Rick Warren to Deliver Invocation at Inauguration

[Zerbie]

I've been planning to write to Obama and the transition team about this issue. The point isn't to vent - the point is to educate.

As I posted elsewhere a while ago, I believe Obama is, in a sense, unaware of what Warren's positions/actions re LGBT people really mean for LGBT Americans and their families. In that sense, I think he is innocent of mal-intent. But his claim of being a 'fierce' advocate for equal rights is far from accurate. He's more of a 'sort-of' advocate for equality. That's a lot better than we have had, but it's not enough, and the current furor over Warren is a great opportunity to approach him with information and personal stories.

He will be busy with the economy, climate change, international policy, and that's as it should be. But the downside is that he won't make time to consider LGBT issues in depth and take positive action unless he is pressed to do so. Which makes the pressing our job.

In addition to offering information and personal testimonies, how about we get some grassroots organizing going and visible around the nation? I liked the Join the Impact national events and it will only make sense to continue the likes of those national marches and demonstrations. The more we keep visible, the more we keep opening the doors to real conversations about the issues, (real conversations, rather than sound byte baloney.)

[u-dog]

I will commit to contacting Obama and his transition team to express my concern and dismay over the choice of Warren. I will contact selected democratic reps and senators to express my hope that issues of social justice for GLBT folks will not be shuffled to the bottom of the deck. I will research and (probably) support Soulforce and HRC efforts to get and keep the new president's active attention on issues important to GLBT citizens.

I will have contacted Obama, his transition team by Monday morning and researched HRC's and Soulforce's recommendations by a week from today. I will correspond with lawmakers during the month of January.

[Daniel]

I believe we need a many pronged effort, one that is collective as well as individual.

[scrupulous_stoic]

What if we were to make this movement global? Contact organizations in countries that allow gay marriage, such as Canada and the Netherlands, and have this go international. America itself would have not existed without foreign assistance. Perhaps a global perspective can help us organize and orchestrate.

[Rick336]

I saw Rick Warren in an interview on NBC just before Christmas. I'm not buying that this dude is heterosexual.

Rick

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by scrupulous_stoic

What if we were to make this movement global? Contact organizations in countries that allow gay marriage, such as Canada and the Netherlands, and have this go international. America itself would have not existed without foreign assistance. Perhaps a global perspective can help us organize and orchestrate.

Well, I have no idea how to go about doing that (if you do, please get busy!). But how about we strive to make this movement NATIONAL?

Let's make sure that we keep the coordinated national actions going. Is Join the Impact still going? We can all stay on board with their projects, if so.

Otherwise, I'm happy to share what I know is going on grassroots-wise in Phoenix for organizers in other cities/states who would like to get on board with their own versions of our events. For instance, organizers in Phoenix are planning a demonstration in front of the state capitol days before the session begins, to make our case for equality. It's being billed as a DOMA protest -- designed to raise awareness of the need for equal recognition in marriage.

Who among y'all is able and willing to organize a similar visibility demonstration in your area?

Sign me up to contact Obama and the transition team RE: Warren. I'm also signed up to participate in some of our local organizing events this month.

[Matt Algren]

email addresses for the Inauguration Committee, cribbed from my very own blog. (Like I wouldn't try to get a plug in!)

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Diane Feinstein
Sen. Harry Reid
Sen. Bob Bennett
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Steny Hoyer
Rep. John Boehner

One more email address (I totally stole it from the aforementioned Box Turtle Bulletin) is for Parag Mehta , President-Elect Obama's LGBT liason on the transition team.

[scrupulous_stoic]

"Who among y'all is able and willing to organize a similar visibility demonstration in your area?"

I'll be able to.

[Rick336]

Originally Posted by Matt Algren

email addresses for the Inauguration Committee, cribbed from my very own blog. (Like I wouldn't try to get a plug in!)

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Diane Feinstein
Sen. Harry Reid
Sen. Bob Bennett
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Steny Hoyer
Rep. John Boehner

Thanks Matt. I used your list and sent a message to each member of the Inauguration Committee concerning Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation.

Rick

[Jennifer5]

Originally Posted by Zerbie

You must not refuse to believe in the possibility of evil overtaking some people, however rarely.

Consider: evil itself IS the sickness. It is very rare, but some few people have been completely covered over by it, and there is nothing functional left of them but the sickness.

To refuse to believe in evil can give evil free range with which to act. It will take advantage of your goodness to hide itself from your notice while it increases the damage it does.

By all means, consider it exceptionally rare, but do not 'refuse' to acknowledge its presence in the world.

I think this is no to off topic, so I started a new thread...
http://www.soulforce.org/forums/show...5072#post65072

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by scrupulous_stoic

"Who among y'all is able and willing to organize a similar visibility demonstration in your area?"

