The Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political organization, has issued a letter to President-elect Barack Obama asking him to rescind an invitation to a minister to speak at Obama’s swearing in in January. The program was announced this morning, according to the New York Times blog:
 

The inaugural program, which begins about 10 a.m. on the West Front of the Capitol, is an historic ritual that is both an intensely personal statement by the new president and a way for him to set the tone of his new administration.

The program was announced today by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California.

Dr. [Rick] Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” will deliver the invocation. He will be followed by Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, who sang “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and “Respect” at a concert for Bill Clinton in 1993, but not at the inaugural ceremony.

Warren is the head of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest Calif., and RightWingWatch.com, which monitors the right wing for the People for the American Way, calls Warren “a friendlier version of James Dobson.”

Warren is drawing fire because of his outspoken support of Proposition 8, the marriage amendment in California. During the campaign for Prop. 8 Warren called for the passage of the amendment to protect free speech of ministers who disagreed with homosexuality — something supporters of marriage equality say is a “lie.”

In a letter from HRC President Joe Solomnesee, he asked that Obama reconsider the invitation for Dr. Warren.

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.

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.

It is unclear if President-elect Obama selected Warren, or if the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.