Moments after
Barack Obama's team announced antigay, conservative
Reverend Rick Warren had been selected to deliver the
invocation at the president-elect's inauguration in
January, progressives and LGBTs lit up the Web with
outrage. Even die-hard Obama supporters are suggesting the
president has damaged his relationship with LGBTs before he
even takes office.
When Barack
Obama's team announced that antigay, conservative Reverend
Rick Warren had been selected to deliver the invocation at
his inauguration in January, progressives and LGBTs
immediately took to the Web with demands Obama rescind
his decision. A day after the announcement, the
founder and senior pastor of California's Saddleback
Church -- a vocal supporter of Prop. 8 -- is all anyone in
progressive media seems to be talking about.
Moments after the
announcement was made, The
Huffington Post went wild with op-eds calling
for Obama to remove Warren from the inauguration.
The Human Rights Campaign sent a letter
to President-elect Obama Wednesday expressing their
disappointment in the selection of Warren.
“Our loss
in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which
stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their
given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our
community has faced in 40 years,” the letter reads.
“And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration,
you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at
your table.”
Equality California followed with an
e-mail blast to supporters with a petition calling on
Obama to "immediately rescind this despicable
invitation."
AmericaBlog's John Aravosis put it
perhaps most simply: "Picking Rick Warren to give THE
invocation is abominable."
Even ardent Obama
supporters seem to be up in arms. Progressive radio
talk-show host Stephanie Miller -- an Obama
supporter from day one -- took issue with the
decision, saying he could have made a better choice.
She told callers this morning that in light of eight years
of a Bush administration and the passing of Prop. 8,
having Warren deliver the invocation felt like a big
slap in the face.
Anderson Cooper 360 devoted a segment to the outrage
from progressives following the announcement. An Obama
spokeswoman told Cooper that "while the
president-elect disagrees with Warren on gay rights
issues, he wants this to be the most inclusive inauguration
ever."
Early in his
campaign, Obama ran up against criticism from LGBT Americans
for his inclusion of antigay political figures in his faith
tour and on campaign stops. “Reformed
gay” gospel singer Donnie McClurkin performed
at an early event for Obama, drawing jeers from LGBT
activists.
McClurkin has
long claimed that God saved him from homosexuality.
Weeks later, the
press latched on to Obama's friendship with antigay
minister James Meeks, from whom Obama had long claimed to
seek regular "spiritual counsel." This association led
a number of on-the-fence LGBT voters to rally behind
Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
The HRC’s
letter to Obama goes on to say, "Rev. Warren spoke out
vocally in support of Prop. 8 in California saying, 'there
is no need to change the universal, historical
definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our
population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a
moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.'" (Ross von
Metzke, Advocate.com)
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