Pastor Rick Dissembles (and his act still sucks)

Holly at Feministe knocks her Artemis arrow and takes aim at Melissa Etheridge and objet d'amour Tammy over their sudden treacly fondness for Rev. Rick Warren.  The out singer and her partner/wife have been blogging extensively about how the good pastor isn't a really a homophobe at all, he's just drawn that way.  Holly deftly derails M&T's blithe assertion that the man who compares gay relationships with pedophilia is, y'know, kinda cool cuz he's a HUGE fan of Etheridge's:  You were just hustled by a member of one of America’s oldest fraternities of snake-oil salesmen: the slick-talking preacher. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, because it’s clear that you both want to sincerely move forward into a new era of change...  At best, Rick Warren is a political opportunist who sings different tunes for different audiences, and is willing to change his colors on the surface if he has an opportunity for the spotlight. Unfortunately for that Rick Warren, he’s on the record about gays, abortion, and the proper submissive place of wives any number of times, and he can’t fool all of the people all of the time. At worst, Rick Warren may simply believe everything he says. In that case, he’s cynically furthering a far-right agenda to equate the pro-choice movement with Nazi concentration camps, keep gay sinners down, and keep wives submissive to their husbands by acting as the movement’s “nice guy, good cop” face.  (Holly's long and meaty post should be read in its entirety, here.) 

It's worth noting that the very day before Warren charmed the Etheridges from their gilded tower, the feel-good flim-flam man told NBC's Ann Curry that gays are immature and promiscuous.  (Think Progress has video.)   Leave it to Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out to spot the big flaw in Rev. Rick's recently professed "love" for gays and lesbians:  Even if scientists find that homosexuality is genetic, Warren would still counsel gay people to fight their “sin,” reducing our love to nothing more than perverted impulses. While Warren presumably gets his basic needs met by his wife, he expects gay people to abandon fulfilling relationships for dour lives of loneliness, severe depression and suicidal thoughts.

So now the blogosphere is absolutely buzzing because Warren's Saddleback Church removed a few anti-gay statements from its website that shouldn't have been there to begin with.  (Okie dokie, Ricky.  All is forgiven - when that hell you've consigned us to freezes over.)  If Rick Warren really wants to show the world he's Okay With Gay he needs to grab that microphone our president-elect has given him and apologize for his past and present verbal assaults against LGBT Americans.  Until that happens (and you'll see Sarah Palin pole dance first) all he's doing is making an ass out of himself and utter fools out of people who can be beguiled with a phony smile and some flattery.

Comments

[Liz]

It's sad that Warren is reaching out to a couple of high profile lesbians to show how "inclusive" he is, and fooling them into believing he's something he's not. Melissa can say whatever she wants. If Warren tells her he likes her and she believes it, fine. I know already know what he thinks of my family. We're sinners and sluts, no better than child molestors. My DP and I want to know when he'll own up to his hurtful comments and announce on TV that the love of a gay couples is valuable, and not the same as incest. He needs to retract those things. Then... maybe...

[ArizonaDad]

He won't chnage. He'll whisper an encourageing word here and there, and some people will lap it up - cause HE'S Rick Warren. He'll never say he sorry for diminishing our lives because he isn't sorry. And if he mentions gays in the invocation - and he might - it will just be a squishy "let's all come together" moment, then the next day it'll be back to the hate.