Etheridge: He can't be anti-gay, he has my records

Fresh from Rufus Wainwright's clumsy attempt to campaign against Proposition 8 by suggesting he didn't really support gay marriage at all comes another example of pop stars who should know better not quite thinking through their stances, as Melissa Etheridge writes to the Huffington Post to try and calm everyone down about Rick Warren taking time off from hating gays to appear at Barack Obama's inauguration:

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher.

So, on the one hand we have a bloke making videos comparing gays to paedophiles, on the other, the same bloke tells Melissa Etheridge that he has some of her records. Well, that would seem to cancel each other out, right? After all, if a man tells you he owns a record by a lesbian, he can't possibly be all bad, right?

He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays.

Aha - so, somehow, he accidentally managed to bracket people who love those of the same sex with people who take sexual advantage of children. Just blurted it out, accidentally, and probably really, really meant to edit it out of the video before distributing it.

Etheridge doesn't mention if the "open hearted" man she went to meet also suggested that he "regretted" calling the Church Of England's position on gay bishops "wrong" when he supported the Church Of Uganda boycott of the Lambeth Conference this year:

Dr Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. "We shall not tolerate this aspect at all," Dr Warren said.

Etheridge suggests that gays and lesbians should engage with Warren, and rather than march on his church, should help out with his church's work against HIV and AIDS. Really, Mel? Because what he campaigns for is "saving sex for marriage" and "one partner for life". True love waits.

Oh, and he doesn't think condoms will help:

Supply condoms and eventually microbicides for everyone. The correct and consistent use of condoms may prevent HIV infection. But condoms will never stop the pandemic. In many places, getting condoms is nearly impossible. And even when a person has a condom and uses it properly, there still is a chance the condom will fail. Likewise, microbicides – which researchers hope will enable women to protect themselves – will only reduce risk, not eliminate it; the development of effective microbicides is still years away.

His desperation to stamp AIDS is so serious, he's invented a little acrostic - which he has copyrighted and insists can only be used with permission.
Yes, everyone should really get behind his campaign.

Etheridge is not an idiot. And she's probably capable of Googling Rick Warren's name. But, hey, he can't be all bad: he says he's bought her records.