As a gay man, I feel hurt and upset by Obama's inviting evangelist Rick Warren to speak at the Inauguration.
During the presidential campaign, I thought a lot about how as the Bush years went on, and the rest of the world thought less and less well of us and we seemed to manufacture almost nothing. I wondered if this was the waning of America, the beginning of our losing what was great about us. The fall of the Roman Empire, but now us.
And I felt that if McCain/Palin had been elected, the downfall would continue for certain.
Obama being elected was, and still is, the best hope that our country can refind our values. And finally address global warming, that was ignored the last 8 years, etc. etc., with the other 20 serious, serious problems we face.
But now Obama has invited anti-gay Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration.
And Mr. Warren is profoundly Old School about homosexuality -- he thinks it is a sin, which he bases on his belief on passages in the Bible. There are also passages in the Bible that support slavery; is it time to send Barack and Michelle back to the cotton fields? That feels rude to say, but my point is, just because something is in the Bible is not a reason to accept it; you have to analyze it and figure out if it's part of the Bible that was written centuries ago from a different, less mentally evolved state.
Anyway, for a gay person such as myself who has been an enthusiastic Obama supporter, this is a depressing, saddening, infuriating choice for his first day in office.
I get he's trying to reach across the aisle. And I gather Mr. Warren is good on the environment and on AIDS in Africa (having been unengaged by the issue, I've read, years ago when it was primarily in the gay population).
Obama may be a visionary about not demonizing people he disagrees with.
Hillary said a few things during the primary fight I would find hard to forgive (praising McCain as potential commander-in-chief, saying Obama had "one speech"); and yet he truly seems to value her, and he's invited her to work with him. (I admire, too, how Ms. Clinton overcame her understandable disappointment and truly campaigned for Obama.)
So on some level I'm trying to be open to the "we must talk to those we don't agree with" idea. It does seem the only way to get something done.
Still this is the first event of his presidency, and gay people's feelings seem so easily sacrificed by Obama.
Imagine if there was a fairly accomplished minister somewhere who had some good opinions on the environment and did some other good things, but he also just firmly believed that African Americans were inferior beings, that their brains were simply smaller or something. But lots of other things were good about him.
Would Obama invite him to the Inauguration? I doubt it. And I don't think he should. Maybe talk with him over coffee if you want to try to find common ground, but invite him to this celebration of Obama's election?
It feels similar to me, this inviting of Warren. Really leaves the gay people feeling not much like celebrating.
Sigh.
So over the past days I have felt angry at Obama. And then sad. And now blank. And I worry if he's up to the task of all the problems the country and the world have. He looked exhausted at the last press conference he appeared at -- though who can blame him? The economy is terrifying, and it's really not clear what should be done. My blink is a massive government-supported stimulus program that creates useful jobs (and ready-to-go jobs) is our best hope, as he and his advisers seem to think. But I don't think anybody knows for sure.
Still Obama's remains our best hope for the country... and that's how it is.
I hope he will open himself to overcoming some of what I suspect are prejudices and sloppy reasoning he has gleaned from his Christian religious training. I say that having been raised Catholic, and having to work hard to overcome the guilt and negative assumptions I was indoctrinated with about being gay as I went through 12 years of Catholic schooling.
I mean, when you're gay, you have to think about all those religious teachings, and decide if they're correct or just the passed-down-through-centuries misunderstandings and demonizations of people.
When you're not gay -- like Obama -- you don't have to think about that issue so much, you don't have to analyze all those institutionalized prejudices and illogic. And if you think gay people "choose" it, you really are not thinking very hard or thinking with empathy.
So my kindest thoughts -- with hurt and resentment put aside -- is that President-Elect Obama will think about the Christian teachings he has accepted on gay people. And remember all the nutty things that are in the Bible (put adulterers to death, put homosexuals to death, don't eat food from animals with cloven hoofs), and think through if Bible teaching on gay people is in any way core to the teachings of Christ; and if it belongs in the same discard pile as does the Bible's "slave, obey your master."
