Several gay and lesbian organizations and their supporters assembled near Ebenezer Baptist Church on the morning of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration to protest the appearance of Pastor Rick Warren as keynote speaker of the day's festivities.


 

According to officials from the King Center, the conservative pastor was invited to deliver the keynote address during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service last May -- well before recent controversy regarding Warren erupted. His stop in Atlanta came one day before his delivering the invocation at [then] President-Elect Obama's swearing-in on January 20.
Photo by Matt Hennie
"The selection of Pastor Rick Warren as the keynote speaker in celebration of Dr. King is an insult to the King legacy and all he labored to achieve and must be met in the spirit of non-violent resistance," said Craig Washington, founding member of the Atlanta Black LGBT Coalition and protest organizer. "Warren's controversial and narrow views on the nature of homosexuality, committed gay and lesbian partnerships, and a woman's right to choose combined with his highly influential voice threaten to turn back years of progress in the fight for justice and equality for all people."
Around 200 sign-carrying protesters from all walks of life took part in the demonstration. However, the most notable demonstrator may well have been Winston Johnson, a long-time friend of Coretta Scott King. Johnson, 67, carried a simple sign that a bore a picture of his deceased partner, Leon Allen, and himself in a loving embrace. Under the picture, the caption read "together 42 years and not allowed to marry."
"I am not here for myself," Johnson said. "I'm here for people who come after me. Rick Warren has used terms like "pedophilia" and "incest" to describe us. That is just a horrible message for young people like myself back in the 1950's to hear, especially from such a high profile guy. I supported Obama financially and every way that I could but just because he has the great Dr. [Joseph] Lowery giving the benediction doesn't justify Warren giving the invocation at tomorrow's swearing-in. To me, it's like having a member of the Ku Klux Klan in this King celebration. There are some people you don't have to include to be inclusive."
Photo by Matt Hennie
Atlanta resident Jeffrey Brower brought his 13-month-old twin daughters to the protest and said Warren's participation was an insult to the memory of Dr. King. "I think Rick Warren is cheap and pandering," Brower said. "He doesn't stand for the inclusion that Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for and I felt that between now and the inauguration, we need to let Rick Warren know that we are looking for inclusion, not exclusion. I hope this demonstration sends Mr. Warren a message."
Kenneth Johnson, an analyst for the federal government in Atlanta, felt that he had not choice but to participate in the protest. "I think it's really important that we be visible and vocalize that we aren't in support of Rick Warren being here on an occasion where we are supposed to be celebrating liberty and justice for all," he said. "This man who will be in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, of all churches, has a long history of not supporting liberty and justice for all."
Warren is the founder and senior pastor of the evangelical mega church Saddleback Church located in Lake Forest, California. It's the fourth largest church in the United States with over 22.000 members. In addition, he is a successful author of many Christian books. In recent months, Warren publicly supported California Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to revoke the right of same-sex couples to marry. Saddleback Church has invoked a policy by which gays are denied membership unless they repent. In an interview with NBC correspondent Ann Curry, Warren stated that even if biological basis for being gay is shown, gay people should suppress who they are.
Warren  also opposes women's rights to abortion and birth control, while comparing abortion to the Jewish Holocaust and says that women should be subservient to men. However, Warren's ministry can be credited with addressing social concerns such as HIV/AIDS, poverty and global warming.
Photo by Matt Hennie
The Atlanta Black LGBT Coalition was formed shortly after the Presidential election in November and is a group of black LGBT activists who are fully committed to achieving social justice through securing the human rights of the gay community. "We see the connection between racism, sexism, class oppression, homophobia, and so forth," Washington said. Warren was unavailable for comment.