Joe Solmonese is My President

After hearing about President-Elect Obama's poor choice for the inauguration I couldn't help but feel like I was slapped in the face by the man I had supported for the past several months while living in a predominantly Republican area (Orange County, CA). Unlike a lot of people, my anger is not directed towards Rick Warren. He has not done anything out of the ordinary in my opinion. No, my anger and disappointment is directed at Barack Obama for HIS terrible choice. I have gone out of my way to defend my reasons for supporting him, as individuals berated him simply because of his race and his name. Many of us in the LGBT community also contributed money to his campaign as we saw that this country needed a great leader after our current one drove us deep in the ground with debt and war. I understand that as a small time blogger there is not a whole lot I can do to get across to him, but I really feel that HRC President Joe Solmonese has stepped up to the challenge by writing the following in an Editorial in the Washington Post...

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"It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation."

Noting that the Obama team’s answer to criticism over Warren had been to point out that the inauguration was also slated to include a GLBT marching band.

Wrote Solmonese, "You know how the gays love a parade."

Citing Warren’s involvement in the promotion of the anti-gay California ballot initiative that revoked the existing right of gay and lesbian families to marry, Solmonese continued, "[I]nviting Warren to set the tone at the dawn of this new presidency sends a chilling message to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

"It makes us uncertain about this exciting, young president-elect who has said repeatedly that we are part of his America, too."

Added Solmonese, "What the Obama team needs to understand is that for many LGBT Americans, this November was bittersweet.

"We were thrilled with Obama’s victory and, in fact, many of us worked the phones, pounded the pavement and wrote checks to make that happen.

"But the next day, we learned that Proposition 8 passed in California, and our hearts sank. It was the biggest loss our community has faced in decades."

Solmonese continued, "One of the biggest reasons for that hurtful outcome was the Rev. Rick Warren, who publicly endorsed Proposition 8 in late October.

"He told his parishioners and reporters alike that ’any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn’t think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships.’

"But civil marriage rights for same-sex couples had nothing whatsoever to do with religion."

Added the HRC president, "He may cloak himself in media-friendly happy talk that plays well on television, but he stands steadfastly against any measure of equality for LGBT Americans."
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Well said Joe. So until Obama either offers a REAL explanation or apologizes, I will be displaying the following as my profile image. I'm not asking you to follow in my footsteps, this is just my response to it.