Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Obama and Revs. Warren and Lowery
How I envy the political skills of President-elect Barack Obama. If I had kids I would offer their souls to Satan or Sean Hannity (same difference), but no rug-rats for me so I would give up cherry pie to be Obama. Yesterday Obama causes a wee firestorm with the announcement that Rev. Rick Warren is going to give his inauguration’s invocation. Today at a press conference when asked about it Obama describes himself as “a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans.”
Latter on in the day, his inaugural spokesperson Linda Davis notes to 365 what a few have pointed to. The benediction of the inauguration will be given by Rev. Joseph E. Lowery.
“[Lowery is] an outspoken supporter of gay rights,” Douglass said.
For those not familiar with Lowery he is considered the religious dean of the Civil Rights movement. More recently he is the man who proudly, and with no shame, gave President George Bush the business at Coretta Scott King’s funeral.
As for his stance on gay rights, the old lion supports gay marriage.
None of this excuses the choice of Warren but it’s hard to accuse Obama of pandering to the right when he picks a firebrand many a conservative loathe.
UPDATE (12/30/08): Sorry it has taken so long to get this post straight. Reverend Lowery does not support same marriage; he favors civil unions.
Telephones work coast to coast at the moment James – go for it!
It’s exactly what we need here in California – a civil rights heavy weight helping gay people defeat Prop 8. South Central went over big time for Prop. 8.
“Perhaps Mr Withers, you could arrange that”?
Sincerely,
James
Perhaps we could persuade Rev. Joseph E. Lowery to speak at some churches in South Central Los Angeles? Perhaps Mr Withers, you could arrange that?
The whole premise for that argument is wrong. There should be NO person taking part in the inauguration who supports ANY kind of discrimination against ANY group in this, or any other country. That Obama, a constitutional scholar, can still say he doesn’t believe in gay marriage on religious grounds is bad enough, but he very obviously doesn’t even understand the issue here.
By adding Warren he, and his team, have said they want to bring people of all opinions together. Being gay, or against gay people is not an opinion, political or otherwise. It is discrimination. This is not about who believes we should have the right to get married, but about our basic humanity. Saying there is another minister who “supports” us doesn’t mean he can have another who hates us. We are people, not political chips.
Why are there no members of the KKK or Arian Nation taking part in the inauguration? I’m sure many of their members are nice people who give back to their communities, charities and schools when they are not spouting hatred towards minorities. Or is it only towards the LGBT community where hate, intolerance and verbal abuse is acceptable discourse? How can he understand how reverend Wright is unacceptable but not Warren? Or is it once again because it’s ONLY the gays. We”re great to have around to finance campaigns, then it’s time to put us back into the closet until the next election.
Obama either doesn’t get it or gets it and doesn’t really care. Either way is shocking.
Mr Katz:
From where I sit, in the back of the LGBT bus (my wife is transgendered), I can’t help but wonder WTF? I don’t have a real stake in this, because, at the moment, my marriage isn’t being challenged. So it is a wonder to me that I am considerably more outraged than you. Maybe it is because the selection of Mr. Warren quite literally brought my wife to tears. Maybe it’s because I live in California, where even as I write this, the forces of the extreme right have engaged the service on no less a personage than Kenneth Starr to see that the 18,000 same-sex marriages are ripped apart.
I do agree with you that the No on 8 campaign was lame and lazy until the last week or two. By that time, as I drove up Bouquet Canyon Bl. in Santa Clarita and counted over 200 “Yes on 8″ signs, I knew we were doomed.
Rick Warren is a hypocrite, a bigot and a hate monger. He has compared same-sex marriage to incest and pedophilia. As a former victim of sexual child abuse, I can state with authority that there is no comparison. Mr. Obama has invited an agent of evil to stand with him on inauguration day; one can only conclude that on some level, he endorses Mr. Warrens views.
I do not call the President-elect names, but I am taking action, and so are others:
As a major contributor to his campaign (the official definition of major is $200.00 or more), I have received tons of email from David Plouffe exhorting me to contribute more to this great “movement for change”. To each of these emails, I have replied, “Got four words for you. Rick Warren. Screw You.”
I have gone to the change.gov website, and have requested that my name be removed from their fundraising lists.
A friend of mine, a gay TV exec, has canceled his plans to attend the inauguration, and returned his invitation with an explanation for his actions. He told me that several of his friends will still attend, but are packing extra shoes, to express their feeling to Rev. Warren. Pink ones I think.
I took my Obama-Biden T-shirt that I wore so proudly and wrote “NO HOPE FOR QUEERS” on it. I’ll be sending it to the White House for delivery on January 20.
I do not hold the hope you do for President Obama to do the right thing. We are a tiny constituency, easily ignored, and we have already been thrown under the bus, and urinated upon.
I think this “fierce advocate” for LGBT rights has treated us like an ATM, taking our sweat and our treasure, and then turning his back.
Finally, to my thinking, it is you who are the imbecile, although I’d never have applied that sobriquet had you not done so to the entire community.
Does bringing in the Republicans make you feel better about the slap to your dignity the Democrat Obama did?
That’s called battered woman syndrome.
Get used to it if you want to be a Democrat.
Mimes “At least he’s not McCain…”
Yeah, steals your marriage away and that’s all you have left to say.
Are you one to fight for your rights? Or the one that will sip an Appletini waiting for the next indignity?
You sure wouldn’t have survived during the Stonewall Riots. At least they fought back, even against the so-called gay-friendly Democrats who were talking out of both sides of their mouths.
We can only guess who McCain would have chosen, Trace. Hey, maybe his choice would have been horrible too. But…we’re stuck with Obama (I voted for him, too) and Warren is a horrible, insulting, choice. But, maybe Alan Katz is right, and maybe Obama will eventually do what he promised. Time will tell.
Very true JSQR. At least McCain would have someone openly gay in a prominent position. I wonder who McCain would have chosen for his Invocation?
I’m starting to wonder if that’s not true, Alan! At least McCain had that openly gay Buse working for him.
You’re right. You should have voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Certainly, they would have defended our rights better than Obama. Imagine their cool Supreme Court appointments.
Get real. Or at least get rational.
Obama fails to realize that as the nations leader, he needs to lay out a course for the rest of us to follow. By trying to support differing points of view he is confusing the hell out of every one. Pick a path and make a stand! And leave the debating about whether it was right or wrong to us.
In the end, I do believe that Obama will do the right thing for the gay and lesbian community. That said, his decision to invite a homophobe to be the primary spiritual speaker at the Inauguration is an insult to our community. The mainstream media and politicians seem to be able to justify such an offense as a response to free speech and cooperation. Such an offense would hardly be allowed if the speaker had a history of other hate offenses. I hope that those present at the Inauguration let Mr. Obama and Rev. Warren know how they feel about his presence there. We as a community have stood silent too long!
Mr. Katz; Rick Warren says he has gay friends, he visits gays in their homes, he eats their food with them. STILL, he feels justified and comfortable in condemning their families. Just what more could gays possibly do to reach people like him?
I think everyone should hurl their shoes at Rick Warren. This would demonstrate our disdain for his position. It would also show the world that we have at least learned SOMETHING from the Iraq war!:-)
Get over it, get past it! President-Elect Obama is trying to bring the country back together. Let’s give him a chance but never should we take a step backward.