Obama Adds Gay Minister to Ease Gospel Tour Drama
Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is adding a gay minister into his South Carolina Gospel concert this weekend in an attempt to quell anger over an ex-gay singer accused of being "anti-gay."
Grammy-award winning Donnie McClurkin is the target of gay rights advocates who wanted the Illinois senator to remove the Gospel superstar from his concert program for asserting that homosexuality is a choice.
"I don't believe that it is the intention of God…Sexuality, everything is a matter of choice," McClurkin had said to The Associated Press on Monday.
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The Gospel singer and Pentecostal preacher had battled with homosexuality for nearly 20 years after he was sexually molested by his uncle as a boy, but left his gay lifestyle after coming to Christ.
McClurkin said he was surprised at the media's reaction to his comment which he said was misconstrued. He has been accused of saying that gay Americans are "trying to kill our children" and calling homosexuality a "curse."
"I don't believe that even from a religious point of view that Jesus ever discriminated toward anyone, nor do I," McClurkin said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. "Most of the things that were said were totally out of context and then other things weren't true."
Gay activists had confronted Obama for including someone they consider an anti-gay Christian artist.
"Please ask him (Obama) one more time to stop Donnie McClurkin's appearance at Sunday's event," said Tony Snell, the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement's past president, according to The Associated Press.
In response, the Obama campaign said it seeks to "bridge real divides" and "bring people together" and would not remove McClurkin.
Instead, the campaign invited the Rev. Andy Sidden, an openly gay South Carolina pastor to appear at the same concert.
In an interview with the gay newsmagazine The Advocate, Obama reaffirmed his pro-gay stance amid questions about his commitment to gay rights.
"You're talking to somebody who talked about gay Americans in his convention speech in 2004, who talked about them in his announcement speech for the president of the United States, who talks about gay Americans almost constantly in his stump speeches," said Obama in the interview Friday.
"If there's somebody out there who's been more consistent in including LGBT Americans in his or her vision of what America should be, then I would be interested in knowing who that person is."
Obama is on a campaign to reach out to black evangelicals in South Carolina, an early voting state where half of the Democratic primary voters are black. The Illinois senator is nearly even with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton but a recent survey shows he is losing ground. The Gospel concert is an attempt to strengthen his religious black voting base in South Carolina.
The Gospel concert, "Embrace the Change! Gospel Series," marks the final days of Obama's "40 Days of Faith & Family" campaign in South Carolina – a grassroots effort to share with South Carolinians how Obama's family values and faith have shaped his leadership and effort to bring people together for fundamental change.
Taking part in the Oct. 26-28 tour of Charleston, Greenwood and Columbia are Gospel music greats including McClurkin; Grammy Award winners Mary Mary and Hezekiah Walker; seven-time Grammy Award-nominee Vanessa Bell Armstrong; Grammy-nominated Deitrick Haddon and Beverly Crawford; Dove Award winner Fred Hammond; and the world's most famous gospel quartet, the Mighty Clouds of Joy.
McClurkin, who pastors a church in New York, has performed at both the Republican and Democratic Party conventions and identifies himself as a Democrat.
"There's never been a statement made by me about curing homosexuality," clarified McClurkin to The Chicago Tribune. "People are using that in order to incite anger and to twist my whole platform on it. There's no crusade for curing it or to convert everyone. This is just for those who come to me and ask for change."
The South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement plans to hold a vigil outside Sunday's concert in Columbia to protest McClurkin's appearance, according to AP.
