Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archrival of marriage equality, has been dubbed "America's Pope."

Fifty years ago, the only Catholic President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, stressed the importance of separating church and state, imagining a nation “where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials.” Fast forward to the present where Rick Santorum — also Catholic — feels that mentality makes him throw up, and it’s clear how much power the Catholic Hierarchy is now exerting over the debate about equality. The Church’s leadership has been particularly explicit on one particular issue, which is that it refuses to exist simultaneously in a universe with marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Now, as conservative groups like the Catholic Church are using arguments “religious liberty” more than ever, it’s important to look at just how they exercise that liberty in the public square, particularly in public-subsidized services and political campaigns. After all, freedom from religious-based government is why many groups originally emigrated to the Americas. Even though American Catholics largely support equality, the Church’s hierarchy prioritizes stigmatizing same-sex families at all levels of government over its own charitable works.

NATIONAL: The leadership of the Catholic Church — not the membership — represents one of the chief opponents of marriage equality nationwide, raising funds that rival those contributed by evangelical and conservative protestant groups in state fights like Minnesota and Maine. In addition, plenty of evidence confirms that the National Organization for Marriage, which spends millions of dollars fighting marriage equality across the country, is a Catholic organization. This past November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a new anti-gay campaign called, “Marriage: Unique For A Reason,” committing to the issue as a national priority. And complementing Rick Santorum’s constant Catholic messaging on social issues, Newt Gingrich has pledged to create a commission defending the ability of churches and church-run programs (schools, hospitals, charities, etc.) to discriminate against same-sex couples at will.

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Students and staff at the University of Notre Dame have created a video called, “It Needs To Get Better.” They highlight that the administration has rejected proposals to create a gay-straight student alliance fifteen times and urge administrators to adopt non-discrimination policies that protect LGBT members of the community from discrimination. Watch it:

Fifteen years ago, the university adopted a “spirit of inclusion” statement that reads in part:

We welcome all people, regardless of color, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social or economic class, and nationality, for example, precisely because of Christ’s calling to treat others as we desire to be treated. We value gay and lesbian members of this community as we value all members of this community. We condemn harassment of any kind, and University policies proscribe it. We consciously create an environment of mutual respect, hospitality and warmth in which none are strangers and all may flourish.

But that sentiment clearly does not reflect the current campus climate for LGBT students. The Princeton Review has ranked Notre Dame as one of the top six most LGBT-unfriendly campuses in the country, and the university does not even participate in the Campus Climate Index. A 2010 cartoon published in the student newspaper, The Observer, featured the anti-gay joke “What’s the easiest way to turn a fruit into a vegetable? A baseball bat.” The newspaper apologized, but the incident inspired students to protest campus policies. Apparently those concerns persist to this day.

St. Petersburg, Russia’s anti-gay propaganda bill has passed its third and final reading in the city legislature and now heads to Governor Georgiy Poltavchenko, who has 14 days to sign the bill into effect, or send it back to be “reworked.” Under the bill, individuals could be fined up to $16,000 and legal entities would have to pay $160,000 for promoting “homosexuality, pedophilia, or transgenderism to minors” and nearly all public pro-LGBT events would likely have to be curtailed or cancelled to avoid the penalty.

Russia has already implemented similar laws in Ryazan, Arkhangelsk and Kostroma regions, and lawmakers have expressed interest in adopting similar prohibitions in Moscow or nationwide. Meanwhile, countries and people around the world have condemned the effort and “AllOut.org has begun a new petition targeting St Petersburg as a tourist destination.” The so-called Don’t Go There letter will be delivered to the governor. It reads:

As the top custodian of Saint Petersburg, city of Tchaikovsky and Russia’s “window to the west,” we call on you to veto this draconian bill that could silence the speech of ALL Russians. Russia is a strong, independent country – but we all live in a globalized world. If this bill is signed in to law, I will not and cannot travel to Saint Petersburg, and will urge all of my friends and acquaintances to follow suit.”

The petition has so far attracted 66,073 signatures.

Poltavchenko will likely sign the ban. He has previously said that the bill would “serve for the good of public morals” and noted that “[t]here is nothing more abominable than propaganda regarding such things.”

A 25-point gap now separates supporters and opponents of marriage equality in California, with 59 percent of residents backing same-sex marriage and just 34 percent opposing it, a new Field survey finds. This represents “the largest margin of support for the issue in the three-plus decades the Field Poll has been asking the question” and shows a big increase for marriage since voters approved Proposition 8 in 2008. Significantly, support increased among all groups, including Protestants, Catholics, African Americans, Latinos and older Americans and pollsters say that opponents of marriage would have a difficult time overcoming the trend should the measure go back to the ballot:

Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said the move to a 25-point gap goes beyond the gradual increase in support that has been expected as young voters age and “replace” older voters in the electorate. “This is now showing that opinions are changing irrespective of generational replacement,” DiCamillo said. “This is real change.” [...]

DiCamillo said voters still hold the judiciary in relatively high regard, and years of gay marriage court battles in California are likely contributing to the opinion shift. “The winds of change are blowing in other states (and) when judges start ruling the same way, I believe that has an influence,” he said.

Proposition 8 was found unconstitutional by a federal judge in San Francisco, “and his ruling was upheld by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month. But the appeals court is weighing a request from gay marriage opponents for a larger panel of judges to review the decision, and ultimately, the matter could be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, with a decision years away.”

Political scientists have suggested that conservative efforts to outlaw marriage equality may have actually contributed to its growing popularity by increasing the visibility of LGBT issues and making “a topic that seemed taboo a little bit less taboo.” “One of the fascinating things is that with all this discussion out there whether positive or negative, being able to say the words, just made people more comfortable,” Professor Brian Powell of Indiana University told ThinkProgress in 2010.