October 23, 2007
What’s The Matter With Obama. (This Is Not A Question.) Part 1.
A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary but every thing hath affinities infinite.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
It would be easier to overlook Barack Obama’s latest throws-the-gays-under-the-bus gaffe, were it not a continuation of a disturbing pattern of behavior that leads us to only one conclusion:
When it comes to the company he keeps, Barack Obama is no judge of character.
The issue of the week is, of course, Obama’s decision to host a fundraising “gospel concert tour.” That Obama is a Christian is not the point; the point is that he is aligning himself with (and thereby implying endorsement of) one of the most rabidly homophobic “ex-gays” in the nation, one Donnie McClurkin.
If this were an isolated incident, we might let it pass. But this is just the latest in a long series of bad decisions Obama has made, demonstrating a jarring lack of prudence when it comes to his choice of supporters and “friends,” and a complete absence of forethought for the repercussions of his alliances, as well as the questionable ways in which he raises campaign funds.
This is going to get long — very long — so it will be posted in multiple parts. Part 1 will focus on Obama’s latest blunder, his “gospel concert tour.” In subsequent installments, we’ll talk about his alliances with other anti-gay (and anti-woman, and anti-environment) right-wingers, his increasingly frequent interjection of his own fundamentalist religiosity into the political arena, and his contradictory rhetoric.
Let’s begin with the question:
Who is Donnie McClurkin, and why is his appearance at an Obama fundraiser such a bad thing?
Donnie McClurkin is a Grammy Award-winning gospel singer and senior pastor at the Perfecting Church, a nondenominational fundamentalist church (the sort that believes in the complete inerrancy of the Bible) founded by gospel-singing family patriarch Marvin L. Winans.
He is also militantly anti-gay.
He’s also gay.
Or at least he says he was. McClurkin will tell you he’s been “cured” of his homosexuality (and his leukemia) by the “grace of God,” and he’ll tell you that you, too, can, and must, be “cured.”
In a 2004 profile in the Washington Post, Donnie McClurkin, Ready to Sing Out Against Gay ‘Curse’, he talks about the war he is waging against homosexuality:
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who has detailed his struggle with gay tendencies and vowed to battle “the curse of homosexuality,” said yesterday he’ll perform as scheduled at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, despite controversy over his view that sexuality can be changed by religious intervention.
(Oh, did we forget to mention his performance at the RNC? And that McClurkin is a devoted Bush supporter?)
“I can’t let off. I didn’t call myself — God called me to do what I do,” McClurkin told The Post’s Hamil R. Harris. The Grammy winner declared, “If this is a war, we are willing to fight. Not a war of violence, but a war of purpose.”
McClurkin wrote on a Christian Web site in 2002 that he struggled with homosexuality after he was molested by male relatives when he was 8 and 13.
And there you have it: a self-loathing homophobe who blames his gayness on childhood sexual abuse. Is it any wonder so many people believe the myth that homosexuality is the result of a “bad experience” with…
Oops, wait a minute, we can’t remember: Is homosexuality supposed to be caused by sexual abuse by a member of the same sex? Or a negative experience with a member of the opposite sex? There are so many fallacies about the “cause” of homosexuality, we can’t remember what the most popular one is at the moment.
In any case, McClurkin’s “reasoning” is nonsense: It sounds like he’s saying that childhood molestation made him gay — in which case, he must be saying that he liked what happened to him (which no abuse survivor does).
In a 2002 piece about McClurkin, Keith Boykin wrote:
I don’t know if Donnie McClurkin is homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual or asexual. Quite honestly, I don’t care. But I do know that his experience is not the same as everyone else’s. I’ve met thousands of gay men and lesbians across the country, and very few of them were raped or abused as children. Even fewer would say they “chose” their sexual orientation. Why would anyone choose to be a victim of discrimination?
And if rape — by either sex — had any impact on a person’s natural sexual orientation, then every woman who had ever been raped would be a lesbian.
Or would every lesbian who had been raped now be straight? Again, it’s hard to keep up with the fallacious “reasoning” of homophobes.
