The Courage Campaign in California has invited Warren to participate in a public debate on same-sex marriage with Reverend Eric Lee, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) of Greater Los Angeles.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/...
I remember reading recently that Hillary Clinton has a saying about being able to sprout in a pile of manure. In other words, when circumstances seem like a downer make the best of it.
I would prefer that Rick Warren not say a prayer at Obama's inauguration although I can see some reasoning behind it, I think it is insensitive to the LGBT and progressive communities to give this guy such a visible role.
However, I also believe in praising Obama for promising the most tangible support to the LGBT community of any other president in history. He has promised to repeal DADT, DOMA, and he openly supports gay adoptions and civil unions. I commend him for hiring openly gay Nancy Sutley and even rumored to be gay, Janet Napolitano to be leaders in his administration.
President Bush recently admitted to failing to "change the tone" in Washington. Part of why he failed is because he shut out opposing view points, demonized people who disagreed with him and created an us vs. them mentality in the US. We are still facing PTSD from being ignored, shunned, and marginalized for the last eight years.
Obama promised to change the tone in Washington a lot during the primary and in the general election. He promised that he would represent all fifty states and reminded us to remember the gay people in red states. I cannot think of a major address that Obama has given that has not specifically included gays and lesbians in them.
I don't know if inviting someone to your inauguration who is intolerant and opposes a lot of your core principles is a horrible idea, but I do know it has not been done in such an explicit way before. I also know that no pastor as liberal and gay friendly as Lowery has ever spoken at an inauguration before.
Itzack Perlman is playing at the inauguration and he cut an ad against Prop 8 with his wonderful family. It would be a huge loss to the conservative world, if they discounted his musical talent for his personal beliefs and political partisanship.
Now, some of you may be thinking, Rick Warren does not bring anything so beautiful into this world, and maybe he doesn't, but a lot of people think he does. My Obama-loving, Prop 8-opposing sister is evangelical and she has been to Saddleback and spoken with Warren. She admires the work he has done on poverty, AIDs, etc. She thinks he has changed the conservative evangelical community drastically. Obviously there is still room for change ...
So in short ... I think the only thing we can all agree on is to sign the petition for Rick Warren to debate gay rights and gay marriage. Let's try to turn this poop pile into a flower. I am convinced the more Rick Warren talks about his views on gays and gay marriage the more it helps the cause.
Here is the linky: http://www.couragecampaign.org/...