Sigh.
As a Canadian, let me offer this... MANY Canadians went down to volunteer for Obama. After 8 years of Bush, he does represent a lot of hope for many people - myself included as world citizen. I feel very sad that U.S. politics tend to be much more polarized than Canada's, and that is affecting your collective psyche as a nation. I hear so much hurt and anger here.
I totally disagree with this choice. But again, I think the LGBT community needs to focus on the bigger picture. Your country is at a crossroads. Be strategic and pick your battles. There are a lot of people here who say the community is "whining," etc. etc. That's not a good position to be in at a time when you need more allies. I'd rather devote my energies to a time when policy and laws will really impact my life. I've had to hold my nose and vote for our Liberal party despite some real right-wing nut jobs who have been part of our government. But thankfully, they never really had an impact on government policy and decision-making. Likewise, this Warren guy is not part of his administration.
Also,the GLBT community REALLY needs to reframe their civil rights debate and stop comparing their struggle to those of Blacks. While there are some similariities, it's nowhere near the same thing. This is why so many Blacks voted against Prop 8, because many found the argument offensive. Gay people have NEVER been enslaved, nor have they had to endure Black Codes, Jim Crow, lynching, family's being dismantled because of systemic discrimination, etc...simply because of the color of your skin. If you want to win this equal and civil rights debate, then frame it and claim it AS YOUR OWN.
Look I'm not gay and not African American. That does not stop me from empathising with both groups and being enraged and the bigotry and hatred spewed out against them. I don't like Warren's views on GLBT any more than the rest of you. He is not only opposed to gay marriage but has seriously 19 century retrograde views on the subject!
However just understand that Obama means exactly what he said when "we should learn to disagree without being disagreeable" and "we must foster what unites us rather than what divides us". We liberals are being given our first test of this new reality. For Obama the cup is always half full. He wants to reward Warren's actions on poverty and global warming - issues given far too little attention in the mad right world.
While upset, for me the proof of the pudding is what Obama actually DOES when HE IS IN OFFICE. Just give him a chance rather than condemning him by association. Obama has repeatedly said that he does not agree with Warren's views on GLBT matters and has made his own views pretty clear.
I should have been thrilled and joyous to vote for the first African-American presidential candidate who actually could win.
Rev. James Meeks and Donny McClurkin robbed me of this opportunity by making it impossible for me to vote for their patron, Barack Obama.
The most infuriating part of this is that after McClurkin, Obama had to know that he would be slapping gays and lesbians by choosing Rick Warren to give the invocation.
For me, Obama has demonstrated a meagerness of spirit and that he doesn't support equal civil and human rights for all people.
My husband and I are now making plans to go to DC for the inauguration so that we can participate in the protests against Mr. Obama.
Perhaps, he'll do something that tells me his heart has opened up and I will be able to support him for re-election. Getting rid of Warren and James Meeks would be a step in the correct direction.
Now, do you see and hear straight people complaining about that choice? Why is it that gay people want to dictate to America what we should believe in? In your minds, it was wrong to invite Rick Warren but right to invite Rev. Lowry!
This is why many of us in America are becoming very impatient with the gay community. You guys think you can control our convictions, values, and principles, and we're fed up with it! I am glad for Rick Warren as he is a Man of God, and God has used him down through the years to impact people's lives for God's glory!
For the gay commmunity's feelings about this selection my word to you is GET OVER IT!
"getting fed up" with people demanding equal rights doesn't say anything good about you.
Show me where Rev. Lowery opposes equal civil and human rights for any group of people and I will decry his inclusion as well.
Yes, Obama can invite anyone he chooses to invite. He could have invited Brittany Spears, Marilyn Manson, Charles Manson, or Matthew Hale. That doesn't mean we don't have a right to criticize Mr. Obama when he commits an effrontery to human and civil rights.
By the way, I'm a 58 year-old grandmother. My husband of 27 years and our grandchildren won't "get over it" until all people have human and civil rights, either.
