Am I the only gay rights supporter who DOESN'T care about Rick Warren??
I had a neighborhood friend who came out to me in Jr. High. In college, one of my former roommates and several of my closest friends came out to me. After college I went to one of my college friends' commitment ceremony in Topiary Park in Columbus. I voted against Ohio's constitutional amendment banning even the possibility of gay marriage in the future.
I shouldn't have to mention these things, but whenever you talk about identity politics in which you're, at best, only an honorary member of a segment of society, a progressive almost feels compelled to put their bona fides out there to innoculate themselves from charges that their statements are because they don't share the values of the group or whatever.
That being said, I don't understand why the gay community is all up in arms because President-elect Obama has asked Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inaugural. Sometimes symbolism can be overblown. Having Warren give the invocation doesn't mean its a "clarion call" for a hostile administration for the gay and lesbian community.
That's nonsense (sorry, Rachel Maddow, but it is). Obama isn't appointing Warren to a government position dealing with gay and lesbian community issues. He isn't appointing him to advise him on gay marriage. He's asking him to do what a Pastor does.... pray for him and the country.
If the gay and lesbian community truly believes that this means that they don't have a place at the table, then they apparently had a fundamental misunderstanding of exactly what kind of "table" they were being offered access to under an Obama Administration. It was never a table for two, nor was it one where the Rick Warrens of the world would be asked to leave in Obama's promised post-partisan political world where issues are discussed and debated in a transparent way involving all interested parties, instead under the myopia of the partisan lens.
The gay and lesbian community has no reason, none, to believe that they had earned an exclusive place at the table where they're position on issues were beyond debate or skepticism. Nor should the gay and lesbian community express surprise that Obama would pick a minister who is "against gay marriage." While I little doubt that Obama would not use the inflammatory reasons Pastor Warren uses in discussing the issue, the reality is that this Administration has stated publicly (including Joe Biden) that they do not support gay marriage. What the community is objecting to is Warren's active vocal opposition to an issue the community has been perfectly willing to tolerate Obama's passive silence. And that's a hard position to defend.
The inauguration of a President is a governmental act, not a partisan one. I welcome a ceremony that reminds everyone that President-elect Obama will be the President of the United States of America, and not the Democratic citizens of America. After all, post-partisanship politics doesn't just cut against the Republicans. It's a double-edged bipartisan sword.
The gay and lesbian community is overblowing the symbolism of this moment to suggest something that simply isn't true. People criticized Ricky Martin's dancing with President Bush because he shouldn't of aided the Republican outreach to the Latino community. But in the end, how well did that symbolism bear out?
The gay and lesbian community has made amazing strides for social acceptance and recognition in the past 18 years alone. Sometimes, I wonder if my generation in the community don't fully appreciate how much this generation has changed things that were unimagineable a generation ago. But there are still Rick Warrens in Barack Obama's America. And they have just as much right to pray for his success as anyone else.
Pelikan
www.clipsandcomment.com
Pelikan
www.clipsandcomment.com
Because remember that this is always possible, always - no matter who reaches out to whom or symbolizes what.ever:
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
The poem was written by a Lutheran Pastor, Martin Niemoller from Germany who lived through WWII, including time at Dachau.
(I couldn't figure out how to format it back the way it was as a poem.)
It's fine to say you want to see where this thing leads, but that does not preclude raising the red flags. Obama obviously not only can handle it but clearly made a calculated move to not care about it either, or so it would seem. He'll have to live with Rick Warren, and that knowledge of this trade-off.
Let's see where it leads.
But regardless, Warren makes the comparison all on his own: he says that abortion is analogous to the Holocaust:
And it goes on if you go and read that item (which actually favors or gives Warren the benefit of the doubt).
Two million Californians voted for Obama and for Proposition 8. Obama won California by 3.25 million votes, so if all the Prop 8 supporters had gone against Obama, he would not be moving into the White House. (I know this assumes that some Prop 8 supporters in other states voted for Obama as well).
To think that Obama would never share a stage with someone who voted for him and for Prop 8 is simply not realistic.
As for the other issue, I am pretty sure that Rick Warren would not compare Prop 8's passing to the Holocaust.
Actually, I am even surprised that he's against gay marriage. There are plenty of Evangelicals who think that the government should only get involved in issues that relating to the principles of justice and equality, which can be observed from creation, and not those that come only in the Bible, which isn't accepted by all.
I agree that Dr. Warren giving the invocation is not the end of life as we know it but it is a poorly chosen symbol. Obama made a mistake. It is as if he decided to include the Confederate flag in the trappings around the podium because he wants to "reach" out to racists.
Warren in a TV interview compared gay marriage to incest and pedophilia and his church refuses to allow membership to anyone who is gay who doesn't renounce their homosexuality.
http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dce1ILmS5yMo
Obama also doesn't support gay marriage but he doesn't think it is the same as incest or pedophilia. Warren could have given a prayer at the luncheon held after the swearing in or at some other event just not the most important one and in a prime spot.
I'd much prefer that there be no religious symbolism at all in the inaugural, I mean Obama is going to be the President of the United States of America and having ministers pray at the even leaves out the 29 million non-believers in this country.
we shouldn't leave out the 29 million nonbelievers. We should leave out the believers, who are merely 277 million, including the one being inaugurated.
There also shouldn't be any music, lest we leave out some of the 2 million deaf US citizens.
Neutrality means if you can't include everyone then include none of them.
All that is required to swear in the President is the oath - which doesn't actually have the phrase "so help me God" since our government isn't suppose to have a religious test.
But I know that I am just wishing of a land of candy canes and sugar because believers control everything and see nothing wrong with giving a theistic prayer at a government event - a secular government event at that.