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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2008
3:45 PM

CONTACT: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Inga Sarda-Sorensen, Director of Communications
(Office) 646.358.1463 (Cell) 202.641.5592
isorensen@theTaskForce.org

Task Force Calls Rick Warren’s Stance ‘an Affront to Our Common Humanity’

WASHINGTON - December 22 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force responds to Rick Warren’s comment over the weekend that “you don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand.” Warren, who has been tapped to give the invocation at President-elect Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration, is an outspoken opponent of marriage equality, reproductive choice and stem-cell research. He was a staunch supporter of Proposition 8 and has gone so far as to equate the marriages of same-sex couples with incest and pedophilia. In defending his positions, Warren has argued in part that he has “gay friends” and has “eaten dinner in gay homes.”

Statement by Darlene Nipper, Deputy Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“Rick Warren says even though we don’t see eye to eye, we can walk hand in hand. He says he loves gay people, has ‘gay friends’ and has ‘eaten dinner in gay homes.’ Don’t just tell us you love us, Mr. Warren — show us. Your outspoken support for discriminatory measures such as Proposition 8 has made our families more vulnerable to violence, bigotry and economic distress. Your support for stripping our families of fundamental rights and protections is not an act of love; it is a profoundly harmful act. Your call for us to walk hand in hand, even as you advocate for our second-class status, is an affront to our community, demeans our common humanity, and makes a mockery of the principles of fairness and equality.”


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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. We do this by training activists, equipping state and local organizations with the skills needed to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement's premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.
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