[UPDATE: check out this coverage of the event. Rev. Sidden, the white gay pastor recruited to go before the crowd, didn’t address the issue at hand: “Sidden’s appearance was notably brief and anti-climactic: He said a short prayer to the auditorium at the very beginning of the program, when the arena was only about half full, and then he left.” McClurkin also dodged comment on the anti-gay statements he’s made in the past, or allegations that he’s not exactly “ex-gay” any more. Even worse, in a NYT article, Obama gave a video welcome at the concert, where he declared McClurkin one of his favorite singers and said nothing about homophobia in the religious black community. Way to go.]
There were a couple of dozen gay and lesbians carrying rainbow flags in protest of the appearance of recloseted/decloseted, Grammy-winning anti-gay singer Donnie McClurkin on Sunday at a Barack Obama campaign-sponsored gospel concert in Columbia, South Carolina. The show went on and he was welcomed by the crowd with cheers. (AP):
Alvin McEwan of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters is based in Columbia, SC, and he has an on-scene report of the LGBT vigil.“We're here,” Donnie McClurkin told a cheering crowd. “We're here and we're glad we're here.”
McClurkin, who has angered gay rights groups by saying homosexuality is a choice, told the crowd the musical acts were there “in the name of unity” and “in the name of change.”
…Obama did not attend the event, but in a video played for more than 2,000 at the Township Auditorium he called the evening's acts “inspirational talent” that were among his favorites.
The people in the crowd agreed with their feet, standing and waving and clapping hands to the blaring music, regularly joining in to sing.
A couple of hours ago, I took part in the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement’s vigil that was held outside Columbia’s Township Auditorium.Despite all of the controversy over the last week about this, the problem at its core is that Alvin watched closeted black gay men file into this concert as a black woman hurled anti-gay comments at those participating in the vigil. More after the jump.…I am pleased with what happened. We had a small but determined group who used dignity and order to get our message out. It is interesting as to the spin that may be put out by the anti-gay industry, as well as the media, about the controversy.
No matter how many times it was emphasized that none of us care about McClurkin’s personal decisions regarding his orientation, folks have continued to claim that we are angry at McClurkin’s belief that he is “ex-gay” rather than his statements against the lgbt community.
Alvin:
The other ironic thing was that as she went on her tirade, I recognized a few of the faces going into the concert as those belonging to gay black men I knew.Go read the rest. It’s truly tragic that the closet door is not only shut, but padlocked because these same-gender-loving men — and the women who prefer not to know — are participating in encouraging the spread of HIV/AIDS through bible-beating and fear of rejection from the religious black community.As more attendees went in, I recognized quite a few more gay black men.
And let me tell you from the start that these men were not going into this concert looking to embrace McClurkin’s message of being “delivered.”
These men probably went in, clapped loudly, danced in religious ecstacy . . .
and then went back home to their psychological closets.
…For every so-called religious statement coming from her mouth, I could hear closet door after closet door slamming shut.
I could see even more black gay men (many of them married) trolling down the streets in the darkness of the night looking for a physical fix because they have been bamboozled to think that a quick thrust in the dark is all they deserve as gay men.
Related:
* The Advocate's exclusive interview with Barack Obama
* Mike Signorile interview with Rev. Andy Sidden; Team Obama rejected two gay black pastors
* Team Obama: recruiting a white pastor=bad idea
* 'Ex-gay' McClurkin's alleged lover: I was with him after he prayed away the gay
* HRC to Obama: no place for a homophobe on the stage in SC
* Black media ignores the Obama / anti-gay recloseted McClurkin controversy
* McClurkin bobs and weaves, Team Obama scrambles as HRC lowers the boom
* Why is Obama touring with 'ex-gay' homophobe Donnie McClurkin?
* Obama won't back down from SC concert with homobigot ex-gay Donnie McClurkin
* Donnie McClurkin isn't the only homophobe on the bill with Obama
* Audio from my appearance on the Michelangelo Signorile show on Sirius Out Q discussing the dustup.
13 Responses to “McClurkin hangs tough at Obama concert”
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Sometimes a gospel concert is just a gospel concert, and not a teachable moment. But that would be a good project for Hillary: hire McClurkin to perform, then when the auditorium is full of black homophobes, have some respected gay black leaders speak against homophobia. They’d have to be willing to go beyond “Hate the sin but love the sinner,” though.
It became more than just a gospel concert when the Obama campaign knew it blew it by not vetting McClurkin’s past anti-gay statements, and then it added the openly gay pastor to the bill as a “compromise,” and Sidden didn’t address it either. What the Obama camp ultimately did and didn’t do to address the issue, is quite telling, particularly if one is black and gay.
