President Elect Obama made a poor decision yesterday when he chose Evangelical Reverand Rick Warren of Orange County, CA., as the spiritual speaker of his historical inauguration. When Pastor Rick Warren was asked to clarify a statement -- if he actually equates same-sex marriage with incest, pedophilia and polygamy -- his answer was direct and unequivocal: "Oh, I do."

As a US President, Obama cannot please everyone and he will have to walk a fine line to keep everyone supporting him and I understand that. What I can't understand is the message he is sending to the last unprotected minority group yet to receive equal protection under our Federal and State laws. The Gay population. A group that solidly backed his campaign and helped to make him the next US President? This is the thanks he gives?

This is a huge blow to a group of people's lives and civil rights that religious extremists have vowed to make sure gays don't receive. This isn't even about marriage--it's about equality and Obama is smart enough to know that. This is a shameful political move and Obama is trying to broaden his support base to include evangelical Republicans. Reaching across the aisle so to speak. It's just political strategy as usual, BUT it comes at the expense of a minority group of people who worked tirelessly to get him into office. Not to mention a minority group of people who are publicly discriminated against and not protected under the law in the majority of this country.

If this sort of incident came at the expense of Jews or Blacks in 2008, people would be outraged. But gays? Different story every time. Unfortunately. One day I hope people will wake up to realize that even if same sex marriages become legal in California (for good!) the people in these marriages will have no protection under the law in 40 out of our 50 states. This means that if a Californian same sex couple who is married should be transferred in their job to another state, there is a good chance they will end up in a state where they have no rights or protection for their family or their children or their joint assets. This is the bigger issue here. Their family and marriage will no longer exist under the law! What happens then? We don't even have an answer to that! Why should these citizens who are not protected under their states law's be paying the same state taxes as everyone else? If a gay couple's home and/or property is not even going to be protected should something happen, then why are they paying the same taxes as everyone else who's families and properties and assets are protected? This is called Separate and Not Equal. Again, this is not about marriage nor religious beliefs. We cannot grant protection to some of our citizens and not others. Anyone care to remember Jim Crow laws?

Housing discrimination refers to discrimination against potential or current tenants by landlords. In the United States, there is no federal law against such discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and only thirteen states along with many major cities have enacted laws prohibiting it. What the US needs is a Federal Law that protects gays in ALL 50 states and we don't have that. It's called Civil Rights and equal protection under the law.

Many people will do anything they can to stop the normalization and acceptance of gay people into society as a result of their extremist religious views but no matter what they think the Bible says, 10% of the world's population is gay and always has been! And those numbers don't even include bi-sexuals which is a huge group of people. I know people will want to argue that number, but what needs to be assesed here is the number of gay people that will never make it public out of fear of discrimination and being ostracized from their families and communities. People are born gay, they don't wake up one day and choose it, so at some point, it would be good to start accepting that fact.

Religious extremists (and I say extremists here) have always feared evolution and diversity because that would mean they are unclear about what their religion means to them. They are the ones needing definitions for everything. I have seen the world fight for Jews. I have seen the USA fight for blacks and their equality and their protection under our constitutional laws. Who will fight for the gays? I thought Obama would but clearly I am wrong. Harvey Milk did in the 1970's until he was assassinated in his workplace, SF City Hall, where he was a city Supervisor.

I hope people begin to realize that the definition of marriage changed a long time ago when people were granted the right to marry someone outside of their religion , and then outside of their race (thank god!). The definition of marriage has changed (evolved) several times before. Marriage in today's world is a social institution, but many people will insist it is a religious institution--If this was the case, then Catholics should not be allowed to marry Protestants (under the laws of marriage) and Christians shall be forbidden to marry Jews and so on and so forth. I can think of plenty of marriages that would be illegal if this mentality existed today.

Just when I thought we put in a progressive man in office that would choose to do what's right, and protect all people, he delivered a harsh blow to gay people everywhere. Obama said in his defense speech around choosing Warren that everyone knows he's a fierce advocate for gay rights and their equality. Really? I don't feel that way. I don't even know anymore who will take this on and demand it be a civil rights issue that we start working on fixing now. I feel saddened by the truth of this dim lighted situation gays face. I thought things would be changing for everyone for the better but Obama just killed that notion fast.

I realized yesterday again, that we have a long hard road ahead and the enthusiasm I hoped to feel surrounding Obama's historical inauguration has now been tainted. These are people's lives on the line, and it's a very thin and fragile line until we see Federal Legislation put forth that will protect America's last unprotected minority citizens, the gay population of all 50 states.

I hope you will take action and start speaking to your friends and family on behalf of this very serious civil rights issue. Gay people, like all people, deserve protection under the law. This is not a religion debate.