Melissa Etheridge provides cover for Rev. Warren

[ddeclue]

Saw on CNN tonight where Melissa Etheridge says Rev. Rick is OK and that the times they are a changin and it's no longer "us vs. them". I wonder if the situation were reversed would a right wing country music artist like Toby Keith for instance defend a liberation theology type preacher speaking at a John McCain inaugural?

Somehow I doubt it....

Doug D.

[FrenchieCat]

1. I thought Toby Keith was a Democrat, and voted for Barack Obama.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/19/toby-keith-praises-obama_n_119930.html

:shrug:

[stray cat]

3. He is and he did but why let facts get in the way of opinions

Its so much more fun to demonize people based on insufficient information and sound bites :sarcasm:

[ddeclue]

7. My mistake.. last I heard I thought he was a big Boosh fan

and fan of the war... did he change his mind at some point or am I just confused...

Strike Toby Keith from the above and insert someone else then....Chuck Norris for instance...

[AlCzervik]

16. he's a bandwagon jumper, that's all.

[Fovea]

2. That would be America

and we ain't America yet.

[JohnnieGordon]

4. When evangelicals say they love gays, it's just the old "hate the sin" thing

And Etheridge is letting Warren get away with posturing as gay-friendly, with nothing more than the old "love the sinner" crap even the most vehement foes of gay equality will spout. Warren hasn't said he supports any legal rights for gays that I know of, not even basic civil rights, forget marriage. And he was a big participant in the Yes on 8 campaign that spread the nastiest lies about gays over the airwaves. I have a big problem with Etheridge offering an olive branch here without consulting with gay rights groups, just taking it on her own to give him cover. Just because she's achieved fame as a singer, doesn't mean she should use her fame to make decisions like this on her own that affect so many other people.

[Kahuna]

13. She sees a dialog opening. She realizes that you cannot change hearts that

have had one way of thinking about marriage since the inception of time, overnight. She's being realistic.

[JohnnieGordon]

20. I see a softening of the image of an anti-gay activist

And a popularizing of the anti-gay activist as not such a bad guy after all.

Gay rights isn't all about marriage, to my knowledge Warren doesn't support any legal protections for gays. Just saying he "loves gay people" is not the opening of a dialog, they've said they "love the sinner" all along.

[Hellataz]

5. She see's what Barack is trying to do. Sh can see the bigger picture, I'm glad she spoke out.

As for a right wing country music star (more accurately hank williams jr) I bet they would defend anyone Mccain or palin would choose cause they would only care that they won. They don't put much more thought into how government works after that point.

[madeline_con]

6. I wouldn't call Warren a "liberation theology type".

He's more a "How much money can this thing make me?" type. He bloviates about his church's AIDS work in Africa, as if it shows he cares about gays. The problem with that sort of connection is AIDS is a predominantly heterosexual disease in Africa.

There are no gays to centend with, and plenty of innocent children who's SIN didn't cause them to acquire the disease. It's popular among the self-righteous particularly because there are few gays involved.

From:

Why is Rick Warren's work on AIDS in Africa, a mostly heterosexual disease over there, indicative of his love for American gays?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/12/why-is-rick-warrens-work-on-aids-in.html

spell edit

[ddeclue]

8. You don't understand... I'm just reversing the situation entirely for argument's sake..

i.e it's a John McCain inauguration and John invites a liberal who hates some segment of the Republican base to be the preacher..would a conservative music or TV star jump in front and take the arrows for that preacher like Melissa Etheridge did today???

[Uzybone]

9. They wouldn't, thats why we are not them

no matter what GDP would have anyone believe.

[RichGirl]

11. Who cares what the right wing would do!

Do you want to be like them, intolerant and exclusive OR do you want to be better than them, inclusive of all people, even those whose views you oppose.

[ddeclue]

12. Well I think it is instructive to compare and contrast...

hence the OP.

[RichGirl]

34. Okay...let's compare...

They treated us like we weren't REAL Americans because we didn't agree with them.
We are treating them like they aren't REAL Americans (by not wanting them to be represented at the inauguration) because they don't agree with us.

