OlderAlan Cumming: Barack Obama Wrong To Ask Rick Warren
President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Orange County mega-pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his swearing, which has dismayed many Hollywood liberals. Actor Alan Cumming has taken to HuffPo to voice his opinion:
“In many ways Rick Warren is like a lot of people we know — friends’ dads or people we meet on planes that are pleasant but occasionally offer an opinion that gives you a startling glimpse into the darkness of their souls. Comparing same-sex relationships with incest and pedophilia is a case in point…
“I, like the majority of Americans, feel that gay people are unfairly discriminated against, and it is time they were afforded equal rights. I have heard the president-elect espouse these same opinions many times, and unlike some friends I have talked to over the last few days, I have no fears that he has altered these opinions in any way or that the invitation to Mr. Warren compromises them and his desire to see them enacted into law.
“Obama is very clearly showing his promise to be everyone’s president — from little, lefty queers like me to big, right-wing religious bigots like Rick Warren. (And he is a bigot. Go look it up in the dictionary.)
“And that, finally, is what is so upsetting and insulting about the idea that Rick Warren will be standing on the podium on this great day of celebration for a new America: because this whole thing is not about gay rights or policy or differences of opinion. It is about human decency and respect. Let’s face it, a generation ago Rick Warren would have made Barack Obama sit at the back of the bus, and now it’s the gays who are back there and we feel kind of lonely.”
Read Alan Cumming’s full entry at HuffingtonPost.com.
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Posted to: Alan Cumming, Barack Obama, Rick Warren
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83 Comments
This guys needs to STFD.
We have real problems here in America. Who cares who is gonna say a prayer.
Unless you have a answer to help our new President as far as getting Americans back to work and our economy back the way it should be, please do us a favor and STFU……and leave Barack Obama alone. It’sjust a prayer idiot.
God bless America and Barack Obama.
Wow, a lot of people don’t tolerate gays at all. I will agree that the comparison drawn likening the treatment of gays to the treatment of blacks is a little dramatic, but the point he is trying to make is that all forms of discrimination is not on. People on this blog should be a little more sensitive. You guys just kinda reinforce the impression that Americans are intolerant and ignorant. Also, people saying that Rick Warren is just a man following “the word of the bible”- well you know what? the bible insinutates that blacks are subordinates whose skin is a “curse”. Obviously, it can’t be taken serioiusly.
Gays want the world to be tolerant towards them but they themselves are not tolerant towards others. I’m sick of hearing the gays complain all the time. Just STFU!
I agree with Cummings 100%. Obama is so wrong on this selection!!!
He’s right. Obama is trying too hard to please the coalition of the ignorant and the intolerant. he needs to stop trying to hard to please everyone. Yes, Evangelicals make up a good number of Americans, but he needs to let them know that it’s not okay to be ignorant and say nasty things. Evangelicals are like China–they’re a growing powerhouse that has issues with human rights and tolerance.
Wow judging by some of these comments on this blog, the concept that you Americans are an intolerant country is proving to be true. Comparing Gays to pedophiles and saying they all rape kids…… Just reinforces the rest of the worlds views about you.
Obama has been the most Pro-Gay and Pro-Woman President-Elect ever!
He has stated that he was AGAINST Prop-8
He wants to get rid of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”
A Gay/Lesbian/Transexual band will be playing in the Inauguration
He wants to sign FOCA
He’s Pro-Choice
He has ANOTHER Pastor there who does not share Rick Warren’s view. So that many voices can be heard.
He will likely appoint THREE new Supreme Court Justices to the Supreme Court and they will be Liberal/Progressive.
SO Let’s not lose sight of the BIGGER PICTURE!
And so he is going to discrimate against Rick Warren and say he shouldn’t speak there?
And btw, Alan Cumming, gays do NOT sit at the back of the bus. Get your facts straight.
Tracy - this is a select few people in a very biased group. I can guarantee you that these comments do not accurately represent the whole of America.
over it! @ 12/20/2008 at 2:51 pm
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You.are.insane. And an ignorant bigot to boot.
Discrimination against a minority is discrimination. No two ways about it.
You can believe any fairy tale you want. Just don’t use it as an excuse to justify your disgraceful treatment or ridiculous beliefs about others.
I am appalled at the right wing ignorance and hate on this thread. Even more so that people dare to suggest that their “religious beliefs” justify it.
Hate is hate. Intolerance is intolerance.
Halli @ 12/20/2008 at 8:56 pm Obama has been the most Pro-Gay and Pro-Woman President-Elect ever!
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You couldn’t be more wrong. You clearly have no idea about Obama’s history with a number of anti-gay leaders and his use of their homophobia in a number of his campaigns, his utter failure to deliver on the promises to help defeat Prop 8, or his refusal to walk in even one gay pride parade unlike Hillary who proudly did so.
