Gay Marriage: Today

Following the sad passage of Proposition 8 in California last month, gay marriage has been in the news a lot lately. Newsweek magazine did a cover story on the spiritual reasons why gay marriage should be welcomed. The magazine then followed up on-line with responses to the article by experts in the field. And just this week, President-elect Obama invited the Rev. Rick Warren, a evangelical pastor from Orange County, California, to give the prayer at his inauguration. Warren is vehemently opposed to gay marriage and was one of the key backers of Proposition 8.

Obama is taking a lot of heat for this selection and justly so. While Warren has a commendable track record on the issue of fighting poverty -- unlike most well-known pastors in America -- his anti-gay stance is completely immoral. The President-elect defended his selection when the outcry against it came by saying that his would be an administration of inclusion, where all sides of a story would be welcome, thus helping America to come together. While I can support this in principle, it rings false to me here. Surely there were other pastors that would have been acceptable to the religious right who would also not have been key supporters of Propositon 8... and perhaps who were not publicly anti-gay. How can a choice truly be inclusive when the man being chosen is so radically exclusive?

Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, wrote a letter to Obama that was later published. It sums up the situation and the hurt pretty well.

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

There have been plenty of op-eds on the subject as well. These include those by Chris Durang, Trey Ellis, Morra Aarons-Mele, Phil Bronstein, and Barney Frank.

Also, the HRC is inviting folks to thank Newsweek for covering the topic of gay marriage in a thoughtful, open manner. You can find their call for action here.

19 December 2008