Asterisk

There’s a video of Rick Warren making the rounds. The furthest back I can find it is Think Progress. The video is from an interview Warren did with Dateline set to air this Friday night. I don’t have much to say about it because I’m not sure there’s anything more to say.

He thinks serving water and Krispy Kremes makes his attitude about civil rights okay. He keeps bringing up all these gay friends he has (who can’t fucking believe what they’re hearing, by the way) who he congratulates himself for having. (See? I’m touching a filthy sinner! SEE? I’M JUST LIKE JESUS!!!) He has this notion that working with AIDS patients means he gets to discriminate against The Ho-mo-SEK-shals.

But Rick, none of that makes your silly 5,000 year argument true, and none of it makes it okay to laugh off the idea of treating another human being as a fellow human being. You horrible, horrible man.

h/t to Good As You and many others.

The Raw Story is reporting that in a press conference this morning, President-elect Obama defended the choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. The transcript of his comments are below the video (skip to about 2:30).

I think that it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans. It is something that I have been consistent on and something that I intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency. What I’ve also said is that it’s important for Americans to come together even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues and I would note that a couple of years ago I was invited to Rick Warren’s church to speak despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely contrary to his when it came to gay an lesbian rights, when it came to issues like abortion.

Nevertheless, I had an opportunity to speak and that dialog is part of what my campaign has been all about. We’re not going to agree on every single issue but what we have to do is be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable and focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans. Rick Warren has been invited to speak. Dr. Joseph Lowry who has deeply contrasting views to Rick Warren on a whole host of issues is also speaking.

During the course of the entire inaugural festivities there is going to be a wide range to viewpoints that are going to be presented. And that’s how it should be because that’s what America is about. Part of the magic of this country is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated and that’s the spirit we have put together what I think will be a terrific inauguration that’s hopefully going to be a spirit that carries over into my administration.

This is so frustrating. This is not the action of a “fierce advocate”. As others have pointed out, we certainly wouldn’t have given George Wallace the stage just to get a balance of views as black people were abused in the 1950s. An anti-Semite wouldn’t be invited to represent a differing opinion to a Rabbi.

Likewise, a homophobic bigot like Rick Warren shouldn’t be offered the national stage to make sure the homophobes have a representative on the dais.

This is a horrible misstep, one that should demonstrate for the LGBT community that we still don’t have a friend in the White House. I’m not suggesting that Bishop Gene Robinson should have been asked (though that would have been tremendous), but there must be better candidates than one who just two days ago gleefully compared me to a rapist.

Mr. Obama, there’s still time to correct this. Senators and Representatives on the Inauguration Committee, there’s still time to fix the mess you’ve made.

You have 34 days until this becomes the first blemish on your presidency.

According to a press release from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, noted homophobe and warmonger apologist Rick Warren will be giving the invocation at President-elect Obama’s inauguration.

To say this makes me unhappy would be an understatement of near-criminal proportions. Since I posted about Warren’s medal of peace for GWB and his outright homophobia earlier this month, old Rick has been busy. He agreed with Sean Hannity that we should kill Iranian President Ahmadinejad, adding that the Bible gives the green light for it.

Then there’s the Beliefnet interview released yesterday afternoon. The Box Turtle Bulletin has the full transcript from the interview. Here’s an excerpt:

Rick Warren: But the issue to me is, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to the redefinition of a 5,000-year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.

Steven Waldman: Do you think, though, that they are equivalent to having gays getting married?

Rick Warren: Oh I do. Most people, you know… I have many gay friends, I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes, no church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church. Kay and I have given millions of dollars out of “A Purpose-Driven Life” helping people who got AIDS through gay relationships. So they can’t accuse me of homophobia. I just don’t believe in the re-definition of marriage.

Okay, Rick? Mr. Warren? YES WE CAN. Comparing the relationship between two gay/lesbian adults to child molestation MEANS YOU ARE A HOMOPHOBE. It doesn’t matter how many gay friends you think you have or what kind of food they served you or what kind of polite face you put on while you made yourself touch The Homosexuals who have AIDS. You. Are. A. Bigot. Your words have given you away.

