Location: Light Up The Night For Equality

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dcomfort
Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 18 2008, 6:50 PM EST | Post edited: Dec 18 2008, 6:50 PM EST
As you have probably heard, Rick Warren has been invited to give the invocation at the Inaugural. There has been a huge uproar in the LGBT community as you can probably imagine. It has hit the Washington Post and NY Times. I think Obama basically did this to give out a signal, particularly to the evangelical community, that he is not going to be beholden to the LGBT community, despite his relatively strong LGBT stances.

There is a protest this coming Saturday, Light up the Night, which is basically a candlelight vigil calling for Equal Rights. I am thinking we need to use this occasion to protest the invitation of Rick Warren to the inauguration. Some people are saying it takes away from the spirit of the occasion - peaceful, inclusive, etc. But we weren't the ones who threw the hand grenade under the door of the LGBT community - Rick Warren did that when he compared homosexuality to incest and pedophilia. And then Obama sanctioned his views when he invited him to the Inauguration.

Some people are suggesting we just pass out literature asking people to sign petitions, send emails and make calls to the Inaugural committee. This is all well and good but it a pretty weak response in my mind. We don't want to be perceived too much as an angry mob, but we have to respond. We would be complicit in our oppression if we did not respond.

We need to respond in a peaceful but vocal manner. We need to say that people like Rick Warren do not deserve a national stage that sanctions their extreme, homophobic views.

Regards,
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Zlick
Zlick
1. RE: Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 18 2008, 7:00 PM EST | Post edited: Dec 18 2008, 7:00 PM EST
Yeah, I think we ought to RESIST making this part of Saturday's event, but it will up to each group to decide.

I'm of the opnion it completely detracts from the spirit of the proceedings. I love the accidental timing of Light Up the Night so soon after the No Mob Veto advertisement, and I don't want to see that beautiful timing squandered.

I'm going to bring up at our planning meeting tonight whether we want to have the petition available at the information table for people to sign, but I'm going to recommend against it for us here in Los Angeles.

But at MOST, all we'll do is have the petition available. Perhaps the press will be asking individuals about it as part of their coverage of LutN. If they were to ask me, they wouldn't get any red meat to feature on the 11:00 news.

I think this was a bonehead move by Obama, and I'm just going to chalk it up to the Democratic Presidential curse of making a big gay fuckup your first order of business.

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nmguy
2. RE: Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 18 2008, 7:20 PM EST | Post edited: Dec 18 2008, 7:20 PM EST
I am sick of people being so passive and thinking that it will change peoples minds. PEOPLE WAKE UP !!!! FIGHT people compare our movement to the Civil Rights Movement .. They fought staged protests etc. Stop being such babies people FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS they are not going to hand them to us if we sit back see where that has gotten us Rick Warren 2  out of 2 found this valuable. Do you?    
Zlick
Zlick
3. RE: Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 18 2008, 7:52 PM EST | Post edited: Dec 18 2008, 7:52 PM EST
Well, there's a protest planned for Warren's Saddle Back Church. Let's take the fight there, if that's what you want. I just don't think we should take ANY FIGHT to Light Up the Night. 1  out of 2 found this valuable. Do you?    

Jessica_
4. RE: Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 19 2008, 11:24 PM EST | Post edited: Dec 19 2008, 11:24 PM EST
I'm all for standing up and making a statement. I just think that Light Up The Night should be conducted the way Light Up The Night was planned. I'm all for additional actions to bring attention to this, AND for calls and messages to the inaugural committee, AND for inauguration-related protests if they persist in keeping Rick Warren as a presence. Do you find this valuable?    
JonPincus
JonPincus
5. RE: Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 20 2008, 1:45 AM EST | Post edited: Dec 20 2008, 1:45 AM EST
I think Zlick and Jessica are making some very good points here.... Do you find this valuable?    
The_Dave_Machine
The_Dave_Machine
6. RE: Rick Warren and Light up the Night
Dec 20 2008, 2:29 AM EST | Post edited: Dec 20 2008, 2:29 AM EST
"Well, there's a protest planned for Warren's Saddle Back Church. Let's take the fight there, if that's what you want. I just don't think we should take ANY FIGHT to Light Up the Night."
Light Up the Night needs to stay "on message." LUTN needs to be its own thing.

However, you can go to Equality California -- www.EQCA.ORG -- and sign the petition regarding Saddleback. You may want to register there before you try to do that.. They had collected more than 8,000 signatures the last time I read about it, but that number would be a bit higher now. 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?