And it’s still telling even if one is straight and white; I can’t help seeing a parallel to the Southern Strategy writ small. Obama’s camp seems to have decided that the way to win in SC is to throw gays and lesbians under the bus. The problem, of course, is that it’s a morally unconscionable decision, and I know damn well that when a leader will throw some people under the bus, they’ll throw anyone under the bus if they think it necessary. Barack has lost my vote.
Obama hired the McClurkin who has sung for millions, whose three solo albums have topped the Billboard charts and Gospel and secular R&B play lists, who won a Grammy in 2003 for his CD, AGAIN, who wrote Oprah Winfrey’s favorite song, his hit single, “Stand.”
Obama did not hire the self-hating pedophile victim who blames his gayness on being raped as a youth, whose faith tells him his homosexuality is a “curse.” To resolve his cognitive dissonance McClurkin irrationally but understandably claims to be “cured” of being homosexual. We all know this is impossible, so McClurkin deserves our tolerance and understanding, not our hatred.
Further, Obama’s message is clear: he’s not a homophobe, because he requested a gay pastor from his own church to open the shows. Further, Obama is not [literally] embracing homophobia because he did not hug McClurkin; he did not shake his hand, etc. because he did not appear on stage.
Finally, once you rub out your bus tread marks, please don’t vote for either the homophobic-pastor-courting Hillary, or the but-my-wife-supports-gay-marriage having it both ways Edwards. I urge you to vote only for a true supporter of full equality for gays.
Anyone else watch Andrew Sullivan on Maher’s show Friday night?
He made a big point about supporting Obama simply because Hillary is a political machine, triangulating her war/terra stance (specifically the Iran Revolutionary Guard resolution) to position herself as a moderate in the general election to gain the most votes.
Obama has decided that he will gain more christy-democrat votes than lose gay votes by endorsing homo-bigot clergymen. Sullivan again sells out his brethren without conscience.
Why are people looking at the McClurkin episode as a one-off? Pam, I’m not sure if you heard, but at the Obama rally on Boston common last week he also didn’t mention marriage equality or gay rights at all, and neither did our Democratic governor, Deval Patrick. That the marriage equality win wasn’t even addressed indirectly was a conspicuous sign that if Obama’s not going to stand behind progressive values in Massachusetts he’s not going to do it anywhere. And you’d better believe he won’t have a workaround for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that’s of any importance to his agenda.
Has anyone else here been to see him and also conspicuously missed any reference to gay rights? I think we’re starting to see a pattern here.
As for Edwards - I’d rather half a couple support marriage equality than neither member.
I caught Maher too. Yeah, Sullivan’s tantrum was just weird. Especially when he started arguing with Wes Clark and Clark was just looking at him like, what’s your problem? You really want to argue about this now??
Apparently Sullivan is also an optimist about global warming: excellent weather in northern climates.
Idiot.
I’m really amazed at what an empty suit Obama turned out to be, considering how enthused I was about him when he first announced. I thought he’d be a breath of fresh air precisely because he had not been part of the national political trauma of the last 15 years (or, for that matter, part of the racial trauma of the last 200+ years).
It’s a damned shame, because he really did have the potential to be that fresh start.
Obama is sort of turning into the Left’s Fred Thompson…people are more in love with the idea of Barack Obama than his actual candidacy. So far his biggest assets are who he isn’t married to and what he wasn’t in office to vote for…and the money he has raised from those that history or the lack thereof.
The ‘08 elections are really just disappointing me on more and more levels every day. There were so many opportunities lost, so many chances to move the country forward, and to a candidate every position has been more calculated than inspirational…and the few times anyone has gone off script we’ve had a train wreck (Bill Richardson). It’s all pissing contests and chest beating on the right, and this sort of half-assed, “see, I’m not really librul” shit from Obama and Hillary.
Tough week for Oprah.
…they have been bamboozled to think that a quick thrust in the dark is all they deserve as gay men.
and for the married ones, all their wives deserve in a partner.
Democratic field is getting more and more distasteful every day.
Pam, I don’t want to be a total jerk. You have to face “Christian” homophobia all the time. How do you survive? Will McClurkin’s embrace of Obama make things a lot worse for you?
Democratic field is getting more and more distasteful every day.
Only if you’ve decided that Clinton is “nothing more than Bush-Lite” or “Dick Cheney in a pants suit.”
And if you’ve decided that, then you’ve bought into the best self-sabotaging meme the Right could sell us: that our strongest, toughest,most kick-ass-and-take-names candidate is the only one not worthy of our support.
Apparently now McJerkin has claimed that Jeebus saved him from being a homo. Do I smell a musty damp closet?