Comments on: Withers: Etheridge says give Warren a chance

By: Eddie

Eddie — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:19:54 +0000

If Warren means what he says (he never believed gays were the equivilent of baby rapers and that we should have all the rights as straight people – except the word marriage) – then let him put his money where his mouth is – let him campaign for the repeal of DOMA. My California marriage and domestic partnership would be validated on the federal level and legally, I would have all the same rights. I’ll sit in the back of the bus with this bigot if the bus gets me to legal equity.

By: Jul

Jul — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:52:33 +0000

This is disgusting. I don’t care if Melissa is an icon…she’s obviously fallen into the trap that if we’re nice to your face, it means we like you? She’s a great singer, a nice person, but obviously none-too-smart. I cover this on our blog, and it’s pretty obvious where Rick Warren stands…and it isn’t a “gay loving” place for sure.

By: SteveMD2

SteveMD2 — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:40:09 +0000

While there are a lot of good people who support civil rights for gays, but have a problem with the word marriage, if Warren – a southern baptist is what he is, you might as well be talking to the pope re gay marriage, or hitler re saving the Jews. These people are so far down their path that they can’t imagine anything else. Remember how many people they manage to corrupt. If you want to see other examples of christian mental illness, go look at parts of christianpost.com, where you see people saying Jews and episcopals are going to hell, rants about Satan, and lots of Bizarre stuff all out of the middle ages. Hey,it happens other places, remember those guys who thought they would go to paradise and get 72 virgins for their pleasure, the guys who took flying lessons re 767s but didn’t bother to learn anything about landing such a plane.

IMHO you get what you can, keep the pressure on, but absolutely must go after the middle ground good people. A 3% swing in the vote and prop8 would have failed. And back in 2000 a similar prop would have required an 11% swing to fail, so things are getting better.

But nothing is more important then being out, so that people discover that gay people are good people, and that the diabolical closet is just another terroristic religious based trick totally similar to segregation.

It is going to take time. Sri. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but most of the homophobes are older, and in time God or Time will fix their problem. And of course working in election campaigns to elect gay and gay supportive people.

I understand what Obama is doing, I wouldn’t have given Warren such a position, but breaking loose some of the younger evangelicals from the repugnicans, and destroying the future of that God of Greed organization is what matters most.

The only danger is to make sure, like when you shake the hand of warren, you don’t get poisoned by it.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:51:54 +0000

Shari,
“I’m talking about the masses in the MIDDLE who we have to convince to vote on our side for various ballot measures, or move them enough to put pressure on their reps, so the legislature will change. I’m very connected to these people.”

If our civil rights hinge on convincing masses of people to give them to us then forget about having civil rights. The fight is about the logic of the constitution that does protect us and the corruption in government of those principles by people who have become complacent to them!

If we have to depend on convincing a majority of people to give us equality it will never end. It’s just like in California. Prop 8 passed right? Everyone got upset. Oh well, marriages not recognized now! But wait, lets start a movement for another proposition to remove prop 8!

So what if that passes? Are gay people suppose to have their cherished civil rights ping pong back and forth each election cycle according to the majority’s whim whatever it may be from one passed ballot measure to the next? This is a huge problem which is why it’s not suppose to be dependent on the majority’s will in the first place..

And supporting or just making an outreach to people like Warren only encourages the kind of corruption I was talking about before. It just has to stop and end now. There is no middle ground because it isn’t a middle ground place to be in to begin with.

We have to treat it like it is and stop hand-holding people through it that might be offended.

“You know what? Quite a few are offended that we protested temples and churches. Many are also offended that we’re boycotting businesses based on individual employee’s donations.”

So what? Don’t cater to the ego defense mechanism of such people, to do so would only embed that kind of mentality into the kind of laws they would support and people they would elect into government! It’s part of the problem now in government in the first place. It’s why we have things like DOMA, DADT, and civil unions and domestic partnerships instead of marriage. THAT is middle ground mentality. People (gays in this case) end up getting treated as ‘middle ground’ people with ‘middle ground’ civil rights!

By: Ramón

Ramón — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:42:06 +0000

Christopher: You have my permission, which is no less a locally respected and an endorsed mandate than Melissa’s, to dialogue, break bread and perform fellowship with Mullah (or should that read, Moolah?) Warren. Steel yourself for frustration and monumental disappointment. Fanatics and subversives always need the same ingredients to win followers and therefore exert power and dominion; a scapegoat, and fear. We embody that in his divisive message, so expect failure.
The greater lesson would be to teach them to respect the Constitution of this nation, and to not let them set the pace of the march to freedom and civil rights for all the citizens of this country.
We are no less than they are; stop the hand-wringing and groveling.
If he wants to speak with the gay community as equals, fine. But to step down from his self-glorified eyrie and put on a smoke and mirrors show brings nothing to the table. Based on the model of equality he subscribes to, he can’t possibly profit from gay equality. We need to outflank this asshole, and agitate where it will do the most good for us. He is not the people government of the United States; he’s transparent muckraker.

By: Beth Holden-Soto

Beth Holden-Soto — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:37:05 +0000

If you’re attending the inauguration, please turn your back on him for me. I’m not able to attend.

By: sean

sean — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:01:29 +0000

Oh right, Warren’s such a “victim”.

This would be a laughable joke, if it wasnt so damn pathetic.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:25:15 +0000

This whole thing with Rev. Warren and Prop 8 really makes me uneasy. I am a gay man in KY a state that passed an amendment similar to Prop 8 4 years ago. I worked as much as I could to stop this legislation to no avail and it makes me really bitter. Now that Prop 8 has passed there is all this talk of boycotting and shoe throwing. Where was all of that motivation 4 years ago in KY? Where was all of the celebrity hype during the battles in the 19 (not accurate) other States?
Empathy will save the world! Talking to our opponents and enemies is the mature step to resolutions. Melissa is right! Obama is right as well!

By: Debra

Debra — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:32:29 +0000

http://www.slate.com/id/2207554/?GT1=38001

The link is to an article about Rick’s adventures in Syria. Turns out there are more than the “gay issue” reasons to feel uneasy about this guy.

By: Debra

Debra — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:10:29 +0000

Todd said:
“The real problem is that it shouldn’t even matter what Warren believes! We shouldn’t even have to be concerned about the religious debate regarding homosexuality! This is about civil rights and human equality as the government sees it, not some religion or group of religions. We shouldn’t even be having discussions about how to help religious people understand us better when it comes to what we are and why we should be treated equally despite their religious judgments about it. This is not a theocracy!”
That sums it up for me….thanks Todd!