No difference. But, our President will be different because he will care about ALL Americans, not just those who voted for him.

[mondo joe]

36. That's BS. Rick Warren isn't the only person who can represent them.

[madeline_con]

14. I had an issue with your use of that term for the guy, that's all.

He is not an altruistic people lover. He's a parasite of gullible people of the Falwell Dobson ilk.

"..would a conservative music or TV star jump in front and take the arrows..."

As for the question, they might, if McCain't and Palin had used their usual M.O of lies to warm up the crowd.

[ddeclue]

17. You STILL don't understand...

I was NOT calling Rev. Rick a liberation theologist. He's NOT. I was saying WHAT IF John McCain invited one to speak at HIS inauguration...

Why isn't this clear??

[madeline_con]

19. Well, it's clear now.

I still stand by my attack on Rick Warren. :P

[ddeclue]

24. I'm not defending Warren.. just wondering if Melissa is being too nice here

and wondering if we could ever expect similar treatment from Republicans in a reversed situation.

[madeline_con]

26. I think she is, but she might be trying to sell albums.

Maybe she doesn't want to "offend", even given how offesive this whole situation is. :shrug:

[RichGirl]

35. Melissa is being nice...

but she is in the minority among gays. So, you can't claim that democrats are so much nicer than republicans because they have proven that they aren't. Most of them, here anyway, are every bit as intolerant as those they accuse of being intolerant.

At any rate, Melissa isn't "being nice" because she thinks he's a great guy. She wants equal rights for gays and knows that in order to get them they have to be voted in. That will require winning over as many people as possible. If all gays are reacting like those here at DU, then they have set their cause way, way back.

[spanone]

10. we are better than the opposition

[JohnnieGordon]

15. "We" didn't do this, a self-appointed leader of the gay community did

Just because she recorded a few hit albums doesn't mean she should act like she speaks for the gay community. She shouldn't have anymore right to decide that Warren should be forgiven than I do, but her fame gives her a bigger voice. Therefore she ends up being the voice for the gay community, not me, or anyone else who hasn't achieved fame in some manner. That's wielding way too much power for just having the ability to sing.

[ddeclue]

18. On the other hand...

we never make this complaint when Melissa Etheridge speaks up against Global Warming, or Bono speaks out to fight AIDS, or Sean Pean speaks out against how Bush handled New Orleans, etc.

It's a double edged sword and if you take this stand now, it's kind of hard to argue with conservatives who complain about Hollywood types speaking out for liberal causes later.

Doug D.

[JohnnieGordon]

25. She doesn't do any of that in the name of the gay community

Obviously the only reason her comments about Warren have so much weight in this situation, is because she's an openly-gay singer. Believe me plenty of gay people are pissed that she's taken it upon herself to do this without consulting with gay rights groups. She's not Queen Melissa, Queen of the Gay Community. It isn't all up to her. Just because she can sing? Ridiculous.

[ddeclue]

28. True but we give a lot of undue weight to celebrity opinion anyways

and I'm just pointing out how we benefit from it as liberals a great deal but occasionally it will backfire on us like in this case. Of course I'm saying this as a straight liberal, not a gay liberal so it's just my opinion and I don't really have the same stake in it.

[JohnnieGordon]

31. It's backfiring because a gay celebrity, acting alone, can be seen as speaking for all gays

One of the reasons that the analogy with Toby Keith doesn't work is southern white people aren't oppressed as a group. Where Etheridge should've been careful about how she used her fame to speak for the gay community, Keith wouldn't have to worry about having undue influence on a civil rights movement

[ddeclue]

33. I think you misunderstand my point...

I'm not saying anything at all about white people... I'm saying that I think Melissa is being too kind to Rev. Rick and that the other side wouldn't be so nice to us were the tables turned.

[madeline_con]

21. Thanks for pointing out that she does not represent "all gays".

Well said.

[mondo joe]

22. I'd like to think being better would mean not giving platforms to bigots.

"Better" can mean a lot of things.