I'll be able to.

Spectacular!
Below I'm copying the info about our action here in Phoenix in case you'd like it to jumpstart your ideas.

Here it is:

Protest DOMA! Jan 10th
Kicking off the New Year with a new CHAPTER in the fight for Marriage Rights!

Saturday, January 10 - 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Protest for the Repeal of DOMA
Wesley Bolin Plaza (center "Bowl" area)
In front of the Arizona State Capital, Phoenix

This is not 'another rally about the last election.' This is the first protest in preparation for the 2010 election cycle. We need to be on the offensive. Our opponents have not stopped, they just don't have a ballot measure ready YET!

Please join us as we bring together individuals, couples and families from across the state to Demand Our Marriage Access!

Barack Obama promised during his campaign that he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). We expect that he will keep this promise, but know that it is not so much a victory as a change in the battle we will be facing.

Arizona, and every state where restrictions on marriage have been added to the state constitution, will face additional assaults on any legal protections which are currently available for relationships other than marriage. We can not wait for our opponents to formulate their argument against us. We must be visible now, defining and defending our relationships.

Some parking will be available on property, however the public parking lot off Jefferson Avenue will be closed to allow for the placement of portable toilets.
Please help us spread the word! You can use the links below to download fliers.

Color - 8.5x11 (one per sheet)
BW - 4.25x5.5 (four per sheet)

Color - 8.5x11 (one per sheet)
BW - 4.25x5.5 (four per sheet)

[scrupulous_stoic]

This is great, Zerbie! Thanks!

[Matt Algren]

The open letter to President-elect Obama is a national event. Text of the letter is below:

January 21, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on your historic and inspiring victory. Your lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens, along with families, friends, and heterosexual allies, would like to welcome you to the White House. We are thrilled to see that true change has come to this country.

During your election campaign you wrote an open letter to us, making it clear that you were committed to gaining ‘full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country.’ In that letter you asked for our vote and promised to:

* Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and ensure that states treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws

* Enact a fully inclusive Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity

* Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

* Enact the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes against our community

* Confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the stigma surrounding it

* Amend the Uniting American Families Act to afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system


We come to you as esteemed citizens of the United States of America in need of equal protections under the law for all families. The LGBT community is part of this diverse country, but do not share the same rights as their heterosexual brothers and sisters. In the spirit of family, respect, and of course, hope, we will work with you to make these promises become a reality.

We paid attention to the statements you made during your campaign, and we voted for you. Now, as you take office, we ask something in return. Please keep your promises to the LGBT community and provide the leadership needed to achieve true equality for all Americans.

Sincerely,
Your Fellow Americans

You can find information on your local January 10th event by going to Join the Impact. I'm pretty sure there's something going on in every state, but remember that the goal this time is not to get 1,000,000 people protesting, but to get 1,000,000 signatures on the letter to President-elect Obama. It's imperative that things be done that weekend so the signature pages from each location can be checked and collated by his first day in office.

[NathanATX]

Now THIS is exciting! People in action up to making a difference in the world! AWESOME!

What's next?

What are some results people are having?

Who else is going to join the party and get in the game of ACTION?

[NathanATX]

I am creating a google site called

n2justiceproject

"The nerve center of the relationship-building non-violent LGBT justice movement"

If you are interested in being on this project, go to: http://sites.google.com/site/areyoun2justice/

This will be a collaborative effort.
1. Compiling contact information data.
2. Building teams of people to take specific actions to communicate our message(s).
3. Creating effective scripts, conversations, email-able letters, etc., for the teams to use.
4. Creating action plans to effectively communicate with decision makers, policy makers, news outlets, bloggers, etc., ON TIME with these issues.
5. Assigning and delegating tasks, action plans to individuals and teams.

[Emproph]

#1 and most importantly, some of us are STILL not understanding each other and participating in the same conversation.

Daniel, I don’t know if you meant it this way based on what you were saying right before it, but this this line sums it up best for me.

Originally Posted by Daniel

I guess, if one can distance himself/herself from the symbolism involved, one can be equally distanced from the suffering that is cause by it.

It’s not the Warren pick itself that enrages me, it is what it represents. What I mean by “the sky is falling,” it is the inability of those in our community and our supporters to recognize the EXTENT of the threat that this symbolizes.

To put it bluntly, Rick Warren is a liar. By supporting proposition 8, he supported lies. Obama, in his attempt to “reach out,” is reaching out to liars and those who approve of lies, and thus, is sending that message of approval.

The lies in question, were in the effort to demonize gay people. When you demonize a group of people, you promote violence against them.

