President Obama’s May 9 announcement of his support for same-sex marriage unsurprisingly prompted immediate opposition from his detractors on the right, but it has found support in an unlikely place. In a sermon posted on the web last Friday, Senior Pastor Frederick D. Haynes III of the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas blasted his congregation and other pastors for their outrage over Obama’s announcement, and, over shouts of disapproval from parishioners, unflinchingly declared his support for the president and the gay community.

Haynes said of Obama:

“He swore to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution – not the Bible, but the Constitution of the United States. He is not the pastor of the United States, he is the President of the United States. And for the first time in the history of this nation we have a president who has dared to use his position to make the democratic promise available not just for a select few, but for everyone.”

Haynes went on to express disbelief at the overwhelmingly negative reaction of black churches to Obama’s new stance, demanding an explanation from his flock.

“You should have seen pastors scurrying and hurrying to call out the president on what he said was a personal opinion. But whenever you like to ostracize other people it’s because there’s a fear that you have yourself, and the fear that you have finds itself rooted in an ignorance of other people. Or in a projection of your issues. Either there’s ignorance or there is a projection of your issues… It really blows my mind how outraged you are. You are so outraged over what the president said. First of all, take a chill pill. Take a deep breath. Everything’s going to be all right. You will not lose your 501(c)(3) if you do not marry same-sex couples. But I’ve got a question for you. Why are you so upset? Why did it bother you so? Why were you so emotional that you had to clothe your anger with the Bible and justify your bigotry with scripture? Why did you have to do it?”

Haynes added:

“Have you ever read the Gospel and heard Jesus say anything about homosexuality? …Black folk can’t even deal with homosexuality because we got issues with sexuality. And because we got issues with sexuality we can’t have a healthy discussion about homosexuality. Why, why do you get so upset? Why are you so mad at the president?”

Amid shouted objections and booing, Haynes continued, “Why are you so angry? Jesus never said a word about it. … Maybe we need to talk about what issues you may have. Evidently you’ve got some major issues or an ignorance rooted in fear.” In response to the crowd’s obvious displeasure, a resolute Haynes told his congregation, “Y’all not feeling this, but I’m going to preach the gospel anyhow. We love to judge other folks’ sins because it keeps it off of us as opposed to looking at us.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2yIaNSFBBw

When President Obama unequivocally declared his support for gay marriage following years of “evolving” on his position, political experts across the country predicted swift backlash from the black community.

This has not been the case, says Cal Jillson,a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

While Jillson concedes that polling suggests that African Americans tend to be more resistant to gay marriage, “The mistake was in assuming that that fact would overwhelm the very broad and deep support that African Americans had for President Obama in 2008 and still have today.

“Obama won the black vote 19 to 1 over John McCain in 2008. McCain got about 3 percent of the black vote, and Obama got the rest. And that is up from the normal 10 to 1 advantage that blacks give to the Democratic Party.”

Despite the fact that Obama’s announcement caused “significant disappointment in some quarters of the black community,” Jillson predicts that black Americans will continue to vote Democrat “in overwhelming numbers” in 2012.

“All voters make their decisions based on a wide range of issues. Gay marriage is only one of those issues. I think the number of black voters who would say, ‘I liked Obama in 2008, but now because of this one judgment I’m not going to vote for him’ will be very small. That will be an uncommon reaction. So I don’t think the Obama announcement is going to have a significant effect on the polls,” Jillson said, adding, “He’s not going to win 19 to 1 this time around; I think he’ll lose a little bit of his support among blacks, not simply because of gay marriage, but because of a whole range of things that have disappointed many Americans, the economy being foremost among them. So rather than the normal 10-1, they may give Obama 15, 16, or 17 to one rather than 19 to 1.”

According to a May 23 Washington Post/ABC News poll, 53 percent of Americans overall say gay marriage should be legal. Most of those surveyed said Obama’s stance on gay marriage would not be a major factor in their vote for president, and those who said Obama’s new position would make them more likely to support him for a second term were about equal in number to those who said it would make them oppose his reelection.

The poll also found African American support for same-sex marriage at 59 percent, up from 41 percent in polls prior to Obama’s announcement.

Religion continues to be a powerful force in the formation of political ideology. “Americans fundamentally believe in fairness, but many, like the President, have struggled to reconcile that core belief and the question of marriage equality,” Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said in a press release following the President’s announcement. “The President’s words will no doubt inspire thousands more conversations around kitchen tables and in church pews. We are confident that our nation will continue to move inexorably toward equality and we thank the President for so boldly leading us in that direction.”

Added Jillson, “I think many ministers steer clear of politics because they have congregations that might be divided in terms of partisanship or ideology. Many black ministers face an overwhelmingly democratic congregation, and some of those black ministers are used to talking about politics in their sermons and leading their congregations in terms of how to view various candidates and issues – and that’s certainly the case across much of the South, and Texas, and in Dallas… Ministers in the South are used to talking to their congregations about politics, but they’re used to having a congregation that shares their view pretty uniformly.”

The tense scene that took place at the Friendship-West Baptist Church last week may be a sign of the changing national discourse on marriage equality.