Obama has trafficked with too many hateful homophobes to even be considered “pro-Gay.” The LGBT community has been wary of Obama from the beginning and that caution is in no way limited to the left wing. At best they hope he will be better than the alternative republican choice but so far they are very disappointed.
We won’t even get into the vile and at times sophomoric misogyny he and his campaign engaged in during this past campaign.
Some people are just so in love they are blind.
61#
Its baby steps. Do you actually think Obama is going to be President for Gays only?
To say his campaign is “homophobe” is a major stretch and pretty ridiculous considering the overwhelming inclusiveness his campaign highlighted.
I am comparing him to other Presidents of the past. So read carefully next time before jumping down my throat.
And are these anit-gay leaders by any chance people of religious faith? Because Rev. Wright supported gay ministry.
I don’t know what you want. You say that Obama’s support for gay’s is weak. Yet the only comparison you have for me is that Hillary once walked at a Gay Pride Parade? How is that not just as superficial and cosmetic?
Once again. I am comparing him to other PRESIDENT-ELECTS.
This issue is really been blown up. Would you have rather had McCain/Palin? Only the radical Left-Wing is making this all about them. When if anything this Inauguration is about Obama, America and a proud moment for those of color.
Oh my God.
This issue isn’t even a big deal. Stop making this all about the Gays. This is about AMERICA! Obama isn’t the messiah. He’s not here to make Gays happy 24/7 Its about fixing this economy and making America better overall. I can’t believe some people are getting so worked up for something that isn’t a big deal. Ever inuaguration has a Pastor/Priest. How is this any different??? Quit bitching. I think this is just fringe groups of people. The vast majority are happy so far with Obama but some people love to whine and complain for attention. GET OVER YOURSELVES
By the way #61 Groundcontrol.
I am on the LEFT as well. But I know (as other Democrats do) of how worked up and pissed off the far-left can get. It took African Americans 200 years to get anything close to inclusion and freedom - and they are STILL fighting.
Most Gays came out during the sexual Revolution in the 1960s and chose to make yourselves relevant than. Its been 40 years and we have come far. But don’t expect there to be a quick fix to this. The majority of Americans still think marriage should be between a man and woman. Its the truth and this is what Obama has to work with.
I don’t know why some Gays are so surprised. He has always said he will be the President of the “people” but he has so far been very pro-Gay compared to other Presidents. Can’t you at least wait for him to get into office and make policy decisions before losing your head? Or is the chance to get all worked-up and “ra ra ra” too delicious to pass up?
This loser is Scottish, which is part of Great Britain which passed civil unions for gays not marriage so if he feels the need to speak out about the poor mistreated gays he should start in his own country and then proceed to most of Europe who have’t passed civil unions or gay marriage laws.
Seriously, who’s the biggot now? You dumb prick.
white gay men - as long as in the closet - would have sat in the front of the bus in the sixties. no questions asked. blacks could not “hide” that way. THAT is the big difference. get a grip. what preacher would he have chosen would have been pro-gay rights? most aren’t so maybe this is not the place to discuss your gay rights issue. obama is very inclusive and will continue to do so. relax and fight where the fight is needed.
Go inform yourself about the bible. There is nothing holy about it nor the atrocites committed by ‘christians.’ Go educate yourself, please. The bible allows catholic priests to get away with their molestation of children. The bible is a joke and has nothing to do with ‘god.’
I think Alan said it wonderfully and with eloquency. I am not opposed to speaking to and being involved with people who have such close-minded opinions, but I do believe that involving Warren in the inauguration sends the wrong message to the gay community and those, like me, who support them.
I don’t care how you put it…if one class of citizens has “rights” that others don’t…that’s just plain and simple discrimination…no matter how you state it, color it, describe it or want to classify it.
oh please he ask Rick Warren because no other dignified Reverends will do it. That is sad and scary he’s like the First President with no blessings from God.
First of all what is it that Gays want? Is it insurance?Adoption?Do Not Recessitate power? What exactly do you want that marriage offers. At no other time in history in no other culture on earth has marriage ever been between any human except men and women. And let’s just talk about the Bible. Which atrocities are you referring to that was committed by Biblical Christians? Christians were beheaded, fed to lions, pulled apart on stretch machines. . . awll for what they believed in. Homosexuality is abnormal. If it were something you were born with like black skin, then how can ppl like anne Heche and others leave that lifestyle and become heterosexual. A black person cannot leave their skin no more than a leopard can change his spots. Gays are ppl. They are human. They do not deserved to be killed by homophobic ppl. Jesus came to save everyone that OBEYS God’s Will to the best that they can-the Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. However, you cannot be a true Christian and make a habit of practicing sin as defined in the bible. The Bible says that there were some who were once homosexual and they became Christians. Each case of homosexuality the Bible refers to was condemned as a sin and an abomination in God’s eyes. So America’s constitution is a different document. the Constitution may allow for some things that the Bible does not. Let’s not mix the 2. I will vote against Gay marriage until my dying breath. Marriage is an institution created by God between a man and woman. However, if a gay couple wants the same rights with reference to insurance, adoption. . THen I say give it to them. I am offended that Gays want to marry-Why desire to be a part of an institution that was not created for you?