I'm a 58 year-old lifelong Democrat and grandmother. I've been married to my husband for 37 years, have voted in every federal and state election since 1970. I have never voted for a Republican, although I did go to Georgia to campaign for Republican Bo Callaway for Georgia governor when he ran against the Democratic Party nominee, Lester "Axe Handle" Maddox who ran on a segregationist platform.
That is, until this election. I stayed home and didn't vote as a protest against the nomination of Barack Obama. (I will say that I had the luxury of doing this because in Texas, Obama had no chance of winning.) I simply couldn't vote for Obama after the Donny McClurkin business and Obama's spiritual advisor, Rev. James Meeks, nor could I vote for McCain. Had I voted, it would have been for Cynthia McKinney.
Why? After all, I'm heterosexual and I don't have any gay or lesbian children and I have worked my entire life to advance civil and human rights for all people. I voted for Jessie Jackson when he ran for the Democratic nomination and supported Al Sharpton in the 2004 Democratic Primary.
CONTINUED IN PART TWO
To and several others, I can only say: Thanks for some great posts.
To and several others, I can only say: "If it looks, walks and sounds like a duck, it''s most probably -- a duck!
In other words, according to Warren:
Homosexual relationships = AIDS
It is time for an attitude adjustment. Political correctness has helped us eliminate the Ku Klux Klan language from out lives and that was a great step forward. But it also insists that we tolerant bigots, ignorance, and we have even been cowed into accepting assaults on the very foundation of our scientific discoveries and our American ideals.
It is high time for zero tolerance of such mind boggling corruption. I have a crush on Obama but he is wrong in this instance in giving a man like Warren a public venue and the opportunity to be a symbol of good religious instincts for all the world to see.
This Country has been brought to it's knees by tolerating the crimes of governing by ideology and the attacks on reason that Warren represents. It's time to turn the other cheek.
When the US is fighting for its life as it is now, why would you vote for a man who supported the ruinous Bush policies for reasons of his own and his running mate who doesn't have a very good track record on gay rights either or any good record on anything for that matter?
I would have loved it if we could have elected a totally secular candidate but that seems out of the question in the United States. So we have Obama who is a "good Christian" but who seems to have had endless problems with pastors.
Religion seems to have done very little good for anyone so let us hold our collective noses when Rick gives his invocation on January 20th and hope that the Obama administration can better cope with reality than the current one!
We need to let this go now. If Warren were to be yanked at this point just imagine the spectacle of all those riled up homophobes and fundamentalists picketing the inauguration and the conflation in the media who are always eager to escalate this kind of discontent. It would just give them a cause. And that could get really ugly and keep us bogged down for a long waste of time.
Who is even going to remember this blip on January 21st?
If we let this minor offense go and just plug our ears when Rick Warren does his blah blah blah we will always have it for leverage later when bigger issues affecting our community come up: "We let you slide on the inauguration, Mr. President, but now we need you to make good on your commitment to support us on [our civil rights issues, for example]."
Wouldn't this would be the adult thing to do?
I would have much rather had Obama invite Jeremiah Wright. From what I understand Wright invited Gay people into his church and was a supporter of Gay rights. Of course Wright is a lightning rod for controversey and doesn't have the same influence both political and monetary that Warren has, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with Obama's selection.
I think many of you are writing Obama off way too quickly. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater! He spoke about inclusion of all different kinds of people, even when you disagree with them. And Obama is not going to give this guy a cabinet position. You think Rick Warren is going to get up there and rant about gays? I don't think so.
I think a little perspective is needed here as well. We have an economic melt down in progress, two wars, terrible health care, and a climate crisis. Personally I think global warming is THE BIGGEST problem our nation and the world is facing right now. The scientists say we have only 6 years to globally begin reducing CO2 or we will reach irreversible runaway climate change with catastrophic consequences. Without a healthy planet there is no room for any of the other issues to be resolved. Please get over this 2 minute speech.
Obama seems to have a problem with pastors, doesn't he? Best to leave this issue OUT of this historic INAUGURAL.