While I’ve never been a huge fan of the Human Rights Campaign, they’ve laid all their cards out on the table for this op-ed by its president Joe Solomnese, and I applaud them for it. Excerpts below:

It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation. And the Obama campaign’s response to the anger about this decision? Hey, we’re also bringing a gay marching band. You know how the gays love a parade.

…inviting Warren to set the tone at the dawn of this new presidency sends a chilling message to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. It makes us uncertain about this exciting, young president-elect who has said repeatedly that we are part of his America, too.

We understand that the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a civil rights icon and a dear friend of LGBT Americans, will close the inauguration ceremony. But would any inaugural committee say to Jewish Americans, “We’re opening with an anti-Semite but closing the program with a rabbi, so don’t worry”?

…What the Obama team needs to understand is that for many LGBT Americans, this November was bittersweet. We were thrilled with Obama’s victory and, in fact, many of us worked the phones, pounded the pavement and wrote checks to make that happen. But the next day, we learned that Proposition 8 passed in California, and our hearts sank. It was the biggest loss our community has faced in decades.

One of the biggest reasons for that hurtful outcome was the Rev. Rick Warren, who publicly endorsed Proposition 8 in late October. He told his parishioners and reporters alike that “any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn’t think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships.” But civil marriage rights for same-sex couples had nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

More recently, he even compared same-sex marriage to incest, pedophilia and polygamy. He may cloak himself in media-friendly happy talk that plays well on television, but he stands steadfastly against any measure of equality for LGBT Americans.

…So, are we angry about Rick Warren? You bet we are. And including a gay marching band in the inaugural festivities doesn’t heal this wound. It only serves to make us question the promises that Barack Obama made in his historic quest to be president. We pray we weren’t misled.

The piece runs tomorrow in the Washington Post and is available in online here.

Hilary Rosen on Anderson Cooper 360 rose to our defense last night, succinctly and passionately describing the outrage of many in the LGBT community over Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation for the inauguration.

Hillary Rosen: “First the glibness, that, well it’s just a bunch of gays being unhappy that people don’t agree with them, is wrong. You know, (at) one time the Bible was used to justify slavery. If this was a preacher, out there, using more weapons against African-Americans we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, so second of all, the fact that we’re even having a conversation, means that this is a mistake in choice. This is a day when people are to be brought together. There are hundreds of preachers across the country with stature and thoughtfulness and other ways to bring this country together on an inauguration day for the new president. That’s the choice he should have made.”

Watch the clip.

As expected, here is the defense circulated by the Obama campaign this morning:

“This will be the most open, accessible, and inclusive Inauguration in American history.

In keeping with the spirit of unity and common purpose this Inauguration will reflect, the President-elect and Vice President-elect have chosen some of the world’s most gifted artists and people with broad appeal to participate in the inaugural ceremonies.

Pastor Rick Warren has a long history of activism on behalf of the disadvantaged and the downtrodden. He’s devoted his life to performing good works for the poor and leads the evangelical movement in addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis. In fact, the President-elect recently addressed Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health to salute Warren’s leadership in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and pledge his support to the effort in the years ahead.

The President-elect disagrees with Pastor Warren on issues that affect the LGBT community. They disagree on other issues as well. But what’s important is that they agree on many issues vital to the pursuit of social justice, including poverty relief and moving toward a sustainable planet; and they share a commitment to renewing America’s promise by expanding opportunity at home and restoring our moral leadership abroad.

As he’s said again and again, the President-elect is committed to bringing together all sides of the faith discussion in search of common ground. That’s the only way we’ll be able to unite this country with the resolve and common purpose necessary to solve the challenges we face.

The Inauguration will also involve Reverend Joseph Lowery, who will be delivering the official benediction at the Inauguration. Reverend Lowery is a giant of the civil rights movement who boasts a proudly progressive record on LGBT issues. He has been a leader in the struggle for civil rights for all Americans, gay or straight.

And for the very first time, there will be a group representing the interests of LGBT Americans participating in the Inaugural Parade.”

And Obama’s response to the controversy this morning.

I suppose we should be thankful the inclusiveness doesn’t extend to Fred Phelps. Or David Duke.

San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer has finally decided to speak out on his website, defending the church’s actions in helping pass Proposition 8, which denied marriage equality to all Californians, and placed marriages like ours in jeopardy.

“Religious leaders in America have the constitutional right to speak out on issues of public policy. Catholic bishops, specifically, also have a responsibility to teach the faith, and our beliefs about marriage and family are part of this faith.”

and…

“Members of churches who supported Proposition 8 sincerely believe that defining marriage as only between a man and a woman is one such issue. They see marriage and the family as the basic building blocks of human society, existing before government and not created by it. Marriage is for us the ideal relationship between a man and woman, in which, through their unique sexual complementarity, the spouses offer themselves to God as co-creators of new human persons, a father and mother giving them life and enabling them to thrive in the family setting.”

Bill May, Chairman for Catholics for the Common Good, who played a crucial role in getting Catholics behind Proposition 8, supported the Archbishop’s statement, which described “strong and legitimate reasons for supporting marriage between a man and a woman.”

May also went on to say that Niederauer “is a very loving person,” and “he expresses the teachings of the church in a very pastoral way. He is expressing the fundamental understanding of the Catholic Church that every human person has intrinsic dignity that must be respected.”

Except of course, when it comes to the intrinsic dignity and respect same-sex couples deserve.

Archbishop Niederauer who previously served as a Bishop in Salt Lake City, actively recruited the Mormon church to get involved in supporting Proposition 8 which would not have passed without their help.

In the video below the Archbishop enlightens us on the importance of marriage between one man, and one woman.

Find more here…

• San Francisco Chronicle Story
• Archbishop Biederauer’s Statement
• More on Bill May, Catholics for the Common Good and their role in Proposition 8

This cardinal seems to think so…

His Eminence James Francis Cardinal Stafford speaking last week at the Catholic University of America, criticized President-elect Barack Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic,” and campaigning on an “extremist anti-life platform.”

As reported in the The Tower, the student newspaper for the Catholic University of America:

“For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden,” Stafford said, comparing America’s future with Obama as president to Jesus’ agony in the garden. “On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake.”

Cardinal Stafford said Catholics must deal with the “hot, angry tears of betrayal” by beginning a new sentiment where one is “with Jesus, sick because of love.”

The lecture, hosted by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, pertained to Humanae Vitae, a papal encyclical written by Pope Paul VI in 1968 and celebrating its 40 anniversary this year.

Stafford also spoke about the decline of a respect for human life and the need for Catholics to return to the original values of marriage and human dignity.

“If 1968 was the year of America’s ‘suicide attempt,’ 2008 is the year of America’s exhaustion,” said Stafford, an American Cardinal and Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary for the Tribunal of the Holy See. “In the intervening 40 years since Humanae Vitae, the United States has been thrown upon ruins.”

I have Catholic friends, and I know this Cardinal doesn’t speak for them. But he speaks for a lot of them, and these are the same Catholics who organized themselves against gay marriage and helped pass Proposition 8.

Frankly, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them or their perceived plight.