NEW YORK
Washington Blade
Friday, February 17, 2006
NEW YORK—A Roman Catholic priest who is suing the church claims Cardinal Edward Egan is gay, the Village Voice reported last week. The lawsuit, pending in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, was filed on Dec. 13 by Bob Hoatson — a 53-year-old New Jersey priest considered a stalwart ally among survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. Hoatson, the now-suspended chaplain for Catholic Charities in Newark, is suing Egan and nine other Catholic officials and institutions, claiming a pattern of "retaliation and harassment" that began after Hoatson alleged a cover-up of clergy abuse in New York and started helping victims.