That's right. The LGBT, historically Democratic, and a hug constituency for Senator Obama back in November, is now significantly upset with the line-up Obama and his staff have prepared for the 20th. The man who's making them grit their teeth is actually Rev. Rick Warren.
Rick Warren is an evangelical minister and best-selling author of the book "The Purpose Driven Life." The reason the LGBT Community hates him so much is because he was an outspoken critic of Proposition 8 and like many-to-most evangelicals, believes a gay lifestyle is wrong.
Of course, even if Obama knew that Warren was anti-LGBT (how could he not) he seems to be attempting to make up for this "insult" by including an entirely Gay marching band in the parade. Not only that, but Obama's included a pro-LGBT minister Rev. Joseph E. Lowery to close the inauguration. The columnist (see below) Joe Solomonese believes that this is equivalent to opening a ceremony with an Anti-Semite and closing with a Rabbi. Frankly, the LGBT Community (or at least this particular writer) has the wrong perspective.
Think about this: Barack Obama just came out of one of the most divisive elections in history. 90% of voters believed anyone was better than Bush, many believed Obama isn't experienced enough for the job, and most probably still do. Not only that, but the evangelical community (the Religious Right, or "Christian Conservatives" if you will) voted overwhelmingly against Obama, just as the group identifying themselves as Liberal voted overwhelmingly against McCain.
So what's Obama's choices: he can thumb his nose at the constituency that voted against him, like almost every other candidate in history has done. OR he can go with his original mantra of overcoming differences and going against the grain to try and come out of this election more united than were went into it. President-elect Obama isn't trying to put off the LGBT community, nor is he necessarily trying to appease the evangelical community.
It's more like this: take one person to represent every group bigger than 100,000 registered people in the country: Jews, Christians, KKK members, Gays, Trekkies, Pro-Lifers, Feminists, etc. and have Obama at the head of the table, he's not asking them to talk to each other, he more or less wants them to talk to HIM so that President Obama can do the juggling, instead of giving the balls to all the groups and saying, "Share." (That's what she said.)
On the other hand, it is more customary to appease constituencies that voted for you. It might be more productive for Obama to switch Lowery's and Warren's positions. Regardless, having an inaugural speech from a guy who's book is about God's purpose for your life... that's certainly something. There's no doubt about that.
The original story I read can be found here:
http://www.washingtonpost.
12/19/08
No comments:
Post a Comment