I really wanted to understand why so many gay Americans are hurt and angry that Rick Warren has been given this national spotlight. In the following clip, sounding a lot like Rush Limbaugh in his logic, Rick lumps "gay marriage" in with marriage between old men and girl babies (babies? that's right, he said it), between siblings and also with polygamy. Then, in the interview I provide after the clip, Rick goes on to explain why he is so dedicated to making sure that gay relationships will always be thought of as sins.

This isn't simply about church doctrine. This really is about law, and only about law.

It's OK if Rick Warren directs his own church members away from homosexuality and believes that his gay church members should not live with one another. But he doesn't restrict his goals to just his own church members. He believes all gay Americans should marry people of the opposite gender instead and spend their lives trying to "overcome" their defects. Rick Warren is determined to see that laws are established that support his views about how other people should live their lives.

Unfortunately, Barack Obama strengthened Rick Warren's reputation by giving Warren an even bigger national spotlight under which to trot out his philosophies and goals about homosexuality.

In the glow of that new spotlight, Rick Warren was interviewed this week by Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steven Waldman at the offices of The Wall Street Journal. In this interview, I must say, it appears that Rick Warren is very much delighting in the spotlight that Barack Obama has given him and is using that spotlight quite freely to push his agenda against gay rights.

Towards the end of the interview, his rational gets slightly convoluted when he attempts to explain the real reason he's against legalizing gay marriage. Evidently his concern centers on whether or not it's legal for pastors to speak negatively about homosexuality. According to Rick, pastors have to protect their legal rights to criticize homosexuality in their own churches and the primary way to protect that freedom of speech is to keep gay marriage from becoming legalized. Huh? In this twisted logic, Rick says that as long as gay marriage is illegal, then Rick and other evangelical pastors cannot be accused of engaging in "hate speech." Evidently, Rick wants to make sure that bigotry about homosexuality is never against the law. (Yep, pretty convoluted logic, as well as being silly and self-serving.)

Here are some excerpts from that interview:

Steven Waldman: Which do you think is a greater threat to the American family – divorce or gay marriage?

Rick Warren: [laughs] That’s a no brainer. Divorce. There’s no doubt about it. Here’s an interesting thing. The divorce statistics are quite bandied around. People say half the marriages end in divorce. That’s just not true. 40% of first time marriages end in divorce. About 61% of second time marriages end in divorce and 75% of third time marriages end in divorce. So the odds get worse and what’s balancing this out…when you hear 50% end in divorce, that’s just not true. The majority of marriages do last….

Steven Waldman: So why do we hear so much more – especially from religious conservatives – about gay marriage than about divorce?

Rick Warren: Oh we always love to talk about other sins more than ours. Why do we hear more about drug use than about being overweight? Why do we hear more about anything else than about wasting time or gossip? We want to point that my sins are perfectly acceptable. Your sins are hideous and evil.

Steven Waldman: 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?

Rick Warren: ...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.

Steven Waldman: What about partnership benefits in terms of insurance or hospital visitation?

Rick Warren: You know, not a problem with me... The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.

Steven Waldman: Do you think those (incest, child sexual abuse) are equivalent to gays getting married?

Rick Warren: Oh, I do. For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion – this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews – historically, marriage is a man and a woman. And the reason I supported Proposition 8, is really a free speech issue. Because first the court overrode the will of the people, but second there were all kinds of threats that if that did not pass then any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn’t think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships, and that would be hate speech. We should have freedom of speech, ok? And you should be able to have freedom of speech to make your position and I should be able to have freedom of speech to make my position, and can’t we do this in a civil way. Most people know I have many gay friends. I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes... So they can’t accuse me of homophobia. I just don’t believe in the redefinition of marriage.

Bottom line: Rick Warren interprets the Bible in such a way that he believes gives him complete empowerment to decide who gets to live in what way - whether they go to his church or not.

I don't have an opinion to state here about whether Rick Warren is the right man to provide a prayer at our nation's inaugural celebration, but, I do want the truth about Rick Warren to be understood.