A Catholic headmaster is claiming that an Illinois weekly newspaper defamed him when it published a pro-gay letter to the editor with his byline.
Father Michael McMahon of the Notre Dame de La Salette Boys Academy in Georgetown, Ill., never wrote the pro-equality letter, which the Paxton Record received and published with his name.
Now, he is suing for defamation, claiming that the paper never verified the April 2011 letter and caused him emotional distress, according to a report in the News-Gazette, which publishes the Paxton Record and is also named in the suit. The suit seeks at least $50,000 on four different counts.
Messages to McMahon's attorney were not returned.
Don Craven, the newspaper's attorney, said that the Paxton Record ran a correction the following week and that there "were several conversations" between the newspaper and McMahon following the letter's publication.
However, Craven questions the allegation that the letter defamed McMahon. In 2012, he said, it is not controversial "to make a statement about whether all people should be treated equally because of their sexual orientation."
Craven said it is not known who authored the letter. The News-Gazette reported that the letter listed McMahon as the president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Association of Vermillion County, a nonexistent group with an address and telephone number matching that of the academy.