Free Republic

In response to an uproar from gay activists, Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign on Wednesday added a gay minister to the lineup for its weekend gospel tour. Gay activists had criticized Obama's "Embrace the Change" tour in South Carolina because the performers included gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who says homosexuality is a choice. Obama's campaign invited Rev. Andy Sidden, a South Carolina pastor who is openly gay, to appear on Sunday in Columbia. Obama discussed Sidden's inclusion Thursday with Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which supports gay rights. In a statement, Solmonese said he thanked Obama for...

The nation’s biggest gay rights group is trying to force Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) to cancel presidential campaign event with a controversial preacher who claims he was homosexual but has been cured. The Human Rights Campaign has expressed its strong reservations to Obama over his campaign-sponsored tour that features gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. The influential organization, representing a powerful Democratic constituency, let Obama’s campaign know that it would issue a public demand if Obama did not immediately cancel the event, said a person who had been briefed on the exchange. Obama will not be present on the so-called Embrace the...

As religious conservatives gather in Washington this weekend for the “Values Voters Summit,” Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced its latest effort to attract people of faith to the campaign: a gospel concert tour. All three of the dates of the “Embrace the Change” tour are in South Carolina, where Mr. Obama is locked in battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for black voters. Gospel acts including Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker, Byron Cage and the Mighty Clouds of Joy are scheduled to appear. “This is another example of how Barack Obama is defying conventional wisdom about how politics...

Contemporary gospel artists Smokie Norful, Donnie McClurkin and Erica and Tina Campbell of Mary Mary were special guests at the East Room of the White House this Monday as President Bush celebrated Black Music Month. Each artist performed two songs while the president and the first lady clapped and nodded along. “Let history record you had me jumpin’ in my seat,” said President Bush to Donnie McClurkin after the artist’s performance of “Our God Is An Awesome God.” “It was an honor singing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the White House before the President, his wife and staff. Proverbs...

Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin - who'll perform Thursday night at the Republican Convention before President Bush's acceptance speech - is ex-gay and proud. Actually, the 44-year-old McClurkin calls himself a "reformed bisexual." "I was involved at one time in bisexuality, but it was God that delivered me from that," McClurkin told Lowdown. "There is a way out, there is change, there is another way," added the Grammy-winning artist, who's the father of a young son as well as the pastor of the Perfecting Faith nondenominational church in Freeport, N.Y. "Those that want help, I am here to help. There may...