Gay group to protest Warren’s MLK service

Members of metro Atlanta’s gay community plan to protest when the Rev. Rick Warren speaks during the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church Monday.

Warren, the pastor of an evangelical mega-church in California, is known for inspiring his 20,000 members and Christians across the country to serve the poor and needy around the world. Last summer, he also helped rally support in California to outlaw same-sex marriage, which raised the ire of those seeking to remove legal barriers to same-sex relationships.

“Having Rick Warren speak is an affront to the civil rights movement and its tone of unity,” said Todd Vierling of Atlanta, who is helping organize the protest. “We are all in the same fight for equal rights for everybody.”

Protesters plan to be outside the church during Warren’s speech.

Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., declined interviews Tuesday, citing the enormous number of requests he has had since President-elect Barack Obama asked him to pray at the inauguration the day after the King event.

He said through a press release that he will allow his prayer during that ceremony to speak for itself.

When speaking about gay people, Warren has not condemned them as more conservative Christians have, and said in an interview with Steven Waldman of Beliefnet.com he would support full partnership benefits. But he did not back down on his opposition to legalizing same-sex marriage. He compared changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples to legalizing pedophilia or incest.

Responding to a question from Waldman, Warren said, “I am not opposed to (same sex benefits) as much I am opposed to the redefinition of a 5000-year definition of marriage. I am opposed to having a brother and sister be together and calling that marriage. I am opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calilng that a marriage…”

Waldman broke in: “Do you think those are equivilent to gays getting married?”

Warren responded: “Oh, I do….historically marriage is a man and a woman.”