[Sosfbay-discuss] CAGreens: insist Obama un-invite anti-gay pastor; suggest Dems helped Prop. 8 passage]

[Drew Johnson]

News Advisory
THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA        www.cagreens.org


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 22, 2008
Contact:  Cres Vellucci, press secretary, 916.996-9170 cvellucci at cagreens.org
	      Susan King, spokesperson, 415.823-5524 sking at cagreens.org
	      Daniel Brezenoff, spokesperson, 310.422-2211 dbrezenoff at cagreens.org


State Green Party demands Obama un-invite California
pastor Rick Warren to inauguration, suggests President-elect,
Democratic Party ‘ambiguity' may have helped passage of Prop. 8

SACRAMENTO – The Green Party of California – noting the Democratic Party's
national platform does not support same sex marriage – is demanding that
President-elect Obama un-invite pro-Prop 8 pastor Rick Warren to perform
the invocation for the Obama inauguration.

Further, Greens charged, it quite possibly was the mixed message sent from
the Democratic Party, and the President-elect himself that contributed to
the passage of Prop. 8 in California – which bans same sex marriage –
despite Obama's landslide victory here.

"The Green Party in California has supported same sex marriage since it
first published its platform in 1992. Not so for the Democratic Party. That
ambiguity of the Democrats led to confusion on Prop. 8 among voters," said
Shane Que Hee, GPCA Platform co-coordinator.

"The national Democratic Party platform does not explicitly support same
sex marriage, and only this year did the California Democratic Party put it
in their platform. That should speak volumes. No one should be surprised by
the President-elect, who does not support same-sex marriage explicitly, and
only opposed Prop. 8 on state's rights reasons," he said.

The Green Party of the United States has echoed the call by the California
Green Party, asking that if President-elect Barack Obama calls himself a
"fierce advocate for equality" for gay people, why has he invited Rev. Rick
Warren to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration?

Greens said the choice of Pastor Warren signals that Obama may repeat the
Clinton Administration's approach to gay rights. Clinton, taking gay
support for granted, signed the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act into law that
defended marriage exclusively for heterosexuals, and authorized the 'Don't
Ask, Don't Tell' military policy. Obama's opposition to full same-sex
marriage rights suggests he does not believe in full and equal rights for
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Others have suggested Pastor Warren's biases go further, noting his
statement that members of the Jewish community and "non-Christians" will be
denied "salvation."

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