In his Washington Post column, Jonathan Capehart celebrates the Rev. Louie Giglio's decision to withdraw his acceptance of the invitation to deliver the benediction at the presidential inauguration. In light of Giglio's past anti-gay remarks, Capehart says, the president should not have to share the stage with him.
Controversy over an anti-gay sermon by Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta forced him to withdraw his acceptance of the invitation to deliver the benediction at the presidential inaugural. Good. President Obama should not have to share the stage with him.
Obama is the most pro-gay person to occupy the Oval Office. He ended the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. His administration has stopped defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in court. He has expressed his personal support for marriage equality. And in pronouncement and policy, the president and his administration have made bringing dignity, equity and fairness to gay people and their families a priority.
That's why it boggled the mind that the Presidential Inaugural Committee would force Obama to share the stage with Giglio. The pastor got on the radar because of his work and leadership against human trafficking. This issue is important to the president, who devoted his entire speech at the Clinton Global Initiative last year. But whatever good works Giglio has done in that arena are marred by his anti-gay statements.
Read Jonathan Capehart's entire piece at the Washington Post.
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