Aug 6, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Excerpted from THE BLAZE: A controversial billboard that popped up next to a Catholic church in Clearwater, Florida, has some people scratching their heads. The pro-gay message designed to advertise BeautifulPeople.com, a dating web site, is posted right across the street from St. Michael’s Catholic Church, causing some to wonder if the move was intentionally made.
Greg Hodge, founder and manager of the web site, created the billboard to promote gay marriage and new versions of his web site which help facilitate same-sex relationships. Despite speculation, he denies that it was strategically placed, calling its close proximity to the church “unintentional.”
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“We were unaware that the billboard in Florida was opposite St. Michael’s Catholic Church or any church for that matter,” Hodge told The Christian Post. “However, it would not have factored into our decision of where to post the billboard either way if we had known.”
St. Michael’s has reportedly — like most other Catholic churches — taken a firm stance against gay marriage. The house of worship, according to the Post, distributed voting guides in the past that addressed the issue of same-sex unions. Patch corroborates this report:
The church’s most recent bulletin included a Republican primary election guide from the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. It listed all candidates potentially representing the Diocese of St. Petersburg and where they stood on seven fundamental Catholic issues including defining marriage as “the exclusive union of one man and one woman.”
