Rick Warren -- Out of the Closet!

[camera obscura]

"Rick Warren, the pastor who will deliver the invocation next month for Barack Obama, apparently is doing a little image-adjusting in West Hollywood.

We got this pic, taken yesterday at Out of the Closet thrift store. That's Warren on the right (naturally), his arm around Erol Sarabi, who is openly gay. Warren, who supports the ban on gay marriage which has not sat real well with some Obama supporters, bought 8 to 10 books, two of which were his own (that doesn't help with his Amazon ranking). Warren told Sarabi not to believe everything he reads, that he does a lot for AIDS research and was happy that Out of the Closet does free AIDS testing."

Picture and link: http://www.tmz.com/2008/12/23/rick-warren-out-of-the-closet/

--

Personally I think that beyond the hilarious headline this is significant. GLBT activists and allies have become an important political force. What other mega-pastor has had to soften his anti-gay stance? most of them are out and proud about their bigotry. The fact that Warren is even trying to cover it up shows that people are a lot less tolerant of hardline fundamentalism and is, in its own weird way, progress.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[jonnyblitz]

3. awww, come on. not all repugnant homophobes are gay.

:(

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. None of them are, IMHO

What closet homophobes are is twisted, fucked up, psychologically damaged - nothing to do with being anything other than ill, which, in turn is not gay. IMHO to be gay, is to be self-proclaimed and free of fear about one's sexuality.

[gblady]

15. wow....

"IMHO to be gay, is to be self-proclaimed and free of fear about one's sexuality."

not my experience at all....unless we're defining the word differently.

[camera obscura]

5. I think you mean triplet

Cuz he already has a twin:

[marylanddem]

9. A few more pounds would make them identical.

[mdmc]

2. progress indeed

[Lex]

4. political theater

nt

[camera obscura]

7. Of course, what I'm saying is that the fact that they even have to undergo political theatrics

is a baby step forward.

Like how pastors had to go from being openly racist to "I'm not racist, I think black people are fine, just not around me" to, by and large, accepting the reality of racial progress.

[monmouth]

11. That's exactly what that is. The feedback is not what Warren expected,

both from the Left and his own people. He's a disgusting POS, and his next sermon should be about the sin of sloth. He needs to drop about 140 pounds, he's a heart attack waiting to happen....Hmmmm. The poor guy who's burdened with that arm does not look all that pleased either. He knows an opportunistic prick when he sees one....Ugh.

[Turbineguy]

6. It's the money.

Being a fundie preacher is about the money.

It's not about God or Jesus or the Bible or any of that stuff. If the Syrians and Palastinians would pay these guys they'd be preaching that the Israelis are the most evil bunch on the planet.

Follow the cash.

[patrice]

8. Not good enough for me: I need to hear RW et al speak up about their Blaspheming ways. That is

afterall the source of their aggressions against the Civil Rights of the Gay Community . . . amongst other things.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. He hasn't softened his anti-gay stance; he's gone stealth with it.

But, it's not just his anti-gay stance that is a problem.

It's his anti-woman stance, his equating abortion with the Holocaust stance, it's his belief that he has a "broader agenda" than older releases of the Evangelical Hatemonger™, it's how he admitted he differs from Dobson only in tone, it's the fact he is a creationist, it's his desire to build his own nation despite his clear hatred toward science and facts and people of different or no religion.

There is more hate to this one man than just gay hate.

Also, do you know how easy it is to get a "TMZ photographer" to take your picture? That's publicity worth it's weight in pieces of silver.

[Soylent Brice]

13. hmmmm

if you look at it from an extremely cynical point of view, he could be just as full of shit as any other money grubbing whore.

pandering to hate makes money. it's been proven in the last 8 yrs. is their a possibility he may just be the self-proclaimed "gay-hater" to sell books and shit...?

it's a stretch, but certainly plausible.

most of your televangelists turn out to be lying, hypocritical assholes anyways.

[closeupready]

14. Why is Obama going forward with this HATE-MONGER?

???

[graywarrior]

16. I watched him the other day.

My gaydar went ding ding ding.

[closeupready]

17. How can you SAY THAT? He said the other day he wants 2 have sex with every beautiful woman he meets.

I mean, what is more macho man, rabidly heterosexual than THAT, I ask you?

:evilgrin:

[graywarrior]

18. Maybe the New York Dolls?

[Subdivisions]

19. Erol Sarabi should be ashamed

to be seen and photographed with that homophobic bigot.