OMG It's Rick Warren!

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Rick Warren to give the opening invocation at his inauguration. This has whipped up a storm of protest from the gay and lesbian community, who are still smarting from the Prop. 8 loss in California. By golly, this honeymoon didn’t last long, did it?

Gays and lesbians have the right (and the privilege in the U.S.) to protest the discrimination against them. Those issues are not at the forefront of the world's problems right now, however.

It could be, and has been, one hell of a lot worse. It could be and will be, a lot better. Give the man a break, realize how politically savvy he is, and let Rick Warren crow. Then, we'll get down to business, opposing parties appeased and ready to work.

Like any other protest group, GLTB (et al) folks are most interested in their own desires. But sometimes the shortsightedness of protest groups shifts them right over to the periphery of politics and society in the time it would take to pop a pack of microwave popcorn.

From all the brouhaha, you’d think Rick Warren was the Jerry Falwell of 2009. Remember him? He’s the one who said, "9-11 was the supported work of pagans, gays, lesbians, and liberal feminists". I don’t know much about Rick Warren, but I’m pretty sure that is not even close to something he’d say.

In fact, I feel strongly that Rick Warren is one heck of a lot better than his predecessor in the Christian heart of America—Billy Graham.

Obama has made no bones about his desire to bring this country together. That, above all else, has been his slogan, his raison d’etre, his true mission. Think, for just a moment if you will, about what that could mean. Some of us live in areas of the country that are almost all white and Christian, while others of us live in parts of the country that are a stew of all kinds of folks from all parts of the world.

If any one of us, or all of us for that matter, could sit down at the bus stop of America, and sit comfortably next to any and all people we might find in this country, say “hey, how you doin?”, smile, and maybe even say a word or two about the weather, would that be cool or what? I think this is what Obama is all about. And if we could do that in this predominantly white, Christian, frightened, and classist country, just think what we could do in the world. Just think how we might find our own roots in the folks who left a country not much different than what we are now, to make a better place for themselves way back before the Declaration of Independence.

So what does this have to do with Rick Warren? Nothing at all. It has to do with Barack Obama, the man we elected to get us out of the mess we’re in. The man who brings us to tears every time we see him on TV, or hear him on the airwaves. The man who spoke of the audacity of hope. The man who had the actual audacity to talk about the Golden Rule.

I say give the man a break. He wasn’t elected to make sure gays and lesbians could marry. GLTB folks have hopes, but there is much more going on the world right now. Let’s work for a better world for everyone, overall, and let the man do his job. As the world gets better, ask for more. In the meantime, let’s recognize the savvy in bringing in the opposition to celebrate with us.