Culture War's New Bomb: The Doughnut

Parts of the left continue to give President-elect Barack Obama flack for inviting the Rev. Rick Warren, head of the evangelical Saddleback Church in Southern California, to deliver the invocation at the inauguration ceremony. But some supporters of gay marriage are giving something else to Mr. Warren: doughnuts.

The campaign stems from comments made by Mr. Warren, who opposes gay marriage, on NBC’s “Dateline” on Thursday. Asked if he is homophobic, the pastor replied: “Of course not. I’ve always treated them with respect when they come and want to talk to me. I talk to them. When the protesters came, we served them water and doughnuts.”

So one gay rights advocate is encouraging supporters of gay marriage to “return the favor” by sending Mr. Warren gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts. The gift cards, which cost a minimum of $10, can be personalized with pictures of gay couples and supporters.

The effort was conceived by Tom Leonard, an Internet marketing consultant in Burbank, Calif., who also created ZeroH8.tv, which is working to place ads in support of gay marriage on cable networks in the wake of a new gay marriage ban in the state.

“It sends a good message to him in a nonthreatening way,” Mr. Leonard said. (In any case, the cards are probably preferable to the prediction by Huffington Post’s Jason Linkins that doughnuts will be pelted at the pastor during the ceremony.)

Mr. Leonard said he wasn’t exactly offended by Mr. Warren’s doughnut remarks, but “it’s kind of missing the point.”

“There’s more to it than just coming out and giving doughnuts,” he said. “That’s not really establishing a good dialog. He has not made any changes in his attitude toward things.”

 See  Culture War’s New Bomb: The Doughnut
New York Times, United States