Therefore, Obama’s pick of Warren represents his approval of violence against gays - at least symbolically. By extension, it gives unwarranted credence to all the other anti-gay pastors out there who are also spreading hatred against gays in the name of religion.

There is a time and a place to reach out to people like that, and I feel that this is one of the worse messages that can be sent at this time and in this place. It’s not only injurious to the LGBT community, but further emboldens the liar/hate community.

And to further qualify the negligence of such a decision, the more the anti-gay community finds out about Warren, the more they’ll find out how unBiblically sound his views are, despite his anti-gay stance. Sure, it’s an added benefit, but it doesn’t justify the original negligence that lead to it. And it’s that original negligence that I don’t see being taken seriously enough.

And PLEASE understand, I’m not suggesting that we demand that Obama backtrack and rescind the invitation.
1) The fact that he chose Warren in the first place, and his glib response to the initial outrage tells me that he’s not capable of articulating WHY he rescinded the offer in any way that would be satisfactory to the religious community who don’t know the full story - and would unnecessarily take it as an offense.
2) The anti-gays would just use it against us as further cannon fodder. “See, this just proves that those evil gays want to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”

Originally Posted by dsdrane

Polar orthodoxies preclude cohabitation. Infer Warren's potential sociopathic bent all you want, but he holds sway over lots of people who are I fervently hope are not similarly afflicted. These are the ones we must engage -- the "hearts and minds" we must win over.

That said, screaming bloody murder can be very productive in giving weight and urgency to the diplomats.

First of all, I agree that it is not productive focus on any sociopathic bend, other than to point out the similarities in the effort to illustrate that even so-called spiritual leaders are indeed capable of the worst kinds of dishonesty.

And I agree that the real focus should be on their followers, some of whom can be reached.

My point with the “screaming bloody murder” part, is that the end result of comparing LGBT persons with child rapists results in everything from spiritual to physical violence.

So when I hear that this isn’t something to get so upset about, what I hear is that violence against us isn’t something to be so upset about -- especially those who can’t defend themselves yet, or haven’t found a safe space yet, like kids, or gay people living in small towns. Not everyone can “pass.”

Originally Posted by NathanATX

The problem is, Patrick, that I wasn't aware of anyone screaming anything when he actually said those things. People are only screaming now.

What I'm hearing is an intense frustration with the lgbt community and our allies regarding our lack of vigilance, coordination, and utilization of our collective voice.

So we're "busy." We don't know how to function as a collective voice. We are lazy and apathetic. We are over-reliant on the "goodness" of people and ignorant of the threat that power-hunger can be.

How do WE change this?

First of all, acknowledge the level of threat by understanding that the implications of this pick go MUCH deeper than the surface offense that it is. In other words, in regard to people like me, Daniel, Matt et al, stop seeing this and complaining about our anger as an over reaction to the surface offense.

Correct me if I’m wrong boys, but we’re not talking about this in regard to the event itself, but the even worse picture that lies behind it.

I’ve already explained how Rick Warren gives credence to all the other anti-gay liars out there, but also, this is strike two for Obama when it comes to dismissing our concerns as being simple disagreement.

The complaint about Donnie McClurkin was NOT the fact that he was “ex-gay,” but because he was ANTI-GAY, because he called gays child killers. Obama’s response was to hire someone who was gay to “balance” out the situation.

This “reaching out to those who disagree” Warren charade is in the same vein. So when I hear people in our own community and advocates characterizing this as just some sort of disagreement about marriage, I want blow my brains out.

Intentional lies and gratuitous demonization as a means to a political end doth not a disagreement on marriage make.

Originally Posted by NathanATX

What actions can we take outside of having a conversation here that would cause Obama to re-evaluate this issue?

We're making a lot of noise here, but what are we doing out there...?

And how can we facilitate/encourage/inspire others taking effective action?

Daniel again says it best:

Originally Posted by Daniel

And that is why- I posit- we need to keep making a lot of noise about this. The issue goes way deeper than the appearance of things. In fact, it goes to the core of the matter.

I would add that our “noise” needs to include specifics as to WHY we are upset. And that this isn’t about simple disagreement, or religious expression.

I believe Rick Warren said that the passage of Prop 8 would prevent preachers from preaching against homosexuality, as though suddenly some how the first amendment would become null and void. LIE.

Furthermore, the Prop 8 website had a link to Focus on the Family which included a reference to the Dutch Study to show that gays are not monogamous, and that therefore, we don’t deserve marriage.

What Focus neglects to mention however, is that you couldn’t be in the study UNLESS YOU WERE NOT MONOGAMOUS.

They used a study on non-monogamous couples, to assert that all gays are not monogamous.

