Donnie McClurkin in March. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for BET)
Update: The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities announced in a press release this afternoon that Donnie McClurkin would not perform after all. No explanation for the change was given.
Doxie McCoy, the senior communications manager for Mayor Gray, said via email: “So that Donnie McClurkin’s participation did not become a distraction from the goals of the program, a mutual decision was reached between the Arts and Humanities Commission and his management team that it was best for him to withdraw from the event.”
Original post
A gospel singer who claims God delivered him from homosexuality will perform at a concert organized by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
According to a press release, Donnie McClurkin will perform at the “Reflections on Peace from Gandhi to King” concert scheduled to take place Saturday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The concert is part of the celebrations taking place across the city to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
Gay activist and civil rights advocate Phil Pannell expressed concern about McClurkin’s inclusion to the Washington Blade, the first outlet to report the story.
“The statements he has made are just vile,” said Pannell in referring to McClurkin’s public statements about homosexuality. “This is a District government sanctioned event, and I just find it incredible that they can do something like this.”
In 2007, McClurkin performed at an Obama campaign “Embrace the Change” gospel concert, which spurred criticism from lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual supporters. McClurkin later said at another concert he was being “vilified” for his views.
“They accuse me of being anti-gay and a bigot,” McClurkin said. “We don’t believe in discrimination. We don’t believe in hatred, and if you do you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s the whole premise of God. That’s the whole premise of Christ is love, love, love. But there is a side of Christ that deals in judgment, and all sin is against God.”
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“Don’t call me a bigot or anti-gay, when I have been touched by the same feelings,” McClurkin went on. “When I have suffered with the same feelings. Don’t call me a homophobe, when I love everybody … Don’t tell me that I stand up and I say vile words against the gay community because I don’t. I don’t speak against the homosexual. I tell you that God delivered me from homosexuality.”
In 2009, he called gay young men “vampires,” as well as “broken and feminine.”
Saturday’s event is being headlined by Sri Lankan concert pianist Soundarie David Rodrigo. In addition to the Commission, the event is being sponsored by NEWorks Productions, DESHO Productions, the Embassy of India and its ambassador Nirupama Rao.
Sarah Massey, the spokeswoman for the Commission, was not in the office today. No one else was able to speak on the matter. A representative from Mayor Vincent Gray’s office told the Blade they would look into the matter. DCist was told the same this afternoon.
