It was announced today in a statement from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies that Reverend Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” would deliver the invocation at Obama’s inaugural ceremony on January 20.

While Obama’s invitation to Warren was seen by many as an obligatory olive branch to the estranged evangelical community who is largely still at odds with Obama on social issues, Joe Solmonese, the President of the Human Rights Campaign, views the invitation as Obama’s first big mistake and a “genuine blow” to the fight for equality. In a blistering letter delivered to the President-elect, Solmonese chastised Obama for picking Warren, a California pastor and “opponent to Proposition 8.”

Solmmnese writes:

Let me get right to the point.  Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans.   Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years.  And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness.  In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, “there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population … This is not a political issue — it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.”  Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it’s a lie today.

Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on.  Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.

We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country.  And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends. 

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.  Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement. (emphasis added)

Despite Solmonese’s characterization of Warren as a blood-thirsty zealot and vocal opponent to equal rights for gay men and women, Warren ironically came under fire from social conservative leaders for loosely supporting the notion of civil unions. In a recent interview with Beliefnet’s Editor-in-Chief Steve Waldman, Warren said that while he’s uncomfortable with the term civil unions, he “support[s] full equal rights for everybody in America. I don’t believe we should have unequal rights depending on particular lifestyles so I fully support equal rights.”

Solomnese is clearly, though not surprisingly, off base here. Warren does, as made clear from the above statement, support “basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans,” albeit domestic partnerships and not marriage.

I seriously doubt Obama will cave on this issue, if only for this: Obama knows pissing off the LGBT community is a lesser evil than pissing off evangelicals.  On the plus side, at least it’s not Rev. Wright…