It is specifics like these that need to go out in those letters to show that our outrage goes far beyond any simple disagreement, or disappointment of inequality in regard to marriage.

Until we can educate our own community on the intentionally injurious lengths that these religious leaders are willing to go to, I hold little confidence in the effect that any letter writing campaign will have.

In fact, I would say that we would be better off with an organized letter writing campaign to educate the media.

Anderson “we’re keeping them honest” Cooper, Lou Dobbs, and Chris Matthews continue to have Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on as a spokes person, and when one of our advocates happen to be there to counter them, they play right into and argue within the “freedom of religion” frame. It’s pathetic.

If it’s about religion, fine, then bring up the death penalty in Leviticus, and bring up the remarriage = adultery provision in the New Testament. And then bring up the Dutch Study and ask them why they lie.

Sure, they’ll have an answer for every thing, BUT MAKE THEM RESPOND, so that the world can see them dance and weave in defense of their own supposedly “deeply held moral beliefs.”

Simple simple simple, easy easy easy, and it’s not being done, not even by our own.

But what is being done by our own, “we should all calm down,” “we shouldn’t make such a big deal about the difference of opinion on marriage,” blah blah blah.

Openly characterizing intentional lies and deceit as a matter of opinion, only adds to the violence the anti-gay community is wreaking on us. Such minimization and undermining of the seriousness of the problem is doing their work for them.

Barack’s a politician, he’s proven that, and not just in our case. As dsdrane said, let the MSM do our work for us. After all, isn’t the media supposed to be the fourth arm of government?

[Daniel]

As I read it, I remembered the tale about the frog in the water. The water heats up, and the frog dies because he's gotten used to the heat- and it kills him.

Sometimes I think we are used to a certain level of violence. And our reaction is to either downplay it or make it into something it is not.

This is a natural thing to do. It's a survival tactic. But in terms of gay rights, it isn't going to get us very far.

The steam is rising!

You hit it right on the head: we need to be countering the lies that are put out in the media under the guise of freedom of expression, as if freedom of expresson means freedom from questioning.

[Rick336]

This has probably already been posted, but I'll post it again. This is a website for the Obama Transition team where you can go and tell them exactly how you feel about Obama's decision of Rick Warren for inaugural invocation.

When you get to the website, click on the button that says, "tell us your story."

http://change.gov


Rick

[Jennifer5]

Originally Posted by Matt Algren

The open letter to President-elect Obama is a national event. Text of the letter is below:

January 21, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on your historic and inspiring victory. Your lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens, along with families, friends, and heterosexual allies, would like to welcome you to the White House. We are thrilled to see that true change has come to this country.

During your election campaign you wrote an open letter to us, making it clear that you were committed to gaining ‘full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country.’ In that letter you asked for our vote and promised to:

* Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and ensure that states treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws

* Enact a fully inclusive Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity

* Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

* Enact the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes against our community

* Confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the stigma surrounding it

* Amend the Uniting American Families Act to afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system


We come to you as esteemed citizens of the United States of America in need of equal protections under the law for all families. The LGBT community is part of this diverse country, but do not share the same rights as their heterosexual brothers and sisters. In the spirit of family, respect, and of course, hope, we will work with you to make these promises become a reality.

We paid attention to the statements you made during your campaign, and we voted for you. Now, as you take office, we ask something in return. Please keep your promises to the LGBT community and provide the leadership needed to achieve true equality for all Americans.

Sincerely,
Your Fellow Americans

You can find information on your local January 10th event by going to Join the Impact. I'm pretty sure there's something going on in every state, but remember that the goal this time is not to get 1,000,000 people protesting, but to get 1,000,000 signatures on the letter to President-elect Obama. It's imperative that things be done that weekend so the signature pages from each location can be checked and collated by his first day in office.

Fantastic letter! I think that the way this was written will make it impossible to just ignore.

I honestly don't feel that Obama will let us down, but I think that this is a good way to ensure that he doesn't.

[Zerbie]

Bravo, Patrick. Spot-on. You have identified the problem exactly.

I keep saying - when are people going to stop calling propagandistic lies used to strip a class of people of their civil status under the law, versus the rightful expectation to be treated equally under the law, "a disagreement"?!? You are precisely correct that the Warren issue is not about disagreement at all.

I believe Obama still believes that it is about disagreements. I believe he is operating out of his faith that by reaching out across lines of 'disagreement,' that politics and America can begin to heal of its rifts. The problem is that not all the rifts are as simple as disagreements. Too many lives are still on the line, not to mention the many lives our 'politics' have already cost.

I also believe that given time and outreach from many, Obama will start to see through the construct of gay versus anti-gay as a 'simple disagreement.'