Melissa Etheridge on Rick Warren: We Need to Speak Our Own Truth

Melissa Etheridge appeared on Michelangelo Signorile's radio show yesterday, and discussed Etheridge's embrace of anti-gay Pastor rick Warren following news that he was going to be giving the invocation at Obama's inauguration, as well as the anger from activists who felt she was undermining their message:

"I am sorry if they felt like in any way I undermined them. I truly believe everyone has their perspective and position on this. I’m glad for the activists who say this is not right to include someone who has spoke very poorly about a community that got this man elected...I also know I had this experience that I had to speak about...I think the best thing I can do for the gay community is speak my truth and say this is what happened to me...We should hold people accountable. Now, does that mean they are exiled from what we are trying to accomplish here, which is a united America? Or do we say, we see you now? You can’t be part of this party and hide that. I really want people to know that I’m not defending him. Okay, you now (sic), again, it’s such a fine line. And I, in my path and where I’m at, believe that we accomplish more by being present, by being out and open and saying you can no longer do this and we are all in this together. You got up and gave the invocation in front of two million people who wanted change and you are now held responsible. I think change happens when you include, not when you exclude..."

Listen to the whole interview at Signorile's site The Gist.

Previously
Melissa Etheridge Defends Rick Warren on NPR [tr]
Biden, Etheridge Talk Rick Warren as Calls to Dump Him Continue [tr]
Rick Warren Defends Inauguration Invite, Engages Melissa Etheridge [tr]

Melissa Etheridge Defends Rick Warren on NPR

NPR's Guy Raz spoke with Melissa Etheridge about her embrace of Rick Warren on "All Things Considered" on January 3.

Explained Etheridge: "I believe I understand Obama's choice here. I believe that Barack Obama wants to be the President of the entire United States. Pastor Rick Warren reached out to him, brought him into his church during the campaign, which outraged many members of his church. Yet he reaches across and I think this is Obama reaching back and going, 'I think we can disagree on things, yet we can still all move forward. We need to get past our differences.' And I just want to make sure that as the liberals and progressives and Democrats or whatever you want to call us are moving into this new time with this new president do not say that they, the Evangelicals who say such horrible things about gays, they have to stay over here and we're not going to let them in. That makes us no better than the last administration."

After Raz played her the clip of Warren comparing homosexuality to polygamy and incest, Etheridge said:

"Just because he (compares gays to incest or polygamy) does not mean I have to not speak to him, or don't ever want to be in his company. We had a crazy experience at the Muslim Public Affairs Council conference...We met, we spoke. He's a fine person...He said he was trying to make the definition of marriage not change, not necessarily saying that gays are pedophiles or any of that stuff. One can draw whatever they want from that. This is what he told me."

Plus, Warren's a huge fan of her music.

Listen to the interview AFTER THE JUMP...

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Biden, Etheridge Talk Rick Warren as Calls to Dump Him Continue [tr]
Rick Warren Defends Inauguration Invite, Engages Melissa Etheridge [tr]

Biden, Etheridge Talk Rick Warren as Calls to Dump Him Continue

Last night, as I mentioned in a previous post, Vice President-elect Joe Biden appeared on Larry King Live and discussed the Rick Warren controversy. That clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

At the controversy wears on, a united front among LGBT people appears to be slipping away.

There are groups, like Californians Against Hate, who call for Obama to dump Warren, and have started a Facebook group and website, DumpRickWarren.com, urging the President-Elect to disinvite the anti-gay pastor from the inaugural ceremonies.

And then there are voices here and there, such as Melissa Etheridge, who calls for the extension of an olive branch to the pastor despite policies barring gays from his church and connections he made of gays with pedophilia, incest, and bestiality, though Etheridge has some odd rationalization for her change of heart in a piece in the Huffington Post:

"I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays. He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife's struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine. When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future."

And then there are legislators like Barney Frank, who has strongly condemned Obama's decision but expresses hope for his presidency and seems willing to, at the end of the day, move on.

Last night on Hardball, BlogActive's Mike Rogers debated Reverend Eugene Rivers on the Warren flap:

IMHO Obama will never dump Warren. He made a GRAVE miscalculation on the invitation, but the political stakes in dumping Warren are so great, I don't believe it will happen. I believe asking Obama to dump the pastor is the right thing to do, however, and is a direction that should be pursued, but is ultimately a fruitless battle. At the same time, I'm not forgiving like Etheridge. Warren would have to go a hell of a lot further than liking my album (???) for me to suddenly believe he's one of the good guys. Our voices must not weaken on these issues. It is right to continue to condemn the Warren decision, and it shows that not only must we hold Obama to the promises he made to the LGBT people who helped get him elected, we must demand even more.