[Hamlette]

23. while I'm not advocating we forgive Warren

it will NEVER happen on DU. Andrew Sullivan has trashed Bush every day for 4 years. He went after Palin with a zeal not seen ANYWHERE else on the net, did a running total of her lies, raised questions about whether she was Trig's mom, and wrote countless columns and an Atlantic cover story supporting Obama but the mere mention of his name will get your flamed here on DU.

So, even if Warren changes his position, he will be trashed here forever.

[davidpdx]

27. I just recieved this by email

If you want to, feel free to put it in your OP:

A message from Melissa Etheridge,


This is a message for my brothers and sisters who have fought so long and so hard for gay rights and liberty. We have spent a long time climbing up this mountain, looking at the impossible, changing a thousand year-old paradigm. We have asked for the right to love the human of our choice, and to be protected equally under the laws of this great country. The road at times has been so bloody, and so horrible, and so disheartening. From being blamed for 9/11 and Katrina, to hateful crimes committed against us, we are battle weary. We watched as our nation took a step in the right direction, against all odds and elected Barack Obama as our next leader. Then we were jerked back into the last century as we watched our rights taken away by prop 8 in California. Still sore and angry we felt another slap in the face as the man we helped get elected seemingly invited a gay-hater to address the world at his inauguration.

I hadn't heard of Pastor Rick Warren before all of this. When I heard the news, in its neat little sound bite form that we are so accustomed to, it painted the picture for me. This Pastor Rick must surely be one hate spouting, money grabbing, bad hair televangelist like all the others. He probably has his own gay little secret bathroom stall somewhere, you know. One more hater working up his congregation to hate the gays, comparing us to pedophiles and those who commit incest, blah blah blah. Same 'ole thing. Would I be boycotting the inauguration? Would we be marching again?

Well, I have to tell you my friends, the universe has a sense of humor and indeed works in mysterious ways. As I was winding down the promotion for my Christmas album I had one more stop last night. I'd agreed to play a song I'd written with my friend Salman Ahmed, a Sufi Muslim from Pakistan. The song is called "Ring The Bells," and it's a call for peace and unity in our world. We were going to perform our song for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a group of Muslim Americans that tries to raise awareness in this country, and the world, about the majority of good, loving, Muslims. I was honored, considering some in the Muslim religion consider singing to be against God, while other Muslim countries have harsh penalties, even death for homosexuals. I felt it was a very brave gesture for them to make. I received a call the day before to inform me of the keynote speaker that night... Pastor Rick Warren. I was stunned. My fight or flight instinct took over, should I cancel? Then a calm voice inside me said, "Are you really about peace or not?"

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays. He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife's struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine.

When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.
I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.
I will be attending the inauguration with my family, and with hope in my heart. I know we are headed in the direction of marriage equality and equal protection for all families.
Happy Holidays my friends and a Happy New Year to you.
Peace on earth, goodwill toward all men and women... and everyone in-between.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-etheridge/the-choice-is-ours-now_b_152947.html

[Bodhi BloodWave]

30. Might i suggest that you make this a thread of its own?

I think it deserves as much to be honest

[davidpdx]

38. Somebody else did already

And I'm glad because I would have declined to do it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8025791&mesg_id=8026494

[ColbertWatcher]

29. No one but the GOPers listen to celebrities. n/t

[AtomicKitten]

32. I thought it was just her opinion. n/t

[shellgame26]

37. Jesus... will you just let it go

Now Melissa is a gay-hater or an appeaser or a whatever she is because she said something you don't like. I can't stand the Sean Hannity school of thought that says if you disagree with me you must hate America. The RW does it all the time and apparently so does the left.

Whether you agree with him or not, Barack Obama happens to be a Christian who believes in the "turn the other cheek" approach to things and try to make a believer out of your enemy. I understand that for the last 8 years the party that has called themselves the true christians did not do this for us. But I believe that Obama and now Melissa reaching out, so to speak to the other side, they are not appeasing but rather including. You don't like this? o.k, but shit, enough with the "you-must-be-against-gay-rights" mantra!