From Richard E. Barnes, Executive Director of the NYS Catholic Conference, on their Facebook page:

In 2009, just after the New York State Senate voted to reject a same-sex marriage bill, the Catholic Conference was subjected to a barrage of calls, from vulgar to threatening, simply because I was quoted in the New York Times praising those Senators who had stood firm against the bill. From “you’re a f***ing cretin” (sticks and stones, etc.), to “[same epitaph] the Virgin Mary…[same epitaph] your Jesus…got it?” (yeah, I got it), to “we know where you are” (we turned that one over to the State Police). We heard it all – all of the tolerance and dignity the callers could muster, I guess. I knew they were upset, but really?

But that was small potatoes compared to the hate speech Rev. Diaz is getting. Death threats, real ones. The vilest filth directed at him that you can imagine. It is now reported, in a popular political blog that all policy-makers read in Albany, that the “F*** Ruben Diaz Festival” will be held soon in Brooklyn, where winners of the “F*** Ruben Diaz: Gay Erotica Featuring NYC’s Number One Bigot” writing contest will entertain themselves reading their dirty stories to each other, mocking this minister of the Gospel. And this is all known to the press and in the halls of the Capitol. So where is the outrage in the media? Where is the cry for tolerance and justice for Rev. Diaz against these hate purveyors? The answer, sadly, is that there is no outcry. Are they saving it for after something truly awful happens to this good man? Until the hate that is being incited boils over into violent behavior?