Wouldn’t that be funny?  It looks like the pastor is just trying to polish his image with gays.  He visited the popular West Hollywood thrift store, Out of the Closest, yesterday and TMZ snapped this photo.  Warren gave the owner a couple of his books and praised the store for free HIV testing (go get tested and know your status for the new year!)

Warren’s visit to Out of the Closet comes on the heels of a post by Melissa Etheridge at HuffPo yesterday. Etheridge, who’s been out of the closet for awhile now, pleaded with the LGBT community to embrace the pastor’s church so that he and his members will stop fearing them, or better yet, stop comparing gays to pedophiles:

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world’s attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don’t hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

 

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

 

Could it be possible the president-elect knew exactly what he was doing by giving Warren a spot at his inauguration? I think so.  The bigots are reaching out to the gays, (and vice versa) and some in the community are letting them know they don’t bite after all.

Tags: Barack Obama, Gay Rights, Out of the Closet, Rick Warren