Contact: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191, pr@catholicleague.org

NEW YORK, July 15, 2015 /Standard Newswire/ -- Bill Donohue comments on the cover-up involving gay leader Terrence Bean:

Last November, Terrence Bean was taken into custody in Portland, Oregon following an indictment by a jury that charged him with multiple sex crimes against minors. Now additional child sexual abuse charges have been made against him. Why isn't the media covering this? Because he's a prominent gay leader, that's why.

Bean is the co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the most influential gay group in the nation; he is also a big donor to President Obama and even flew on Air Force One with him. The Associated Press (AP) chose not to cover the latest allegations, but not because it has no interest in new charges against alleged sex offenders: it does if the accused is a priest.

On June 28, AP reported on new charges against James Rupp, a former Michigan priest who was accused of sexually assaulting boys decades ago. On April 8, AP reported on new charges against Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., a Pennsylvania priest accused of molesting boys in Honduras. But there was no AP story on the latest charges against Bean. The AP bias is even worse than this.

On July 7, the day before Bean was hit with new charges, his lawyers filed a motion to have the multiple sex charges against him dismissed. Guess who covered that? AP, of course. The cover-up doesn't end there.

HRC has no listing of Bean on its website, and it even lies about his role in founding the organization: it lists Steve Endean as the founder, when, in fact, he was a co-founder with Bean. That's not an error—it's disinformation. And by the way, guess what happened to Endean? He died of AIDS in 1993, having contracted the disease in 1985.

We are registering a complaint with AP. As for HRC, it's not worth our time. But we will be sure to let them know that we're on to them.