Also, as I’m pretty sure I’ve said before, the 5,000 year definition of marriage is a LIE. Take half a second to think about it and you’ll realize that it hasn’t even been 50 years since the US government last changed the definition of marriage.

And now the committee in charge of the inauguration wants him to share a dais with Barack Obama? Seriously?

If you would like to contact the members of the committee (and you would) to ask them to reconsider their horrible decision, use the links below. Feel free to link them to my rage if you want. Or don’t. Just please, speak out and help correct this shockingly bad choice.

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Diane Feinstein
Sen. Harry Reid
Sen. Bob Bennett
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Steny Hoyer
Rep. John Boehner

One more email address (I totally stole it from the aforementioned Box Turtle Bulletin) is for Parrag Mehta , President-Elect Obama’s LGBT liason on the transition team.

Jose Sucuzhañay, Brooklyn businessman, husband, and father of two, has been taken off life support. Doctors declared him brain dead yesterday, the victim of an anti-Latino, anti-gay attack half a block from Sucuzhañay’s home.

Jose and his 38-year-old brother, Romel, who was visiting from Ecuador, had been drinking at a church party and then a Mexican restaurant and were holding onto each other as they stumbled home along Bushwick Ave. at 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

According to a witness who was parking his car nearby, a maroon SUV pulled up alongside the brothers and a man inside yelled, “Check out those faggots over there.” [note: Neither brother is gay.]

The surviving brother told police he didn’t hear that remark but that he heard one of them yell, “Fuck you, Spanish people.”

Witnesses said the three men got out of the SUV and set upon the siblings. One hit Jose Sucuzhañay in the head with a glass bottle, dropping him to the sidewalk.

The SUV driver battered the defenseless man’s head with an aluminum baseball bat, witnesses said, while the others kicked and punched both brothers.

Joe.My.God reports that there will be a candlelight vigil Sunday night at 8:00 at the scene of the murder. Police have released a sketch of one of the attackers and are offering a reward. Details here.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has vowed to fight xenophobia and homophobia, saying in part, “We will fight together … to forever uproot these aberrations of certain maladjusted [individuals], uproot them from the face of the earth, from humanity: Xenophobia, homophobia and all kinds of discrimination, all kinds of violence.”

I heard about Day Without A Gay last month, right before the protests across the country. Early on, I admonished people who were wishy-washy about calling in gay. Now on the day before the event I’m backing out, and I’m not sure if that qualifies me as a hypocrite.

The basic idea is for LGBT folks to not work at their jobs tomorrow and instead do community service. Day Without A Gay is the brainchild of Sean Hetherington and Aaron Hartzler, a couple in Los Angeles.

The reason I won’t be participating is…Well, this event is built for places with large gay communities. Can you imagine coming to work tomorrow in San Diego and finding everyone from one minority group missing? Same with universities; I’d imagine that this will be a major success there too. Or how about all the charity work that’s scheduled to be done tomorrow (in part two of the plan, which many media reports are downplaying)? The army of gays donating their time and talents will have a HUGE impact.

Organized by Sean Hetherington and Aaron Hartzler. Thanks, guys.

But I live in the country, and there’s no focused gay community to speak of in any of the towns or cities within at least an hour’s drive. I’m probably the only fag within at least a few square miles of my house, and in the protests in November, there were less than 1,000 participants in all of Ohio. (No wonder so many people move to Southern California after they come out!)

As far as work goes, I’m the only out person in our office, and while I could take off, would there be any real impact? Seriously, I doubt anybody would notice I was gone, let alone make the connection to a protest.

It’s not that I think this is a bad idea. Quite the contrary, this is the kind of imaginative leadership the LGBT community needs. It’s just that built on the assumption of a larger local community that just doesn’t exist here.

So tomorrow, I’ll be at work with all the breeders. Please, if you’re in an area where this can make an impact, call in gay for me. I’ll keep plugging along here on the blog and doing what I can in my life.

Thanks to the Sean and Aaron for dreaming this up. You’re a great example for the next generation of gay rights organizers.