saying, you know, "If one of my children was gay, I would love them, et cetera, et cetera, but I would" - clearly the extension of his argument is, "I wouldn't ever let them get married." So, you know, they're fine, I love this little sinner," but they couldn't then have the same rights as my straight children.
He continued:
To me, that's where the whole argument starts to crumble, you know. I almost would respect them more if they came out and said, "I hate gay people, I hate everything about them." I respect that more than this wishy washy nonsense about, you know, "Well, I would love them. Of course I would." You know, really? What to you think?
Morgan then demonstrated his dissatisfaction with North Carolina voters for voting overwhelmingly to approve the ban:
I just find it extraordinary that North Carolina, your state, that people feel strongly enough when there's economic crisis, there are wars, there's famine, they want to go out and vote for their right to absolutely guarantee two loving gay people can't get married. What is wrong with them? I mean, seriously?
After Aiken asserted that some voters regret voting for the ban because the proposed amendment would also ban civil unions for homosexuals and affect hetersexual couples in domestic partnerships, Morgan continued his condescension toward North Carolinians:
Yep, I think it may be time to wake up and smell the coffee in North Carolina.
-Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center