Grammy award-winning gospel singer Donnie McClurkin says he is embroiled in conflict with gay activists in New York who are accusing him of being a homophobic tool of religious conservatives following his invitation to perform at the Republican National Convention this week...
McClurkin, a soul-stirring tenor and pastor of Perfecting Church in New York, will perform at the GOP convention Tuesday night. He says he believes his decision to sing at the convention, as well as his comments in religious publications and on conservative TV programs like “The 700 Club,” where he talked about being raped as an 8-year-old boy by a male member of his family and how God delivered him from embracing homosexuality, has incensed gay groups.
But Keith Boykin, a former White House aide to President Clinton who is black and gay, said McClurkin may be giving himself too much credit if he believes his comments and his decision to appear at the convention took gay people by surprise.
...Boykin said McClurkin has become "a stooge for the Bush campaign.”
Tokes Osubu, executive director of Gay Men of African Descent in New York said he heard McClurkin’s autobiographical story four months ago. The timing of it all, he said, is curious. “McClurkin’s recent statements play very well to the right wing,” Osubu said. “It’s only going to make a difficult situation worse.”
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