The Purpose-Driven Inauguration

The maelstrom over the selection of Rick Warren to deliver the Invocation at President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration next month has set off a firestorm of anger throughout the LGBT rights world.  We posted about it here earlier this morning, but the issue is showing no signs of letting up.  Think the Obama administration touched a nerve on this one?

Here's a roundup of some of the best quotes we've seen on this issue, from some of the leading voices for LGBT rights.  Agree?  Disagree?  Offer your own words about what the selection of Warren means to you.

Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign: "[Rick Warren] was a general in the campaign to pass California's Proposition 8, which dissolved the legal marriage rights of loving, committed same-sex couples.  For that reason, inviting Warren to set the tone at the dawn of this new presidency sends a chilling message to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. It makes us uncertain about this exciting, young president-elect who has said repeatedly that we are part of his America, too."

Andrew Sullivan, Blogger/Writer, The Daily Dish: "[It's] shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now. He won't be as bad as the Clintons (who, among leading Democrats, could?), but pandering to Christianists at his inauguration is a depressing omen. More evidence that a civil rights movement needs to realize that no politician can deliver for us what we have to deliver on our own."

Hilary Rosen, Blogger/Writer, Huffington Post: "From what I gather, every gay person that paid attention to this felt like...we were kicked in the stomach.  This is just kind of outrageous that you would choose such a divisive figure to speak out in a blessed, prayerful moment...This is not a policy difference...this is about the way that Pastor Warren has used homosexuality as a weapon, used religion as a weapon to suggest that gay relationships are akin to incest and pedophilia.  That's the problem."

Michelle Goldberg, Author, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism: "Recently, Democrats have been much concerned with wooing religious voters, and with pushing back against the conservative calumny that they are a party hostile to faith. But the way for a progressive party to do that should be to enlarge the scope of discussion about morality in American life, not to pander to the same prejudices as the religious right. Democrats could foreground religious leaders who articulate the moral imperative of fighting poverty, torture and inequality. They don't need to get religion by becoming more hostile to gay people and to reproductive rights. Rather, they need to empower the many religious voices who support both."

Ezra Klein, Associate Editor, The American Prospect: "The going explanation for Warren's presence on the inauguration podium is that 'this aims to be the most open and inclusive inauguration in history,' as Linda Douglas, a spokeswoman for the inauguration committee, told Politico. It's a peculiar definition of 'open and inclusive.' Warren, after all, is the only preacher giving the invocation. He will not share the stage with a rabbi, an imam, a monk, and an episcopalian. And Warren is not being chosen because he himself is open and inclusive. He thinks abortion a 'holocaust' and urged his flock to vote for Prop 8. He compared gay marriage to incest and polygamy and pederasty, and when asked if he really thought those things 'equivalent to having gays getting married,' he replied, 'Oh, I do.'  The tolerance Obama is asking for, in other words, is not from Warren. It's from the LGBT community, and women. He is asking them to be tolerant of Warren's intolerance. It's a cruel play, framed to marginalize the legitimate anger of those who Warren harms and discriminates against."

Ann, Blogger/Writer @ Feministing.com: "Surely Obama could have found a non-bigoted religious leader to give the invocation. Warren, despite being considered a nicer-and-friendlier "new evangelical," equates same-sex marriage with incest, says Christians who work for social justice are basically Marxists, and is staunchly anti-choice.  So many pro-choicers, gay activists, and progressive Christians worked their asses off to elect Obama, which makes Obama's decision to give Warren a platform at the inauguration a real fuck-you. I can't even handle the irony that Warren's appearance will be immediately followed by Aretha singing Respect and Someday We'll All Be Free.

Kathryn Kolbert, President of People for the American Way: "Pastor Warren, while enjoying a reputation as a moderate based on his affable personality and his church's engagement on issues like AIDS in Africa, has said that the real difference between James Dobson and himself is one of tone rather than substance. He has recently compared marriage by loving and committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia. He has repeated the Religious Right's big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors. He has called Christians who advance a social gospel Marxists. He is adamantly opposed to women having a legal right to choose an abortion...Rick Warren gets plenty of attention through his books and media appearances. He doesn't need or deserve this position of honor. There is no shortage of religious leaders who reflect the values on which President-elect Obama campaigned and who are working to advance the common good."

Rick Jacobs, Chair, Courage Campaign: "It's a huge mistake.  He's really the wrong person to lead the president into office."

Sarah Posner, Author, God's Profits and Writer for The FundamentaLIST: "Warren represents the absolute worst of the Democrats' religious outreach, a right-winger masquerading as a do-gooder anointed as the arbiter of what it means to be faithful. Obama's religious outreach was intended, supposedly, to make religious voters more comfortable with him and feel included in the Democratic Party. But that outreach now has come at the expense of other people's comfort and inclusion, at an event meant to mark a turning point away from divisive politics."

Pam Spaulding, Blogger/Writer, Pam's House Blend: "This selection is clearly not about 'change' -- it's about making a high profile decision to give the stage over to a known homophobe...There is no excuse for this, given there are so many leaders of the faith community out there that are in alignment with equality for all"