President-elect Barack Obama has invited evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration in January, sparking disgruntled complaints from the gay rights camp angry at Warren for supporting the anti-gay marriage amendment, Proposition 8, in California.
Obama defended his choice on Thursday saying the inauguration will feature “a wide range of viewpoints,” according to CNN."And that's how it should be, because that's what America is about," Obama said in response to a question at a news conference on the two leaders’ different views on social issues. "That's part of the magic of this country is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated."
Warren has been open about his support for Proposition 8, which overturned California’s law allowing same-sex marriage.
“For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion – not just Christianity – has defined marriage as a contract between men and women,” Warren wrote in a newsletter to his congregation. “There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population.”
President-elect Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden, however, supported the California Supreme Court decision to legalise same-sex marriage. Both have stated that they oppose same-sex marriage, but they also oppose a constitutional ban of the practice.
Rather than homosexual marriage, they both support same-sex civil unions.
“I think that it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans,” Obama said in defense of his support for gay rights after picking Warren to join the inauguration line-up. “It is something that I have been consistent on, and I intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency.”
But Liberal rights group People for the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert said she is “deeply disappointed” that Obama has given Warren a powerful platform at the inauguration.
“There is no substantive difference between Rick Warren and James Dobson,” Kolbert said to CNN. “The only difference is tone. His tone is moderate, but his ideas are radical.”
