Obama picks bigot and Prop 8 supporter to deliver inaugural invocation

Earlier today we posted about the movement to get President-elect Obama to choose Mark Doty to deliver a poem during his inauguration next month. Alas, that honor went to someone else and now comes word that Obama has chosen the Reverend Rick Warren (pictured above) to deliver the invocation during the inauguration.

Unfortunately, it's not a choice many gay folks are going to be happy about for good reason.

Read why this is definitely a WTF moment after the jump!

Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, has made a name for himself by moving away from much of the rhetoric of the far right to focus on issues such as poverty. Alas, when it comes to gay issues, Warren doesn't rate.

Said Warren recently about gay marriage and Prop 8: 

For 5,000 years, EVERY culture and EVERY religion -- not just Christianity -- has defined marriage as a contract between men and women. There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2% of our population. This is one issue that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have publicly opposed the redefinition of marriage to include so-called 'gay marriage.' Even some gay leaders, like Al Rantel of KABC oppose watering down the definition of marriage...Of course, my longtime opposition is well known. This is not a political issue, it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about. There is no doubt where we should stand on this issue...This will be a close contest, maybe even decided by a few thousand votes. I urge you to VOTE YES on Proposition 8 -- to preserve the biblical definition of marriage. Don't forget to vote!"

That's a line of BS we've heard plenty of times before. Even worse, Warren went on to spout the Sherri Shepherd line of reasoning that if Prop 8 didn't pass, then religions couldn't criticize homosexuality because it would be hate speech. This is a flat-out lie.

President Elect Barack Obama and Pastor Rick Warren at the Civil Forum on the Presidency at the Saddleback Church August 16, 2008 in Lake Forest, California
Photo credit: Getty Images/David McNew

Warren has also said being gay isn't the "worst sin" and that he recently had dinner with a gay couple so he can't be a homophobe. There is some solid reasoning for you.

I have to say, I'm a little stunned by this choice. Given how the gay community got screwed over in California, the choice of Warren feels like salt in the wound and Barack needs to rescind this invitation post haste.