We, the board of directors of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, our nation's oldest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Transgender Democratic organization, are writing to express our profound disappointment with your selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration. The irony of this selection is not lost on us. On a day of unparalleled historic significance, a powerful moment that will represent an end to hundreds of years of exclusion and discrimination, a person who openly advocates discrimination against LGBT Americans will deliver the invocation meant to bless us all.
This past November, on the same day as your historic election, Californians voted by a slim margin to take away the right of same-sex couples to marry. The passage of Proposition 8 was a painful episode in an otherwise electrifying and empowering election, which ended one of the most divisive eras in our country's history. California's Proposition 8 was one of three successful ballot measures across the country which denied full equality for LGBT Americans.
Rick Warren was one of the most vocal and ardent supporters of Proposition 8, which you yourself opposed as "... divisive and discriminatory[.]" In his own words, Warren has equated same-sex marriage with incest, pedophilia, and polygamy. In addition, he excludes LGBT people from participation in his church.
The invitation to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a great honor, and it carries with it an extraordinary degree of significance and symbolism. You have bestowed this honor on a principal architect of a campaign to write inequality into a state constitution. You have given a person who openly advocates denying the equal protection of the law to a discrete group of people, and uses inflammatory language to incite anger and disgust toward that group, a prominent place at an incredible moment in our nation's history. This is deeply regrettable.
Your choice of such a person to deliver the inaugural invocation as a sign of inclusion indicates to many of us either a lack of understanding of our fight for equal rights or a lack of concern about the bigotry, discrimination, and violence that we face. That an LGBT marching band has been invited to represent the LGBT community in the inaugural parade does nothing to soften this blow.
Like all people concerned with civil rights, the LGBT community fervently supported your election because we believed that you would work to create an inclusive era of equality, and that you would call upon all Americans to join you in this effort. At this moment, however, we wonder whether our trust has been misplaced and whether we have been dispensed with in the name of political expediency. We are concerned that your decision to give prominence to a person who has fought to take civil rights away from Americans is a harbinger of how you will respond to what will be your sworn duty to protect and defend our federal constitution and each American's right to the equal protection of the law.
This is not what we expected from you, no less on the day of your swearing-in as president, and it is a true disappointment to our organization and to the broader LGBT community. For this reason, many of us have come to feel a diminished enthusiasm to attend and participate in an inaugural celebration that would otherwise represent an historic occasion for all Americans.
We hope that you will reconsider your decision. There are numerous, well-known spiritual leaders who work tirelessly for social justice. These leaders speak out against bigotry and lies rather than employ them. They represent change and inclusivity, and would give all of us hope for what is possible in our country and in this world under an Obama presidency. We would suggest any one of these over a person who preaches an exclusive and intolerant approach to religious belief and civil society.
We do not expect to agree with every decision you will make, but we will continue to strongly support you in every effort you undertake to provide full equality for all Americans, in all walks of life. We ask you to consider the significance of this particular decision and its impact on a community that continues to struggle every day for full equality.
Respectfully,
Julius Turman and Susan B. Christian
Co-Chairs, Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
The letter also was signed by the other board members, including incoming co-chair Charles Sheehan.