Buffy says it best, in this heated thread on DemocraticUnderground:
Millions of women are raped by men but don’t go around calling heterosexuality a “curse” or try to “eradicate” it. They don’t try to harm straight men just because straight men harmed them.
Too, McClurkin has, as many eagerly and deliberately do, confused homosexuality with pedophilia. Contrary to what the gay-bashers would like you to believe, they are not one and the same — nor does one produce the other.
But just try telling that to McClurkin, who, when not blaming gays for his gayness, projects his own “activist” hatred onto other gays in order to prop up his pitiable victim status, which he seems to relish — a lot. From the WaPo article:
McClurkin, who said he’s sung for Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, blamed “the hatred of a few activists, not the gay community,” for the flap. “They act as if my singing on the ticket is the same as singing at a Nazi rally endorsing Nazism.”
We wouldn’t say he was endorsing Nazism, but he certainly does endorse a specific brand of hatred that is intrinsically more damaging, like a slow-growing cancer: the introduction and cultivation in others the self-hatred he himself has not yet overcome, and is not even capable of recognizing, let alone understanding and resolving.
Wrote Boykin:
I’ve seen it time and time again. People who once abused drugs, alcohol, sex, and other people suddenly find themselves changed and start preaching about “sin” to others.
. . .
I suspect the same mentality … may have shaped Donnie McClurkin’s views on homosexuality.
That’s the primary weapon of “ex-gays” and the rest of the most radical religionists: the installation of guilt and self-hatred in others that they themselves cannot shake. If they can make you feel bad about yourself, they won’t feel so bad about themselves.
The methods they use are the very same as those used by cults — and military boot camps, for that matter: They break you down into nothing, and then rebuild you, re-mold you, re-program you, from scratch, into their image (not God’s) of what they want you to be — and what they themselves have often failed to become.
The problem is, any relief the self-haters may feel is temporary. The only way they can find true peace is through self-acceptance — something few ever do; if all the most zealous homophobes could come to terms with their own insecurities about their sexuality (or their masculinity, or femininity), their self-acceptance would lead to acceptance of others — and then you’d never hear any more nonsense about “ex-gay” conversion programs.
McClurkin is a supremely tragic example of the way we human beings hate most the things in others that we hate about ourselves. And to project your own self-hatred onto others while trying to convince yourself that this is some twisted means of “salvation” is as immoral as, and far more insidious than, the straightforward hatred of any neo-Nazi. Let’s face it: At least white supremacists and gay-bashers are more honest — and while a lynching, or a cross-burning, or a gay-bashing is meant to instill terror within the entire community to which the victim belongs, its primary, immediate purpose is to kill or maim; it’s not part of a campaign carefully and deliberately crafted to instill lifelong self-hatred in the target.
Anyone can end your life in an instant by throwing you into a gas chamber or hanging you from a tree — but only self-hatred can make you self-destruct. Why do you think the rate of suicide, and attempted suicide, among gay teenagers is off the scale compared to the rate among heterosexual youths? According to studies by the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and various other agencies tracking this tragic phenomenon for nearly twenty years, up to 35% of all gay and lesbian teenagers attempt suicide — and while gay people make up only 4% to 10% of the general population, “successful” suicides by gay teenagers may comprise as much as 30% of all teen suicides.
Why do you think they do it?
Boykin again:
[McClurkin’s] advice that young people can overcome homosexuality only confuses them about the reality of sexual orientation. No reputable scientific study has ever demonstrated that homosexuality is a choice or that it can be “overcome.”
Homosexuality, like heterosexuality, is a sexual orientation. People don’t choose their sexual orientations. They are who they are. …
What makes Donnie McClurkin’s story so troubling is that he is now violating young people in much the same way that he was violated.
Rape is horrible enough already. Raping a child is even more disturbing. But to teach a child that homosexuality is a “lifestyle” choice that is not “normal” is to rape that child of his right to be himself. Bombarded by anti-gay messages that revile them, gay teenagers are already more likely to be abused in school or to attempt suicide than their straight counterparts. Do they really need to have their pastors berating them too?
