By Jordan Heller
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — In celebration of Gay Pride Week, the owners of the Empire State Building have had no problem illuminating the top of the famous skyscraper with lavender lights.
But the Catholic League’s request to light the building blue and white in honor of what would have been Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday has been turned.
In a surprising twist, the highly conservative religious group found an unlikely supporter in openly gay New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Monday, according to the Daily News.
After learning about the Catholic League’s request, Quinn reached out to the Empire State Building’s ownership group.
“We urged them to try to find a way to light the building," Quinn told the Daily News. “We are all very disappointed.”
Though she is best known for her work with the poor in Calcutta, Mother Teresa also opened the first hospice for AIDS patients in Greenwich Village, said Quinn, according to the News.
When asked by the paper if the owners gave a reason for denying the request, Quinn replied, "Not particularly."
Mother Teresa would have turned 100 years old on August 26. She died in 1997 at the age of 87, and was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 2003.
