The gay community is furious at Obama’s choice for the invocation speaker at his inauguration.
The selectee in question, Rick Warren, is a Southern California pastor who, while known for his liberal views on issues of poverty and economics, supports California’s ban on gay marriage. The gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community highly favored Obama in the presidential election, and is now outraged that Obama associate himself publicly with someone who has different views from himself. Obama has responded to questions regarding Warren’s selection by saying that America is a nation of varying viewpoints and that the diversity of stances at his inauguration should reflect this; an open dialogue and eventual compromise cannot be achieved unless we listen to and try to understand each other.
“It’s a huge mistake,” says California gay rights activist Rick Jacobs, who shares more names with the pastor in question than social views. Since it is clear that the GLBT community is frustrated by the hindrance of the movement’s progress at the hands of California voters who passed Proposition 8, many interpret the fury with the president-elect’s choice as venting, which normally takes the form of a long night of apple-tinis and hard dancing.
Obama has dealt with many attacks on his stances since he won the election, primarily from liberals expecting him to carry out drastic, left-leaning reform. Many failed to see that Obama’s focus would remain on productive reform for the nation as a whole rather than simply pushing forward items on the liberal agenda. Obama’s choice of Rick Warren as his inaugural speaker might remind Americans of this, and while it may piss off the liberals, it is refreshing for the conservatives, who were way more pissed off that they lost, allowing us to reach the equilibrium: a population that is moderately happy, slightly upset, very anxious, and in the habit of quelling anxiety by over-consuming.
Buddy Up