It seems the party is over for gays.

It was all too good to be true. A mention in Obama’s acceptance speech on that heady night in Chicago. Then came the news that the gay and lesbian marching band would be in the inauguration parade. And an open lesbian was appointed to head the White House Council on Environmental Equality along with rumors of a gay man for Secretary of the Navy.

But everything ground to a halt thanks to Rick Warren – party-spoiler-in-chief.

Obama might have wanted to show his big tent was big enough for friend and foe. Or he thought the gays would be too busy with their marching band to notice who was giving the benediction. Or maybe that’s why we got the hunky shirtless Obama-in-Hawaii pics – a little aloha for those easily-distracted homosexuals. They got eye candy and the Music Man – what more could they want?

My first question is this. Wasn’t this the same Obama who was upset that the Yes on 8 people slyly used robo-calls in Obama’s voice, targeting African Americans, suggesting he was for Prop 8? Doesn’t the choice of Rick Warren make that indignant protestation sound a little weak?

And my second question is this. When it comes to showing magnanimity, big-tent inclusiveness, suck-it-up-for-the-good-of-the-country-ness, why is the gays who always get to be the sacrificial lamb?

I mean even the Pope took a gratuitous Christmas swipe at the gays and transgenders when demanded that the “natural order” of man and woman be respected and not messed with under notions of “gender” which “effectively results in man’s self-emancipation from Creation (nature) and from the Creator.” (This is from a man who wears a dress and red shoes. Remember that joke – What did the transvestite say to the Pope when he came down the aisle with his incense-burner? “Darling, I just love your gown. But did you know that your handbag is on fire?”)

Remember in 2006, President Bush was looking desperately to change the headlines and unite his fractious party before the mid-term elections. Gas prices were soaring. Haditha was blowing up in the US military’s face. The issue of immigration was breaking the Republican party into two. The President had a new spokesperson (Tony Snow), a new treasury secretary (Hank Paulson), a new chief-of-staff (Josh Bolten) but nothing was changing the headlines. What did the President do? He called for a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage even though he knew he had no hope of getting it passed.

At that time I’d written, well at least the gays helped prevent a small island nation somewhere (think Grenada) from getting invaded.

Now Obama wants to show that he is willing to antagonize some of his base in order to fit everyone into his larger tent. And of course he chooses the gays. There may be no red states and blue states in his America, but you can always pick on the pink state.

Oh well. It could be worse. We could be Iranians. Warren at least doesn’t want to kill the gays. He’ll even give them hospital visitation rights. He just doesn’t want them to get married The Iranians? He told Sean Hannity he’s ready to wipe THEM off the face of the earth.

Remember the song Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran? McCain even sang it during his campaign. Maybe that gay and lesbian marching band could play it at the inauguration parade. And Rick Warren could sing along.

And we would all get along on Saddleback Mountain.