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4 DECEMBER 27.2008 • QNotes
PERSPECTIVE
Editor’s Note
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
Obama’s anti-gay preacher problem
Way back in January, before the 2008 pri
maries, The Advocate interviewed the presi
dent of Charleston, S.C.’s Stonewall Democrats
chapter, Keith Riddle.
Riddle told the national news glossy that
the infamous, fall 2007 Donnie McClurkin
incident in Columbia kept coming up in “every
conversation” he had with LGBT folks.
“Obama never really apologized for that. I
do believe that sometimes, it’s time to move
on,” he told the magazine. “But people just
don’t move on that quickly”
Donnie McClurkin, the anti-gay, ex-gay
preacher brought in for Obama’s South ^
Carolina gospel tour, wasn’t the only preacher-
related conundrum Obama had to face as he .
barreled his way to becoming the first -
African-American president in U.S. history.
The other preacher, Obama’s own Rev.
Jeremiah Wright, was a man many Americans
found distasteful, offensive and an outright,
left-wing radical.
Obama’s gay advisors were mysteriously
absent when the McClurkin incident went
down. It puzzled the gay community how such
an anti-gay voice could get past them.
“No matter how he or his reps defend, deny
or explain it, the Donnie McClurkin fiasco was
arguably the single greatest miscalculation in
the entire primar)^’ we wrote in a staff editorial
before North Carolina’s primary. “And that’s at
best, because at worst it was the most egregious
example of political expediency seen in the
entire primary. Either way, it stung like hell.”
Now Obama has stung the queer commu
nity, yet again. In mid-December his inaugural
team announced that the Rev. Rick Warren,
pastor of the mega-Saddleback Church and
author of the nationally-acclaimed “A Purpose
Driven Life,” will lead the nation in the inau
gural invocation.
The hope Obama instilled in countless
millions of Americans is continuously being
dashed among his gay and lesbian con
stituents. On the heels of our painful losses
in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida and California,
many queer folks looked to the inauguration
as another time of hope — one day they
could share in the joy of being American cit
izens and dare to dream that Obama might
bring change for us and our families.
“It is important for America to come
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together even
though we may have
disagreements on
certain social
issues,” Obama said
at a press conference
on Dec. 18.“That
dialogue is part of what my campaign has
been all about. We’re not going to agree on
every single issue, but what we have to do is
create an atmosphere where we can disagree
without being disagreeable.”
What’s up with this idea that gay and les
bian Americans should sit down and “disagree
without being disagreeable” with those who
call us pedophiles, call us sick and sinful and
malign and demean our families? What kind
of political B.S. is this?
It’s this non-sensical“big tent” approach
— including some of the most hateful and
homophobic people in America — that keeps
getting Obama in trouble, and making our
collective queer dreams look more and more
like fantasy and science-fiction.
In a separate commentary on my personal
blog, i asked, “If including all American view
points is important, why not include a
preacher associated with the KKK or Aryan
Nation? Well, duh! Because we realize that
their opinion is antithetical to our American
dream and dangerous.”
I added, “The same should go for including
anti-gay pastors like Rick Warren. He and his
ilk stand in the way qf forward, progressive
movement toward a more fair and equal
United States of America.”
As long as our lives, loves and families
continue to be painted as a “social issue,” we
will continue to be victimized by shrewd, pan
dering politicians like Obama and anti-gay,
anti-American preachers like Rick Warren.
And, as much as I hate it. I’ll continue to
hold out hope that Obama will be best for our
continued fight for comprehensive and inclu
sive hate crimes legislation and an
Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
I’ll hope he’ll push forward with‘plans to
repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and the
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. But given my
continued disenchantment with Obama and
his weird love affair with anti-gay preachers,
there’s just something inside of me that says, -
“Don’t hold your breath.”
Harvey Milk told us, “You gotta give ’em
hope.^I’m pretty sure he’d also say you have to
follow through. Can Obama do it, or will he
continue to play to the Right? All this; and he
hasn’t even been inaugurated yet. >
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