Letter to Pres-Elect Obama on Choice of Rev. Rick Warren
Dear President-elect Obama -
Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. 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. 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.
Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, 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." Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today.
Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on. Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.
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.
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.
Sincerely,
Joe Solmonese
President
Human Rights Campaign
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I agree there are very strong reasons to choose Rick Warren for your inauguration. He's intelligent, wise, funny, and quite open-minded. He chooses to discuss the values of love, maturity, kindness and service at every opportunity. In his defense, if anyone's lifetime of beliefs and statements were held up to a microscope, few of us would look better than Mr. Warren.
At the same time, gay people and their supporters, i.e. the people who elected you, are rightfully offended by things he believes and says. Having a homophobe at your inauguration comes at a particularly bad time, because of the election loss in California. It's not OK in the USA to say blacks are inferior, not OK to say women should have fewer rights, but it is still OK to say homosexuality is worse than heterosexuality, and gays should be limited.
We elected you to help create a United States where homosexuality is just another color in our rainbow. Keep Mr. Warrren for the inauguration, but be clear that when the Constitution states "all men are created equal," that means gay men and women too. Be clear you will not tolerate sexual orientation prejudice, and say we must allow gays to marry.