Very well put Adam and Eve. Thank you.
#70 you are no Christian. Only an angry failed person would say that. Truth is- this Inauguration is going to be the most talked about and hottest Inauguration ever! People are already selling tickets for $50,000 and people are buying! That’s nuts.
Alan Cummings is so far-off its insulting.
How about he focuses on his own country which DOES NOT support Gay marriage and stop comparing the black struggle to Gay marriage. That’s ridiculous!
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I believe that marriage is the union between one man and one woman. I believe that it is an institution designed by the God of all things to complement a certain design and order in nature biologically speaking, and psycho-socially speaking.
I know a few people from other faiths who hold this to be true as well, and quite a few non-christians, agnostics, and at least one atheist (my dad) who, while not believing in a divinely ordained design and order in nature, believes in a natural order which in society may play out in marriage - one woman to one man.
In various cultures at various times imperfect human beings have made a travesty of marriage (as they have and will continue to do with any number of things)whether to engage women as pawns in revenge plots or power plays, advance power, gain wealth, or as a means to have children, not with any desire to love and nurture future generations, but to perpetuate personal or clan power. Nevertheless in all cultures at least some of the time men and women have committed themselves to each other in marriage after the design of the institution to companion each other, complement each other in the work and joys of living, and to nurture, love, and raise up children, and perhaps to demonstrate something inherently differentiated (male and female) yet unified about the divine in a tangible and observable sphere - the family experience.
Therefore in every culture under the sun in times past and present government and law has recognized this institution and set about a framework for how it is to be understood, respected, and administered within the culture.
I would never want any partner in a gay couple to not be able to leave or transfer property to their partner as they desire, make medical decisions for each other as they desire. Nor would I want anyone to be denied insurance coverage should one partner desire to have benefits extended to the other, or any of that. I believe homosexuality is deviant yet some will seek this type of sex and intimate relationship in their life and that they choose do so should in no way alter how I view their humanity.
I see no conflict at all between this and not supporting gay marriage. And my stance is that I do not support marriage for gays. I believe it is a perverse redefinition of what marriage really is. Furthermore I am not a hater for having this position. If you are gay why can’t I risk my life for you? If you were hungry and did not have to eat, why could I not deny myself so that you could eat? If you did not have shelter and needed a place to stay why would my doors not open for you? If you were lonely and needed a friend would I not count it an honor to be there for you as I would desire companionship myself? I do not have to be in agreement with you on marriage or anything else to like you or even to love you.
Now we do not live in a theocracy, we do live in a pluralistic democracy. And as such I do not believe that I have the right to deny anyone as a fellow citizen any of the rights of citizenship but nor do I believe that anyone has the right to redefine marriage. We know of no human being who ever sat down one day and decided to conjure up a thing called marriage or whatever word is used for it in the multitude of languages spoken by human beings. But men and women among all peoples have simultaneously and without knowledge of their couterparts marriage rites or practises in other parts of the world, entered that institution - man and woman (and sometimes unfortunately, man and women).
I do not believe that someone who is gay is in an ethnically or gentically or biologically differentiated goup of human beings in nature as someone is berber, or hamidic for example, any more than a person who engages in heterosexual sex and relationships is a special group in the same sense. We are not born homosexual anymore than we are born heterosexual. We are each born with the capability to experience and stimulate a sexual response, and of course a need to love and be loved in intimate relationships. But nature has crafted the sexual biological outfit of men and women to be interdependent complementing and balancing each other with the unique characteristics inherent in female and male, and allowing for them to reproduce and nurture children. So it is illogical to me and unreasonable to argue that I as a black person, and a woman at that, I should somehow instinctively support marriage for gay people. Why is marriage being turned over into something it is not?
Mr. Obama recognizes that Mr. Warren has profound faith, love, and the courage of his convictions even though they do not always agree on how these should play out in our society. He also recognizes that Mr. Warren is a man of influence and action whose leadership has already netted results on fighting disease, stewarding the environment, and ending poverty. His prayer will bless and benefit all of us!
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