I'm sending this email as a comment on D'Anne Witkowski's article about Sen. Sam Brownback entitled "Creep of the Week". In the article, Witkowski sardonically that "a good, God-fearing judge would have attended, but with a group of torch bearing friends wearing white hoods, or at least black steeple hats." The first reference, of course, is to the KKK (torches and white hoods), and the second is to a Catholic Spanish tradition of penitent men dressing mournfully during Holy Week (black steeple hats). I feel the comparison was tasteless and extremely small-minded, especially for a writer who seems concerned with equality. I am certainly not defending Sam Brownback's reaction to a judge attending a lesbian commitment ceremony. My problem lies in the fact that I, as a Catholic who is not staunchly opposed to the advancement of the basic rights of homosexuals and transgender persons, take offence at the juxtaposition of a sincere, heartfelt religious tradition with a hateful, prejudiced, and anti-Catholic organization. The KKK is an organization for white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants, and has incited numerous crimes against Catholics. I remember when I was a child being told by my great-grandmother how she was mistreated, ignored, and abused by members of the KKK in her youth because of her religion. Peoples of non-standard sexual/gender identities are not the only people in this country who have suffered ignorant hatred, and comparing Catholic piety with Klan hatefulness is nearly as crude as it would be to compare the State of Israel with the Third Reich. Please refrain from such comparisons in the future, I beg of you.
Sincerely,
Seth Galemore
