Mike Signorile interview with Rev. Andy Sidden; Team Obama rejected two gay black pastors

by: Pam Spaulding

Fri Oct 26, 2007 at 13:00:00 PM EDT

Rev. Andy Sidden, pastor of Garden of Grace United Church of Christ in Columbia, SC, was the openly gay minister selected by the Barack Obama campaign to deliver a message of tolerance to the likely overwhelmingly black audiences who will attend concerts this weekend featuring recloseted/now-decloseted anti-gay Grammy winning gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.

The fact that Sidden is white (I even called the church to see if someone could confirm this; I just got an answering machine) started up a chatter on the blogs, and Mike Signorile wanted to ask him about it on his show yesterday. Here's the segment (use the player below or this link):

On this blog today, Mike commented on the strange shenanigans that went on surrounding Rev. Sidden's booking.

He's a nice guy and was gracious and happy to come on my show yesterday -- at least, that was in the morning, when my producer, David Guggenheim, booked him. Later on, he was reticent, almost canceled, clearly getting pressure from the Obama campaign not to do it (he mentioned a name of someone at the campaign -- Joshua -- and this was shortly after someone called us to cancel for him, but we could not, bizarrely, identify who that was; the Obama campaign later wrote my producer to say that no one at the campaign had called to cancel for him, but the call came on our guest hotline, which general listeners do not have). The question is, why were they trying to stop him from coming on?

One of the reasons might have to do with this: On the show he did not deny African-American lesbian blogger Jasmyne Cannick's description of him as white. I must say that this was baffling. I did not even think for a minute that the Obama campaign would choose a white minister to bring the message of acceptance of homosexuality to a black audience at a gospel concert featuring a hugely popular antigay black gospel singer. I assumed from his photo that Rev. Andy Sidden was black and light-skinned, or biracial. Sidden also told me he was not an Obama supporter, and accepted the invitation because he'd never turn away someone who asked him to pray.

Several sources inside and outside the campaign confirm the names of TWO openly gay black pastors suggested by the National Black Justice Coalition and the Human Rights Campaign were rejected in favor of Rev. Sidden. Those names are: Bishop Yvette Flunder, an outstanding pastor and orator from San Francisco and Bishop Tonyia Rawls of Unity Fellowship in North Carolina. In addition, Bishop Carlton Pearson of Oklahoma, whose inclusive ministry welcomes the LGBT community, was also rejected. A campaign source says Rev. Michael Eric Dyson , the so-called hip-hop intellectual, reportedly volunteered and was also rejected. Dyson is a prominent Obama supporter and very popular in hip-hop and with youth.

"We decided to go with someone local," says our source in the Obama campaign, who expressed concerns around finding a "local" gay pastor in Obama's own United Church of Christ. Bishop Flunder is affiliated with the UCC, but, there was no such concern around Hezekiah Walker and Donnie McClurkin who are in the Pentecostal Church.

After you've done all you can, you just stand.
Don't give up, don't give in, you just stand.
Oh, Mr. President, tonight, you just stand.

Related:
* Team Obama: recruiting a white pastor=bad idea
* 'Ex-gay' McClurkin's alleged lover: I was with him after he prayed away the gay
* HRC to Obama: no place for a homophobe on the stage in SC
* Black media ignores the Obama / anti-gay recloseted McClurkin controversy
* McClurkin bobs and weaves, Team Obama scrambles as HRC lowers the boom
* Why is Obama touring with 'ex-gay' homophobe Donnie McClurkin?
* Obama won't back down from SC concert with homobigot ex-gay Donnie McClurkin
* Donnie McClurkin isn't the only homophobe on the bill with Obama
* Audio from my appearance on the Michelangelo Signorile show on Sirius Out Q discussing the dustup.