The McClurkin issue

http://www.americablog.com/2008/01/obama-and-gays-again.html

Monday, January 21, 2008

Obama and the gays, again
by John Aravosis (DC) · 1/21/2008 06:02:00 PM ET · Link
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Obama's relations with the gay community were off to a great start yesterday morning. Obama had just addressed the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, MLK's own church (text of the speech and video here), and Obama went out of his way in the speech to call the black community to task for having "scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them."

Not bad, considering candidates don't usually admonish their own in order to get votes.

Then, word started getting around (i.e., I started getting lots of emails) that Obama was embracing yet another homophobic friend-of-Bush, a la the controversy a few months ago in which Donnie McClurkin, a gospel singer (and Bush supporter) who advocates that gays can (and should) be "cured" emceed an Obama fundraiser. This time around, it's Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a black minister who says he's been asked by the Obama campaign to travel around the country on their behalf. The controversy? The minister's church runs a ministry that tries to cure gays.

Or at least they did. The ministry's Web site no longer contains the page promoting their anti-gay/ex-gay ministry, but I still have a copy that you can see below:


(click image for a larger copy)

The really important part is the lead that reads:
We are pleased to announce the creation of “ The Way, The Truth and The Life”, a program created to provide Christ Centered instruction for those seeking freedom from homosexuality, lesbianism, prostitution, sex addiction and other habitual sins.
Oops.

Why I'm actually not that upset about all of this (and much more), after the jump...

Caldwell, for his part, issued the following statement today:
"Metanoia Ministries is not an active ministry of my church. It was run by an outside group and I was not aware that it was still linked to my website. Neither Senator Obama nor his staff knew of this outside ministry, nor have they expressed any agreement with my church's beliefs on gay rights. I support Senator Obama because of his ability to bring Americans together, not because of our agreement or disagreement on any one issue."
Well, not so fast. The ex-gay group wasn't "linked" from Caldwell's Web site, they were a part of Caldwell's Web site. An entire page was devoted to their "ex-gay" services, and the director of the ex-gay program, Barbara Hicks, has an email address at Caldwell's church. There's nothing outside about this at all (though it is good that Caldwell is feeling the need to distance himself from the "cure the gays" crowd).

I've talked to the Obama campaign about this, and they assure me of a few things:

1. Caldwell has not, and will not, be asked to do anything for the campaign (and this means, we hope, that Obama won't be doing appearances with the man any time soon).
2. Caldwell was simply wrong when he told the papers this weekend that the campaign asked him to travel around the country on their behalf. In other words, Caldwell was freelancing when he called the paper for an interview.

The reason the McClurkin controversy really got my goat wasn't that Obama had scheduled a homophobic superstar to emcee a campaign event. (I doubt Obama knew about McClurkin's dark side when the event was scheduled.) What bothered me was that even after Obama learned that McClurkin was a real jerk he still kept him on the schedule (and surprise, surprise, McClurkin then spent half an hour at the event railing against gays). From what we know, Caldwell isn't McClurkin - Caldwell may embrace the "ex-gays," but he's not an ex-gay leader like McClurkin (though I'm not going to give the guy any PFLAG awards). But more importantly, Caldwell doesn't appear to have any role at all in the Obama campaign, nor will he (though he did appear previously at a few Obama events). If that's true, and coming on the heels of Obama's rather gutsy pro-gay comments at MLK's church yesterday morning, I'm a lot less troubled by this controversy than I was the previous.

Bottom line: Obama gets some some major chits for what he did yesterday morning, and with that in mind, I think on this one we can give him a pass.

UPDATE: A reader emailed me this link, noting that Caldwell was invited by Obama's campaign to appear at the McClurkin fundraiser. I knew that already, and the campaign didn't lie to me about it - in fact they acknowledged that he was there. But, the issue isn't what the campaign did before they knew he was a problem, the issue is what they do now. If they say he's not going to be asked to do anything for the campaign, until proven otherwise, that's a darn good answer.

Obama pressured on gay ‘cure’ preacher
By Alexander Bolton
Posted: 10/24/07 07:35 PM
The nation’s biggest gay rights group is trying to force Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) to cancel presidential campaign event with a controversial preacher who claims he was homosexual but has been cured.


The Human Rights Campaign has expressed its strong reservations to Obama over his campaign-sponsored tour that features gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.



The influential organization, representing a powerful Democratic constituency, let Obama’s campaign know that it would issue a public demand if Obama did not immediately cancel the event, said a person who had been briefed on the exchange.


Obama will not be present on the so-called Embrace the Change Tour, but public denouncement by the Human Rights Campaign could damage him in his quest for the White House.