Apparently, Rick Warren, über evangelical, had to support prop 8 because of his OWN free speech. No kidding.
He says:
if that [Prop 8] did not pass, then any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn’t think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships. And that would be hate speech. To me, we should have freedom of speech.
The Box Turtle Bulletin rebuts this:
This is unadulterated nonsense. First, a civil marriage law does nothing to impinge on what a pastor can preach. Divorce is very common, but you can waive all the divorce decrees and new marriage licences in front of a Catholic priest’s face and he’s not going to marry anyone unless the Vatican has granted an annulment....
And what if it were considered hate speech? No problem there either because in the United States, hate speech is not against the law. And it can never be against the law as long as the First Amendment is in effect.....
I suspect Rev. Warren knows that. But he’d rather stoke the paranoia of his fellow evangelicals than actually discuss the issue "in a civil way."
I love the delicious irony that Warren and the Catholic apologist Bishops and the head of the Mormons and Pat Boone are all scolding the gay community about our protests, with Seamus Hasson and Pat Boone calling OUR peaceful demonstrations "Terrorism", but this is all about free speech for THEM.
Meanwhile, I am dismayed that Obama has reportedly chosen Warren for an "invocation" for the inauguration. As Andrew Sullivan writes,
Warren is a man who believes my marriage removes his freedom of speech and cannot say that authorizing torture is a moral failing. ... if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now. ... pandering to Christianists at his inauguration is a depressing omen.
I don't often agree with Sullivan, but I do on this. I don't think a secular society should have a invocation anyway. In the meantime, having an invocation from a hate-filled evangelical who lobbies against my equal rights tells me that I'm still nothing in this country, unwelcome, and unwanted. Maybe someday I'll live in a country where I don't feel rejected for my faith beliefs OR my sexuality.
Obama is doing just the same thing to the GLBT community as the RC bishops: telling us to shut up and sit down. (But keep writing those checks.....!)