Gay rights groups denounce Pastor Rick Warren

President-elect Obama’s call on Reverend Rick Warren – famed evangelical preacher and pastor of Saddleback Church – to deliver the invocation at his inauguration on January 20, 2009 has drawn the ire of gay rights proponents.

Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, wrote a letter on December 17 denouncing the decision since Reverend Warren has opposed gay marriage initiatives in California and elsewhere in the U.S. The letter to Senator reads at the outset “Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.”

Similarly, Equality California called President-elect Obama's choice of Reverend Warren "appalling", while asking members of the gay advocacy group to take action. A statement released by the group said “It is a slap in the face to the millions of LGBT Americans who supported his historic candidacy. Would President-Elect Obama invite someone to give the invocation who supported eliminating the civil rights of a minority other than the LGBT community? Of course he wouldn't!”

Gay rights activists are still stinging from the defeat of Proposition 8 in California which amended the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. However, the proposition did not affect domestic partnerships in California. Outraged demonstrators descended especially on Mormon temples in various quarters of California to denounce the support of the Church of Latter-Day Saints for Proposition 8. Catholic organizations had also expressed support for the proposition and also incurred the ire of gay organizations.