I have to amend my comments on Melissa Etheridge and say...I think she, like Barack Obama, is being out-and-out foolish when it comes to Rick Warren. Her passionate letter to HuffingtonPost is very kumbaya, but her reasoning for deciding Rick is A-okay (and even A-okay with gays) is baffling.

She says she asked her manager to reach out to Rick (I guess we should all ask our managers to do lunch, then we could all get along) "and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher."

Well, he is a preacher, and he is a gay hater, Melissa. Liking your music does not negate that. 

Then, she reports—and we'll never know if this is true unless Warren backs up her report, which is highly unlikely—that Warren said he "struggled with Proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about Proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays."

Yeah, I can see how one might accidentally mention pedophilia and incest and not really mean it. (Guess what, Melissa? He didn't just say it once—he's said it over and over and over. It's too late to take that back, it's already changed hearts and minds.)

Also, fully supports equal rights, but is leery of calling it civil unions.

What Etheridge fails to realize is that just because someone can be a nice and reasonable person one-on-one, this does not take away from his or her desire—and in the case of Rick Warren—his or her ability to affect unsavory political change for generations to come. Due in part to Warren's advocacy (apparently he was not at the forefront, but he was for it), Proposition 8 passed. It might get tossed out, it might not—but if not, then PRIVATE apologies mean ZERO at this point because his side will have gotten what they want.

I guess the next move is Warren's—if he denies any part of Etheridge's claims, it will be further "on." If not, all we can do is wait and see how history judges Etheridge's bullshit detector—but right now, I would say the thing is likely broken.

Man alive, we need better, smarter leaders. Etheridge, Elton John, Rufus Wainwright, the HRC...so many flaws, so little time.