Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration is certainly the biggest letdown of the transition from the campaign trail to the White House.

The Obama team, responding to the criticism that followed the announcement that Warren would give the prayer, acknowledged that the two men disagree on gay equality and reproductive freedoms, but “agree on many issues vital to the pursuit of social justice, including fighting poverty and moving toward a sustainable planet.”

Is Rick Warren the only minister in the United States who wants to fight poverty and protect Earth?

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor of some 20 years until he was tossed under a bus for too forcefully pointing out that back-of-the-bus attitudes still exist, might support a sustainable planet and the eradication of poverty. He also would travel far beyond Warren on social justice issues.

Obama’s post-election decision to select Warren for the invocation and his primary fight decision to distance himself from Wright make me think about labels and perceptions, definitions and perspectives, especially in regard to race.

The black minister’s perhaps most controversial statement suggested a causal connection between the U.S. intervention in the Middle East and terrorist attacks against the United States. When the Wright videos were playing in greater rotation on cable than “Seinfeld” episodes, how many of you heard friends, family and neighbors say Obama’s association with the minister showed bad judgment, that Wright’s statements were appalling and anti-American? How many people did you hear vow not to support Obama for his association with Wright and his attendance at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ?

You might go back to those people now and ask them how happy they are with the president-elect’s selection of Warren.

But you also might ask them if they were appalled when two white evangelists — Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson — suggested that American liberalism invited the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Falwell, appearing on Robertson’s “700 Club,” said, “God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.”

Robertson replied, “Jerry, that’s my feeling.”

Curious. Falwell and Robertson talk about America getting punished for politics and policies and they get invited to White House consultations, praised as patriotic and all-American. Wright talks about “chickens coming home to roost” and gets buried, denounced as subversive and anti-American.

Warren may not preach the hate of Robertson or James Dobson, but he has shared their beliefs on issues of abortion and homosexuality, and Warren is not a moderate.

In an e-mail sent prior to the 2004 election, Warren said for Christian voters issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research were non-negotiable, “not even debatable because God’s word is clear on these issues.”

Until very recently, the Web site for Saddleback contained the statement, “Because membership in a church is an outgrowth of accepting the Lordship and leadership of Jesus in one’s life, someone unwilling to repent of their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted at [sic] a member of Saddleback Church. That does not mean they cannot attend church — we hope they do! God’s Word has the power to change our lives.”

And, this past election season Warren encouraged votes for Proposition 8, which amended California’s constitution to deny gays the right to marry.

Warren has said legalizing same-sex marriage is like redefining marriage to allow incest and pedophilia.

In defense of the Warren choice, the Obama team promoted the inauguration as “the most open, accessible and inclusive inauguration in American history.”

Obama was quoted as saying, “During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. And that’s how it should be, because that’s what America’s about. That’s part of the magic of this country.… We are diverse and noise and opinionated.”

Of course I welcome the president-elect’s calls for unity and inclusion, but I just don’t understand and certainly don’t find any magic in giving Rick Warren the honor of delivering the inaugural invocation.

I don’t know what Warren will say on Jan. 20, but I’ll remind you of what he said approaching a vote on Proposition 8: “About 2 percent of Americans are homosexual or gay, lesbian people. We should not let 2 percent of the population determine, to change a definition of marriage that has been supported by every single culture and every single religion for 5,000 years. This is not even just a Christian issue, it’s a humanitarian, a human issue.”

It is an act of spiritual violence against lesbian and gay American citizens and a profound betrayal of the philosophy of inclusion and unity espoused by President-Elect Obama.

“The Presidential Inaugural Committee, at the direction of President-elect Obama…will organize an inclusive and accessible inauguration that…unites the nation around our shared values and ideals.”

Shared values and ideals? Let’s let Rick Warren speak for himself.

Here’s Rick Warren equating marriage equality for same-sex couples with incest and pedophilia:

“The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one
guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.”

Of course, the Judeo-Christian definition of marriage that Warren refers to in the first part of this quote were essentially property contracts that did involve “one guy having multiple wives” – but that’s beside the point of this piece.

Here’s Rick Warren going even further and using the statistical lack of support by black Californian’s for marriage equality to justify his opinion that the rights of lesbian and gay citizens do not constitute civil rights:

“…this debate is not really about civil rights, but a desire for approval. The fact that 70% of blacks supported Prop 8 shows they don’t believe it is a civil rights issue. Gays in California already have their rights.”

The California Supreme Court saw the situation differently, but, in Warren’s view, the definition of the civil rights of minorities is open to definition by majority public opinion.

Here’s Rick Warren talking – in 2004 – about how HIV/AIDS was not an issue of concern for him until recently:

“Two years ago HIV/AIDS was not on my agenda; it was not even a blip on my radar.”

The deaths of more than 500,000 American citizens – the vast majority of whom were men who had sex with men – simply didn’t register on Warren’s radar over the course of more than two decades. The disease finally and rightly became a cause of concern for Warren and the Christians to whom he speaks when his wife brought to his attention the plight of children in Africa orphaned by the pandemic.

Same-sex relationships equal incestuous and pedophiliac abuses. Equal protection under the law for lesbian and gay American citizens isn’t the same thing as civil rights. The lives and deaths of gay men are less important than those of children or orphans.

The sad reality is that American gay men and lesbians have heard it all before.

But we didn’t expect to have such values and ideals validated by this President-Elect at this Inauguration.

Warren’s stated beliefs make it clear that – when he invokes God at the Inauguration – it is not the inclusive and all-loving God who is recognized and worshiped by lesbian and gay men of faith in this country. With an entire world of spiritual leaders at his beck and call for this historic event, Obama can and should do better.

The message for American gay men and lesbians in the choice of Rick Warren is that – once again – “everyone” means everyone but us.

Leah McElrath is a managing partner of Renna Communications.

(Washington) Gay rights groups are voicing their opposition to the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at President-elect Barrack Obama’s inauguration.

Warren is the outspoken evangelical pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. – one of the state’s largest megachurches.

He was a major supporter of Proposition 8, the measure that amended the California constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

“There is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population,” he said during the Prop 8 campaign  “This is not a political issue – it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.”

When LGBT activists demonstrated at Saddleback following the passage of Prop 8, Warren accused gays of attempting to take away his constitutional right to practice religion.

During the presidential election campaign, Warren hosted a presidential forum with Obama and Sen. John McCain.  Warren did not endorse either presidential candidate.

People For the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert said Warren should never have been selected to deliver Obama’s invocation because of his support for Prop 8.

“[T]his decision further elevates someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans,” said Kolbert in a statement.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, in a letter to Obama, called for the invitation to Warren be rescinded.

“We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country.  And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends,” Solmonese said in the letter to the President-elect.

“But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.  Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.”

During the election campaign, Obama drew the ire of gay groups for choosing gospel singer Donnie McClurkin to appear at rallies targeting evangelical Christians.

McClurkin is an ardent supporter of the so-called ex-gay movement and has called homosexuality a choice that can be cured.

When opposition to McClurkin surfaced, Obama distanced himself from the singer’s views, but did not remove him from campaign appearances.

Obama has appointed one openly gay person to his administration. He selected Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

On the issues, Obama supports repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military; passage of the Mathew Shepard hate crime bill; and an inclusionary ENDA. He opposes same-sex marriage, but believes gay and lesbian couples should have many of the rights of marriage and supports repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.