Melissa Etheridge Asks Gay Leaders to Reach Out To Warren

Bravo on spreading the word on this one! We have to begin with communication and that is very difficult when one side will not speak. If we want equality and inclusion we have to offer the same. that does not mean we must adhere to or assimilate anything.

Let us see if we can win Rick Warren over to common sense....

Don't confuse Ricky's need to be seen and friendly with celebrities. It reminds me of the girls on the view who always say "I am sending Ellen this or that for her marriage" in one breath and then "marriage is between a man and a woman in the next". People like warren are craving attention and celebrities are separate from your run of the mill abomination. Although we are not welcome at his megachurch, believe, Etheridge would be paraded around like a trophy.

My initial reaction to the Warren issue was..."oh, Obama is trying to be inclusive. Cool." Then I was reminded that we would not accept racism as viable representation of Christianity, we would name as oppression and deem it unacceptable. As a nation we (at least on the surface make the same point.) Then why do we, LGBT, make ourselves second place and say...."We just need to give them time." Yes, we do, but we need to state the truth, fight the fight and give them time. African Americans would not have gained the civil rights they have had there not been people standing firm and saying that separate but equal is not ok. It is not ok for this man to make the hideous statements that he has without an appropriate backlash.

Obama will probably not rescind the invitation given to Warren, although he did so when Jeremiah Wright was to give an invocation 2 years ago, but at least we can speak up and stand against the oppression this man espouses. Do we make it public? of course. Silence = Death. Social change doesn't happen by just talking around the dinner table.

I am all for discussions to resolve conflict.

It is possible, though improbable given the current situation in the Middle East, that Iran could be convinced by logical arguments that building a nuclear bomb is not in their best interest.

On the other hand, Warren's beliefs are not logic based, they are faith based. He has made it clear that acceptance of homosexuality is non negotiable. The best that might be hoped for it to somehow convince him that it is not in his best interest to impose his beliefs upon civil law. Since his anti gay and anti women rights preachings are a major source of his power, it will be difficult to convince him it is in his best interest to confine his beliefs to his congregation.

Regardless of what Obama has said, the US is not going to negotiate with Iran without carrots and sticks. With Warren, the gay community has neither. If Warren's anti gay rhetoric could be legally challenged as hate speech, or if his interference with civil law could force the surrender of his non profit status, then a discussion might be useful.

When Warren acknowledges that we deserve the same civil rights he enjoys and apologizes for his behavior on Prop 8 I will gladly reach out to him. However, tigers don't easily change their stripes, and I think that reaching out to others who do not share our goal of complete equality merely diverts attention away from that goal.

Lillith19 wrote:

Playing nice, nice with people that rake you over in the media is suicide. You don't negotiate with people that are verbally assaulting you. That's just stupid.

Exactly. Would Obama sit down with or invite a segregationist "White Power" advocate to speak? Would we expect Jewish leaders to sit down with and have dialogue with neo-nazi advocates who deny the Holocaust? And yes, I do equate the rhetoric from Warren and his kind in the same manner as these, to me it is no less disgusting and vile.

Asking me to "have faith" that Obama will work things out is ludicrous because we have been lied to so much by so many we just don't have any faith left. People like Obama now only strengthen our cynicism.

No, no, no, no....NO!

With all due respect to Etheridge, are we really falling for this one again? I have visions of Anita Bryant smiling from ear to ear saying, "We LOVE the homosexuals!" Sure.

Christian leaders are WORSE than politicians when it comes to hypocracy, and this guy is no different. It's the typical, "I have nothing against homosexuals, BUT..."

The "BUT" negates the entire statement before it. Warren is yet another hate-monger who smiles, preaches love, and then condemns gay/lesbian persons to a horrible life/death and leaves his parishioners to do whatever they deem necessary to show homosexuals "the error of their ways". His track record reads for itself, and he's taking full advantage of Etheridge, and I, for one, can't believe she's falling for it.

While I wish that Melissa was right, I think that this is a sad waste of time. Civil rights don't grow from inviting those who oppress into the home of those who are oppressed for coffee and to discuss music. Warren is not interested in talking, he is on a mission "from God" to tell everyone what they should/shouldn't do and where they are going to go in the afterlife according to his interpretation of the Bible.

Again, a waste of time.

I used to be an Etheridge fan - been to about 4 of her concerts back in the day.

She's a great singer and song writer. Beyond that, she is just another human who happens to claim 'lesbian' as her identity. And she is a celeb on top of that.
Her political beliefs have turned me completely off from her. She pushes the gay agenda way too much for my liking.
AND I'm a lesbian.

Bottom line, I could care less what she thinks or does.

Just another hwood glam that's trying to use her name to sway people from the Bible and God.

nopers wrote:

Just another hwood glam that's trying to use her name to sway people from the Bible and God.

Actually people like yourself do that far better.

exfan wrote:

Her political beliefs have turned me completely off from her. She pushes the gay agenda way too much for my liking.
AND I'm a lesbian.

In "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail" Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr addressed the African American Pastors and leaders about their desire to not "make waves" by pushing the the civil rights cause too hard or too fast. He said (I paraphrase) that if we wait for the right time, it will never come. He also acknowledged, "You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being."

I appreciate those who have the podiums taking the risk to speak loudly. Oppression is not going to go away if we are just whispering it from safety. There were many African Americans who tried to hush King because he was "too loud." Thankfully, he was undetered.

We would probably not be having this conversation had the people at the Stonewall Bar not finally fought back. Demanding change, demonstrating and talking out is often not safe...even from those who one is standing up for. But if change is going to happen and oppression defeated, then it must be done.

Etheridge is on the forefront because she has the microphone. She is making a way....and has already influenced change...more than I have been able to to do...and maybe more than you have been able to do. We need to thank her for her courage to take risks.