ATL Black Gay Activists Protest Warren as MLK Day Speaker

More protests in Atlanta, where anti-gay, anti-choice and anti-science televangelist Rev. Rick Warren is scheduled as the keynote speaker the upcoming MLK Day service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King once served as pastor. Yesterday afternoon the Atlanta Black LGBT Coalition held a press conference on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol to object to the right-wing pastor. Video at LOL Darian.

Craig Washington, founding member of the coalition seen above with WSB-TV's Jovita Moore,  challenges the King Center to rescind an invitation "which contradicts the vision and spirit" of gay ally Coretta Scott King who built the organization.

Washington describes Warren as a "deceptively divisive demagogue" who "claims to befriend gays yet his church does not admit gays unless they repent their very nature. He compares women who choose to have abortions to Nazis, pro-choice supporters to Holocaust deniers."  Washington questions Warren's much-publicized HIV/AIDS prevention work in Uganda "where he supports abstinence-only programs based on ideology and not science" and his anti-gay evangelical partners "who hold condom burnings and demand that homosexuality be made illegal."

This year's King Day service takes place on January 19, the day before Obama will be inaugurated as the nation’s first black president, and, where Warren will deliver the inaugural invocation. On the last King Day, then-Democratic hopeful Barack Obama spoke to the church the day before the national holiday and delivered a well-received challenge to black churches to renounce homophobia.

Young Atlanta-based black gay activist and popular blogger Darian Aaron belongs to the Coalition and tells Rod 2.0 Warren's selection "is an affront to the legacy of Dr. King and all that he labored and died for. The invitation by the King Center and President Obama to give Warren's mean-spirited and discriminatory views a national platform during two of  the nation's most prestigious events suggests that it is still acceptable to publicly hate gays and lesbians."

Atlanta LGBT Coalition Press Conference On Warren [LOL Darian]

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"Pastor Warren, Would You Let a White Supremacist Speak at Your Church?" [R20]
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Behind the Gay-Friendly Faces [The Advocate + PDF]
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Comments

[Baltimore Femme]

Work it out, Atlanta black gays!

I'm in Baltimore and me and a few queens are standing behind y'all. Best of luck bringing awareness to this evil, bigoted man.

Coretta and Martin would roll over in their graves.

[305]

Thanks for keeping up on this story. It probably not very popular to go against such a huge church ((or the president)) but we have to make priority for our own community.

[Mel Smith]

Well, our heterosexual "brothers and sisters" are showing that they don't give a damn about us. Anyway, God bless Mr. Washington and the other black gay activists in Atlanta; I wish I could be with them.

[Kyle]

There is not much they can do at this point but protest. The hateful Warren will still go ahead and give his sermon or speech or whatever you want to call it.

But they are making they voices known and I commend them for not being afraid. Too many of us black LGBTs are afraid.

[Curry]

I'm not really sure how effective their protest and demonstration can be. Because the King Center (just like our President Elect Barack Obama) will not renege on such a high profile invitation.

But I support their right to be heard.

[Junior]

Rod ...

Thanks a million for this story and mentioning Darian Aaron! He is one of my favorite bloggers and I have been reading him and at Clik for about two years. I am new to "the life" and newly out of the closet (24 years old) and Darian's writing on religion helped me get through many difficult nights.

Will this protest be successful? Yes and no. Rick Warren will still be speaking next week at Ebenezer and in Washington. But as black gay men and lesbians it seems this is very important. We are making ourselves heard.

Thanks again for the story.

[Nathan James]

Rick Warren does serve at least one useful purpose: He makes clear the kind of behavior we as people of good conscience should avoid. I always get upset whenever I see people purporting to be men or women of God, preaching and encouraging hatred.

I agree with Darian Aaron that giving warren his national spotlight is akin to giving people permission to hate gays and lesbians. Until bigots like Warren are publicly repudiated, they and their homophobic rants will continue to proliferate, and we will continue being beaten and killed for what and who we are.

[Mel Smith]

Curry, the protestors represent US. Their voices are definitely affective because people see that we will not let anyone disrespect who we are. Are you all aware of how many gay people of color helped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Therefore, those protestors are representing us.

[libhomo]

Rick Warren deserves all the criticism he gets and more. Good for the protesters.

[Viktor]

I hope things go ok down there