The Dallas Morning News published an editorial this morning praising President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to have Pastor Rick Warren deliver the invocation at his inauguration. The editorial is not surprising, given that The DMN’s editorial board sits further to the right than Warren himself. But the editorial is also factually inaccurate, because it states that Warren supports civil unions. It is beyond me how The DMN could make such a blatant error. It’s just shoddy, irresponsible journalism. Here is what Warren actually said in his recent interview with BeliefNet:

BELIEFNET: One controversial moment for you in the last election was your support for proposition 8 in California. … Just to clarify, do you support civil unions or domestic partnerships?

WARREN: I don’t know if I’d use the term there but I support full equal rights for everybody in America. I don’t believe we should have unequal rights depending on particular lifestyles so I fully support equal rights.

[Clarification from Pastor Warren 12/15: I now see you asked about civil UNIONS -and I responded by talking about civil RIGHTS. Sorry. They are two different issues. No American should ever be discriminated against because of their beliefs. Period. But a civil union is not a civil right. Nowhere in the constitution can you find the "right" to claim that any loving relationship identical to marriage. It's just not there. ]

UPDATE: For more on this subject, go here.

Ok. This has nothing to do with anything and I have no reason to post it here, except that it made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

And we can all use a good laugh sometimes.

Open Christian, devout Southern Baptist and fabulously talented dynamo supports gay marriage.

Plus, she has a new Christmas album.
Here she is on CBS Sunday Morning. LOVE HER!

Dallas County has the highest HIV infection rate in the state. It’s also the only county in the state that prohibits public health workers from using condoms in education and prevention programs. But two county commissioners, Democrats John Wiley Price and Jim Foster, are hoping to overturn the county’s 13-year-old ban on distributing condoms in high-risk neighborhoods, The Dallas Morning news reports today. The question is, can Price and Foster find a third vote among the three Republican commissioners? The other question is, what is this, 19-fuckin’-80?

Melissa Etheridge’s wife, Tammy Lynn Michaels, writes the HollywoodFarmGirl blog.

This week, she has an entry about Melissa meeting Pastor Rick Warren [Tammy says Rick was 'humble and kind.'] And Tammy argues that gays should “settle for civil unions” ….

About 75 people gathered outside the Galleria Dallas on Saturday evening at a candlelight vigil for marriage equality organized by JoinTheImpact.com. Partcipants lined the north side of Alpha Road east of the Dallas North Tollway. There were no signs with the exception of two large JoinTheImpact.com banners. A few people wore T-shirts saying, “2nd-class citizen” or had patches embroidered to their chests saying, “When do I get to vote on your marriage?” Here are a few more photos:

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A few weeks ago, I wrote an article in which I said I couldn’t bring myself to see the press night of Dallas Theater Center’s “A Christmas Carol,” which fell several days before Thanksgiving, because until I had pumpkin pie and cranberries and Macy’s dominating the traffic along Broadway, it was impossible for me to get into the Christmas spirit. Tropical temperatures in recent weeks haven’t helped.

But it’s Dec. 21. The low today will be well below freezing. The Christmas decorations are up at the house and my sequined Santa’s cap is out of the moth balls. (I take “Don we now our gay apparel” seriously.) So tonight’s the night: I’m goin’ to see “A Christmas Carol” at the Kalita Humphreys at 7:30 p.m. tonight. I hope to see you there. Come up and say hi if you see me; I promise not to say “Humbug.”

This morning, Voice senior editor Tammye Nash brought in Sopapilla Cheesecake that her wife, Sandi Comer, whipped up.

Sinfully delicious.

If you can get someone to master this dish, then lock them in the kitchen — immediately.

Sandi e-mailed her recipe.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

2 tubes of crescent rolls
2 pkgs cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup cinnamon

In a 9×13 pan roll out 1 tube of the crescent roll dough, stretch to corners.

Cream the cream cheese and 1 cup sugar and spread onto the crescent roll.

Unroll 2nd tube and put that across the cream cheese mixture.

Stretch as needed to get to edges as best as possible.

Dough will rise in oven.

Melt stick of butter and pour over the top.

Mix ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup cinnamon together and then sprinkle over the top.

Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes.

Basically look to see if the cresent roll dough is golden on the edges.

Remove and let cool for about 15–20 minutes or you will have one hell of a burn on the roof of your mouth and it will run everywhere.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Dallas, appeared on CBS’ The Early Show this morning to talk about President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. For those who don’t have time to watch the video, here’s part of what Jeffress said:

“To me, it’s just unbelievable to think that because Rick Warren believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, somehow that characterizes him as a hate-monger and makes him unfit to pray at the inauguration. I mean, this sounds like Bizarro World to me.”

UPDATE: To balance Jeffress’ comments, here’s another local perspective from Mike McKay, executive director of the Resource Center of Dallas:

“As the executive director of one of the largest GLBT community centers in the U.S., it is surprising, outrageous and disrespectful that President-elect Obama’s selected Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the Presidential inauguration next month. Given Warren’s divisive and homophobic history and statements, it is like inviting and highlighting the grand wizard of the KKK at this historic event. On the heels of  the Proposition 8 vote in California, it is insulting to the scores of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender voters who backed the President-elect’s candidacy and has the potential to hurt his support in this key constituency.”

Wow. Just looked online, and found SEVERAL videos that Hill made about his Dallas Voice piece in today’s edition. Including a segment shot last Friday before he met me in my office.

Check these.