Oh Holy Fight

A fat 82 percent of Americans like the way Barack Obama is handling his transition to the presidency, according to a CNN poll. Surprising? Not at all. Since his election, Obama has turned into Middle America’s sexiest suitor. He’s made overtures to everybody from dog lovers to the military to big business -- while keeping his liberal base reasonably happy. Well, most of his liberal base.

The big exception: gay leaders. Many of them are upset that Obama chose Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration. Warren, of course, opposes gay marriage -- a litmus test for some in our community.

As a run-of-the-mill rank-and-file gay guy, I’m OK with the invitation to Warren for three reasons.

First, Warren is not a hater. He doesn’t condemn gays as people, and he actually seems comfortable around us. He also made a point recently to say he doesn’t equate homosexuality with incest and pedophilia, as he seemed to indicate in an earlier interview. On the other hand, his mega-church in suburban L.A. will not accept sexually active gays as members. (Yeah, that’s smart: Tell gays never to have sex. That’ll make them well-adjusted human beings, don’t you think?) Still, overall, he’s friendly toward gays as people. It’s just the abstract that freaks him out.

Second, Warren does not oppose civil unions for gay people. I think churches have the right to forbid single-sex marriages, though they’re being bigoted and myopic in doing so. But the government doesn’t have a moral right to deny legal unions to any adults who seek them.

Third, we all should have learned many lessons from George Bush’s presidency. One is that, in a nation as diverse as ours, you cannot rule as an ideologue. You have to embrace folks of all shades, except for racists and other extremely hateful people. Otherwise, we become starkly polarized, and nothing gets done. Obama said from the beginning that he would try to erase Blue and Red from our maps. Inviting Warren reaches out to evangelical Christians who feel disenfranchised by liberal Democrats. Hopefully, by meshing all viewpoints, Obama can persuade everyone to be more accepting of others.