Minister’s Comments on Gay Rights Raise Questions on Role in Inauguration

9:11 p.m. | Updated A revised version of this post is available here.
5:45 p.m. | Updated
The minister President Obama picked to deliver the benediction at his inauguration this month delivered a sermon the 1990s in which he called on fellow Christians to fight the ”aggressive agenda” of the gay rights movement, and advocated “the healing power of Jesus’’ as “the only way out of a homosexual lifestyle.’’

Think Progress, a liberal news organization affiliated with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, reported Wednesday afternoon on the sermon delivered by the Rev. Louie Giglio, an Atlanta pastor and founder of the Passion Conferences, a group dedicated to uniting college students in worship and prayer.

The speech, titled “In Search of a Standard – Christian Response to Homosexuality’’ can be heard on a Christian training Web site called Discipleship Library.

The planners of Mr. Obama’s inauguration did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for Mr. Giglio was unavailable. But one leading advocate for gay rights in Washington, speaking anonymously to discuss private conversations with the president’s inauguration committee, said that he told officials the comments were “completely inappropriate” and that he asked for a “complete renunciation” by the pastor. Another gay rights advocate, Wayne Besen, founder of the group Truth Wins Out, said: “It is imperative that Giglio clarify his remarks and explain whether he has evolved on gay rights, like so many other faith and political leaders. It would be a shame to select a preacher with backward views on LGBT people at a moment when the nation is rapidly moving forward on our issues.”

At his 2009 inauguration, Mr. Obama offended many supporters of gay rights by selecting the Rev. Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life” and an opponent of same-sex marriage, to deliver the invocation. But Mr. Obama pleased many in his gay constituency on Wednesday, when his committee announced that it had selected Richard Blanco, a poet who is openly gay, to be the 2013 inaugural poet.