Donnie McClurkin, of all people, should know better. He suffered for nearly 20 years because society told him there was something wrong with him for his homosexual desires. And he believed it. Now, rather than teaching young people to love themselves for who they are, McClurkin teaches them that they are sinful and evil if they are gay.
Instead of clouding their minds with prejudicial notions of masculinity, we need to teach young men that manhood and sexual orientation are not connected. What makes a man is not his domain over women but rather his sense of maturity and values.
I once read a statement that explains manhood quite well. I like the definition because I think it applies to men and women. It’s really about adulthood and responsibility: “Honesty with oneself, fairness toward others, sensitivity to duty, and courage in its performance. On these qualities rest manhood, and on manhood rests the structure of society.”
One last word (for the time being) from Boykin:
Choosing to accept one’s self without fear or shame is not the same as choosing one’s sexual orientation. Choosing to act a certain way after accepting one’s sexual orientation is not the same as choosing the orientation either.
But far too many so-called Christians don’t want to listen or learn. They would rather parrot the rhetoric of their preachers than bother to think for themselves.
Since fundamenatlists like McClurkin aren’t going to listen or learn anytime soon, we’re always going to have Donnie McClurkins in the world, trying in vain to deny their natural dispositions, transferring their own self-destructive guilt onto others, and, in the process, destroying lives rather than “lifting them up.”
So that’s what’s wrong with Donnie McClurkin. Which leads us, finally, to the real question — which is not a question at all, but a statement:
What’s the matter with Barack Obama.
The immediate problem with Barack Obama is that he has chosen to host a three-day “gospel tour” starring McClurkin.
But while Donnie McClurkin is the anti-gay zealot you’re hearing about most, he’s hardly the only anti-gay zealot on the bill.
“Embrace the Change! Gospel Concert Series” blares barackobama.com:
Senator Barack Obama is committed to brining [sic] people of all faiths together to put their faith into action to change this country for the better.
With the help of many talented, spirit-filled supporters, Barack Obama’s campaign is hosting Gospel concerts throughout Palmetto State on October 26, 27, and 28 to bring South Carolinians together for a few evenings of song and praise.
Tickets are just $10 and support Barack’s historic, grassroots campaign for the Presidency.
Among the other “talented, spirit-filled supporters” slated to appear are gospel duo Mary Mary, a.k.a. Erica and Tina Atkins. In a 2006 interview with Clay Cane, the pair makes their homophobia crystal clear, likening gay people to murderers and prostitutes:
Clay: I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but you have an extremely large gay following — how do you feel about homosexuality and having a massive gay following?
Erica: We are aware. Ummm… how do I feel about homosexuality? I feel how God feels about it, but I still love them. I don’t agree with the lifestyle, but I love them. They can come to the concert; I’m going to hug them just like I hug everybody else. They have issues and need someone to encourage them like everybody else — just like the murderer, just like the one full of pride, just like the prostitute — everybody needs God. What your struggle is may not be what my struggle is, but we all need Him. So, that’s what our music is about giving and God, not to condone the lifestyle or to say, Oh it’s okay, but not to bash — but just to give them God. I mean, I’m appreciative of all of our supporters and fans. Hopefully what their hearing in our music is my love for God.
Tina: You know, I think the fact that our music is very upbeat and works well in clubs — you know, I think that’s something that makes more people gravitate to it. Like Erica said, we don’t necessarily agree with the lifestyle, but we don’t pride ourselves on bashing. Everyone has things in their life that they need to correct, everybody has struggles, everybody has things that, maybe I should’ve done it this way, maybe I should’ve made this choice, you know, or whatever. Even though that’s the way we feel, we don’t bash, we don’t do that kind of thing and we embrace everybody who enjoys our music. Hopefully our music is impacting them in a way that if they see there’s some things in their life that’s not quite right and doesn’t align themselves with what the Bible says — hopefully our music impacts them in a way that makes them want to change it.
