Why Warren's Selection Is A(nother) Wake Up Call

I am still wrestling with what to make of Rick Warren's selection to lead the Inaugural Invocation. Like Prop 8, it feels like another slap in the face, another acutely clear snapshot of the work we still need to do. Frankly, I'd rather know where we stand and move forward strategically than remain misguidedly optimistic.

Through a political lens, there are two ways that I read Obama's selection of Rick Warren: Obama's trying to find common cause around issues of global poverty and HIV/AIDS (with a heterosexual bent) with the emerging generation of evangelical leadership; and he's sending a clear message that differences of belief about LGBT rights will not, as they so long have, stand in the way of this coalition building. (Warren equates homosexuality with pedophilia and incest; Obama opposes gay marriage but has made strong statements in favor of gay civil rights and recognizing the humanity of gay people).

While it is right for the LGBT community to register its outrage and hurt, we must also act quickly to adapt to a new political climate: We are no longer living in the age of either single issue or identity politics. The LGBT community needs to develop a clear-sighted 8-year strategy for the pieces of legislation we want to get passed within two Obama terms, and this legislative agenda must extend beyond LGBT civil rights. It should, for example, include legislation related to HIV/AIDS funding both domestically and globally.

LGBT people also care about global poverty and the AIDS pandemic (which is both a global and domestic issue). We cannot, and should not, absent ourselves from the table of communities coming together around these shared concerns. The LGBT community has long years of experience working around HIV/AIDS and the opportunity to share this knowledge and these skills with a global community. If Rick Warren is serious about addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis than he needs to be working with LGBT people, and he needs to approach the disease from a holistic framework that sees the virus for what it is: a pandemic that affects all identities. 

Beyond this, I cannot help but see this moment as another reminder of the great challenge before the LGBT community: we must both assert our humanity and engage directly -- and with love and compassion -- with those who hold Warren's beliefs.

Comments

[Robbie]

As I started to say on facebook:

It's either really naive or really powerful for Obama to dare to reach across such divisive lines. Possibly it's both. Unfortunately, we have too much history of being thrown under the bus to trust this time will be different.

Let me continue this train of thought... when you know someone who's LGBT you're more likely to support LGBT civil rights. Then working with someone like Warren on an issue like HIV might be the only way he'd ever get outside his bubble and maybe begin to recognize the "humanity" of LGBT people.

We're not going to win our rights by only working with those that agree with us. We need to stay engaged with Obama and realize that we're in a new age of politics. One where the president doesn't think in "only/or" terms but believes in "both/and".

Looking back this may be seen as a powerful step towards our full equality.

With hope (and a lot of hard work),
Robbie