i just really don't get this. If Warren loves gays, why does he say we need to 'repent' of our 'homosexual sin' in order to become members and serve in his church? This baffles me.

Happy Holidays,

EP

Tammy Lynn Michaels is not Melissa Etheridge's wife. They didn't get married, remember? They had the same chance the rest of us did, they didn't do it. I did. I have a wife, I have a marriage. They have neither and so forgive me if I ask both of them to shut the hell up as spokespeople for married gay folk like me.

The words may not matter to some people (like Michaels', who said on Oprah following Prop 8's passage that if the word 'marriage' is such a big deal, we should just take a 'civil union' instead) --but for me , the words do matter -- and they certainly matter to Rick Warren and his ilk.

It's not hard to see why we continue to have our asses handed to us by these people (elitists on left, evangelicals on the right, politicians everywhere), when all it takes is a hug and an autograph to sell our dignity, and the dignity of fellow LGBT people down the river--oh yeah, that's all it took, read the whole post people.

So did Melissa get Warren to dump the language on his SaddlebackFamily.com website concerning gays? This page:
http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/membership/group_finder/faqs_smallgroup.asp?id=7509
Which said, among other things:

Because membership in a church is an outgrowth of accepting the Lordship and leadership of Jesus in one’s life, someone unwilling to repent of their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted as a member at Saddleback Church. That does not mean they cannot attend church – we hope they do! God’s Word has the power to change our lives.

I feel pretty betrayed by this, actually. Melissa Etheridge is, of course, entitled to her own personal opinion (as is Warren), but to presume to tell the LGBTQ community to not be angry with Warren and reach out to him is insulting to my intelligence, integrity and sense of personal dignity. Etheridge admits herself that she knew very little about Warren before the inauguration kerfuffle, but yet she feels she now has the authority to say he's just been misunderstood and actually "loves" gays and believes in equal rights for LGBTQ folks? Highly doubtful. I think he flattered her and now can use her as his token gay "friend" (as in, "I'm not a bigot. Look I have gay friends," and we all know that when you say that you really must not be a bigot, when you need to qualify it like that). Argh.