Cane’s reaction was much the same as ours:
[What] they probably don’t realize is in a sense they are “bashing” by saying, “Hopefully our music inspires people to change.” What many of the straights don’t realize (as I’ve said several times) homophobia in the black church is a massive reason why HIV/AIDS rates have skyrocketed in the black community as the “peanut congregation” sits idly. They feel the way God feels? Murderers? Prostitutes? They are basically minstering conversion — I can only imagine the young LGBT people who are grappling with sexuality that Mary Mary will damage as they give them a “hate the sin love the sinner” hug.
Is Mary Mary saying, “You are going to hell, but you can still buy our records!” Regardless, not every gospel artist is antigay – like Shirley Caesar for example. Not all Christians are antigay… Being black and Christian does not automatically equate you are antigay, or anti anything else. … However, please don’t tell me they [Mary Mary] are not “antigay” – comparing homosexuality to prostitutes and murders is not pro-gay, or even neutral!
A few days after posting this interview, and after taking flak from readers who accused him of twisting the Atkinses’ words, Cane added:
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“I did not and have never twisted words around in anu interview. I quoted them word for word — even down to the ‘Ummmm… you know,’ etc. What was posted is exactly what Mary Mary said and people can take it however they would like to…
“They could’ve said, ‘We are all children of God’, ‘I don’t judge’, or so much more that managers and agents prep their talent to say in interviews. Mary Mary decided to voice their beliefs in the interview – like no gospel artist has done in years because it is well know how many gay people are in the gospel music industry. In addition, like someone said in the comments, if you believe I ’set them up’ there must be something you feel Mary Mary said that was wrong or offensive. In order to be ’set up’ you have to be caught saying or doing wrong.”
Also onboard for Obama’s Homophobe Gospel Tour: Hezekiah Walker, gospel singer and virulently anti-gay pastor of Brooklyn megachurch Love Fellowship Tabernacle, rumored to be “a reported homosexual.” The rumor turned out to be false (which, considering the fuel being in the closet provides for much homophobia on the far right, surprises us more than the rumor did) — but did provoke some thoughts from “Hip-Hop Intellectual” Marc Lamont Hill on homophobia in black churches:
Personally, I have no problem (politically or theologically) with Walker or any other minister being gay. If this story is true, my major beef (in addition to the infidelity) is that he has been so disturbingly and publicly anti-gay. Why do so many Black church leaders, like the ones who protested Coretta Scott King’s funeral, obsess about attacking gays and lesbians in the public sphere at the expense of other issues, such as health care, employment, and police terrorism? Rumors like these, as well as the story of “recovering homosexual” Donnie McClurkin (he admits this in his book, Eternal Victim/Eternal Victor, where he says that gay and lesbian identities come from a traumatic or abusive experience), suggest that the anti-gay venom that often comes from prominent Black Church leaders is a cover for their own personal struggles.
Which leads us to mention why Obama is doing this tour, and where he’s doing it; as the New York Times reminds us, this “gospel tour” comes on the heels of the Family Research Council’s “Values Voters Summit” (”a straw poll of mostly Christian conservative voters … held this weekend in the nation’s capital”):
All three of the dates of the “Embrace the Change” tour are in South Carolina, where Mr. Obama is locked in battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for black voters.
In other words, Obama is desperate to wrest the black vote from Hillary, even if it means cozying up to the most radical of the Radical Religious Right.
Next: In Defense of Obama: Supporters In Denial
Join the discussions on this issue:
Obama to do gospel tour with radical right singer who crusades against “the curse of homosexuality”
Obama Should Repudiate and Cancel His Gay Bash Tour, and Do It Now
Obama says won’t pull anti-gay bigot from big campaign event
Obama the vote-whore with ‘ex-gay’ at his side
Filed under: "Ex-Gays", Barack Obama, Celebrities, Christianity, Donnie McClurkin, Down-Low/MSM, Election 2008, Homophobia, Mental Health, Music, Race/Ethnic Issues, Radical Religious Right, Youth
