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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 01-Jan-2009 in issue 1097

“We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. We urge you to reconsider this announcement.”

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese to Barack Obama Dec. 17 after Obama announced that prominent evangelical preacher Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration.

“It is … deeply troubling that the President-elect has selected someone whose defamatory and damaging anti-gay statements and views … clearly divide rather than unite Americans.”

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation President Neil Giuliano Dec. 18 after Barack Obama announced that prominent evangelical preacher Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration.

“Religious leaders obviously have every right to speak out in opposition to anti-discrimination measures, even in the degrading terms that Rev. Warren has used with regard to same-sex marriage. But that does not confer upon them the right to a place of honor in the inauguration ceremony of a president whose stated commitment to LGBT rights won him the strong support of the great majority of those who support that cause.”

Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., Dec. 18 after Barack Obama announced that prominent evangelical preacher Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration.

“I have decided to decline the invitation to attend the inauguration as I cannot be part of a celebration that highlights and gives voice to someone who advocated repealing rights from me and millions of other Californians. (Rick Warren) actively works to divide Americans based on who we are and has been an ardent supporter of efforts to ostracize LGBT Americans.”

Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors Dec. 18 after Barack Obama announced that prominent evangelical preacher Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration.

“If any good can come from this (inauguration invocation) controversy, it is that many Americans now realize that (Rick) Warren is masquerading as a moderate and posing as a pragmatist. Many Americans – who previously respected Warren – now view him as a poll-tested Pat Robertson who hides hate behind a Hawaiian shirt. He seemed arrogant and out of touch on NBC’s Dateline when he told Ann Curry that he wasn’t homophobic because he provided (gay) protesters outside his church with doughnuts. Gee, thanks, maybe next time you take away our rights we’ll get ice cream from His holiness.”

Syndicated gay columnist Wayne Besen, Dec. 22.

“(In response to the Rick Warren flap, Obama said,) ‘We can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans.’ Sounds nice. But what we do not ‘hold in common’ is the dehumanization of homosexuals. What we do not hold in common is the belief that gays are perverts who have chosen their sexual orientation on some sort of whim. What we do not hold in common is the exaltation of ignorance that has led and will lead to discrimination and violence. Finally, what we do not hold in common is the categorization of a civil rights issue – the rights of gays to be treated equally – as some sort of cranky cultural difference. For that we need moral leadership, which, on this occasion, Obama has failed to provide. For some people, that’s nothing to celebrate. The party’s off.”

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, Dec. 23.