It is shameful that Obama's campaign of "inclusivity" is to get its first national blessing from a man whose ideology is anything but inclusive. It won't be forgotten until promises, policy, and solid legislation are pursued in the direction of equality for LGBT Americans.

Watch Biden's clip from Larry King, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Rachel Maddow: Could Obama Rescind Rick Warren's Invitation? [tr]
Congressman Barney Frank 'Disappointed' by Warren Invite [tr]
Rick Warren on Why He's Not Homophobic [tr]
Obama Defends Rick Warren's Inauguration Invitation [tr]

Rick Warren Defends Inauguration Invite, Engages Melissa Etheridge

Pastor Rick Warren defended his invitation to Obama's inauguration at the 8th Annual Convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Long Beach, California Saturday, according to the AP:

"Under fire for opposing gay marriage, influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren said Saturday that he loves Muslims, people of other religions, Republicans and Democrats, and he also loves 'gays and straights.' The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California told the crowd of 500 that it's unrealistic to expect everyone to agree on everything all the time. 'You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand,' said Warren...Toward the end of his speech on Saturday, Warren also talked about singer Melissa Etheridge, who performed earlier in the evening. Warren said the two had a 'wonderful conversation' and that he is a huge fan who has all her albums. The openly lesbian gay rights activist even agreed to sign her Christmas album for him, he said."

More on that meeting from Juan Cole:

"I was told that Warren's friends among the MPAC Muslim community had urged him to call Melissa Etheridge Friday night in the run-up to their being (serially) on the same stage Saturday night, and that he did so and they talked for half an hour. During his address, Warren mentioned also seeing Etheridge backstage on Saturday. Local television in Los Angeles showed a short clip of Etheridge after the event asking gay leaders to reach out to Warren, just as they wanted him to reach out to them. This stance was big of her, since she and her partner had planned to marry but were prevented from doing so by the same Proposition 8 that Warren worked for, and she was so upset she suggested she would refuse to pay California taxes since she is obviously not considered a full citizen by her fellow Californians."

Meanwhile, Etheridge's partner Tammy Lynn Michaels, seems to have bought Warren's bullsh*t hook, line, and sinker.

Gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, who advised Obama several times during his campaign, weighed in on the invitation to Rick Warren, and said that hearing about the selection was like was like "a slap in the face.":

"I’m all for Rick Warren being at the table, but we’re not talking about a discussion, we’re talking about putting someone up front and center at what will be the most watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know."

Richard Socarides, former special assistant to President Bill Clinton in charge of gay and lesbian policies, also spoke to the NYT:

"[The decision is a] serious miscalculation that will anger a lot of people and will be hard to undo. It’s not like he’s introducing Obama at some campaign rally in the South. He’s been given this very prominent, central role in the ceremony which is supposed to usher in a new civil rights era."

Also, doughnut campaign underway: "So one gay rights advocate is encouraging supporters of gay marriage to “return the favor” by sending Mr. Warren gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts. The gift cards, which cost a minimum of $10, can be personalized with pictures of gay couples and supporters. The effort was conceived by Tom Leonard, an Internet marketing consultant in Burbank, Calif., who also created ZeroH8.tv, which is working to place ads in support of gay marriage on cable networks in the wake of a new gay marriage ban in the state."

Melissa Etheridge made remarks after the MPAC event. Watch them, AFTER THE JUMP...

More
Katha Pollitt in L.A. Times: Rick Warren is an insulting choice.

Shepherd Blocks Etheridge and Hasselbeck Prop 8 Wrestling Match

Yesterday, on The View, Melissa Etheridge tried to explain the founding fathers and the protections built into the Constitution to Elisabeth Hasselbeck in a discussion about Proposition 8.

Explained Etheridge: "Actually one of the things that was difficult about this was the - Thomas Jefferson wrote a paper (saying) the rights of the minority should never be voted on by the majority - that should never happen."

Hasselbeck basically said she believes that the majority should vote on the rights of the minority, and before Melissa Etheridge had chance to verbally smite her into a pile of right-wing dust, Sherri Shepard interrupted and said, "We wanted to talk about your CD."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Melissa Etheridge on Prop 8: No Taxation without Representation

Melissa Etheridge has penned an excellent column for The Daily Beast on Prop 8 and legislating morality:

"When did it become okay to legislate morality? I try to envision someone reading that legislation "eliminates the right" and then clicking yes. What goes through their mind? Was it the frightening commercial where the little girl comes home and says, "Hi mom, we learned about gays in class today" and then the mother gets that awful worried look and the scary music plays? Do they not know anyone who is gay? If they do, can they look them in the face and say "I believe you do not deserve the same rights as me"? Do they think that their children will never encounter a gay person? Do they think they will never have to explain the 20% of us who are gay and living and working side by side with all the citizens of California? I got news for them, someday your child is going to come home and ask you what a gay person is. Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away."

You Can Forget My Taxes [the daily beast]