Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama shouldn’t have selected Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation because the evangelical pastor has made offensive comments about gays, said Representative Barney Frank. “Giving that kind of mark of approval and honor to someone who has frankly spoken in ways I and many others have found personally very offensive, I thought that was a mistake for the president-elect to do,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, today on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
Frank, who is openly gay, made the comments after Obama stood by his selection of Warren for the Jan. 20 inauguration. Obama, speaking at a Dec. 18 news conference, said he doesn’t share Warren’s views on gay rights and wants to create an atmosphere “where we can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans.”
Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life” and founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has drawn criticism from gay rights groups for his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Warren didn’t return a message left on his voice mail at the church. He has defended himself by saying he loves “gays and straights,” according to the Associated Press.