Rick Warren vs. The GLBT Marching Band

[thoreau]

I'm sure the neoconservative blogosphere is full of as many posts about Obama letting a gay marching band in the inaugaral parade as our blogosphere is full of "wtf rick warren" posts. Warren gets his 30 seconds; the LGBT Marching Band parties all way down Pennsylvania Avenue. Lets not be too hasty in cyer-bitchslapping Obama. I'd say his people are playing both sides of the blogosphere for maximum impact.

Comments

[paulintoronto.livejournal.com]

I appreciate being able to discuss this in a forum like your journal, and I am confident that it will be possible for us to disagree in an agreeable manner.

I do not dispute anything that you say, but I must conclude that what separates us on this issue is not some nuance of unexamined fact, but a more profound ideological difference, perhaps rooted in our different characters, or countries, or experiences.

I even recognize that it might be pleasanter to take the optimisitic and open-minded approach that you are advocating. But I just can't. Like nudewoody, I admit that I have been sceptical of Obama from the start (although if I were an American I would have voted for him), and it is hard for me to accept his remarks in support of gay rights when he also makes remarks -- if I can present the invitation to Rick Warren as a "remark" -- that seem to me to contradict them.

The more I can see the political efficacy in associating with Warren, despite his "differences of opinion", the easier it is to question whether Obama's support for gay rights is also politically efficacious. Why should I accept that his reaching out to the right is strategic but his reaching out to gays and lesbians is sincere?

In my previous comment, I alluded to slaves and to Nazis, and I worried a little that it might seem hyperbolic: certainly, gay people in America today are not facing the kind of oppression that slaves and European Jews experienced. But I remain convinced that my central comparison is apt. I don't agree with you that Obama's response if fair: for me, being diverse, argumentative and opinionated are good things, and there is lots of room for differences of opinion on every subject. But just as I would not consider the KKK simply another facet in the prism of American diversity, I don't accept that Warren's views are as valid as anyone else's.

Ultimately, though, speaking of diversity, I think that our discussion here is a genuine and legitimate example of diversity: you articulate a reasoned and respectful position on this issue, and I assert a contrary one, hopefully with the same degree of reason and respect. Neither of us is attempting to take away the other's rights, or to diminish the other as a person. On the contrary, you are actually facilitating the diversity by allowing me to comment on your own blog. This is a kind of diversity and respect that I fear Warren (and, alas, perhaps Obama) do not understand.