So this isn't so much a Rick Warren diary (god knows we had enough of them) but more on gay rights. I was taking my law finals this week so I wasn't really paying any attention to the news. I cam home yesterday very tired (its fun traveling in the snow in Seattle) and turned on the news. They were talking about Pastor Rick Warren giving the opening prayer at Obama's Inauguration and the outrage over it. At first I didn't see the big deal, after all it wasn't like he was making policy decisions, rather just leading a prayer and it wasn't like he was as bad as Robertson, Dobson, Perkins, or any of the other right wing preachers. But then I realized why people were upset. This was a man why was a leader in passing Prop 8, a horrible ballot measure that took away civil rights from gay people.
As a straight guy I sometimes not sure why people get so upset over gay marriage. Then one starts to realize that it's a civil right that been violated and as a Democrat one should be against that. I am against the ideas of civil unions because I see them as separate but equal, an idea that was outlawed in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education. As a religious person I can respect other's religions but think that the United States needs to realize that personal feelings should have no bearing on the law. I also don't see how someone being gay interferes with someone's life. You don't have to accept it just be tolerant. A gay couple moving in across the street is not going to end your marriage. If one reads the US Constitution they will find the word god in there exactly zero times. The reason for this is our Founding Father wanted us to be a secular country, they realized that church and state should stay separate. I think this is part of the reason why the United States is such a great nation; we got people of all ethnic backgrounds and religions living together as one.
I think it time the Democratic Party stop being ok with discrimination against gay people. If there was a ballot measure to ban abortion in CA it would have gone down big time due to CA being a blue state. But it’s ok to discriminate against gay people? So many Democrats I know are ok with not allowing book and movies in school that deal with gay issues but if it a ban due to race they would be up in arms. Even if being gay is a choice (and I don't think it is) so what? This is the United States of America we have freedom of choice. The Democratic Party prides itself as standing for equal rights for all, and all includes gay people.
As for Pastor Warren I don't think President-Elect Obama can ask him to step down but perhaps the President-Elect can think more wisely about this in the future. I am still a strong supporter of his, and he is the change I voted for, but this is his first move I don't agree with. That is all.