The NAACP's recent endorsement of gay
marriage was an offering to President Barack Obama, the Reverend
William Owens has claimed.
The leadership of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the
nation's oldest civil rights organization, in May followed Obama's
lead in endorsing equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
The decision created a rift at the
NAACP's convention in Houston this week, with social conservatives
battling progressives.
Obama decided to skip this year's
convention, but not his presumed GOP rival, Mitt Romney, who
addressed the crowd on Wednesday. Romney was cheered when he said he
will defend “traditional marriage.”
(Related: Mitt
Romney's NAACP speech criticized by gay GOP group.)
Appearing on Fox News, Owens, who heads
the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), told host Megyn
Kelly that Obama's support for gay marriage “changed the game”
and could impact his support in the black community.
“I think he would have been there if
he had not taken the NAACP for granted,” Owens said. “The NAACP
had pandered to the president, they are doing his will by endorsing
same-sex marriage, and I don't think he counts them as being
important now because he already has them.”
(Watch
the entire segment at Mediaite.com.)