Barack Obama's presidential campaigh has been taking a hammering since it announced that Donnie McClurkin would be among the featured singers on the candidate's gospel tour in South Carolina this weekend.
But the fact that McClurkin, who has struggled with his sexuality for year, has called homosexuality a “curse” that runs against “the intention of God” would be included was a slap to Obama's cash-laden gay constituency. The senator has since added gay minister Andy Sidden to the tour. He spoke to The Advocate about the controversy and here are some excerpts:

The Advocate: How did this happen? Was Mr. McClurkin vetted?
Senator Obama: Obviously, not vetted to the extent that people were aware of his attitudes with respect to gay and lesbians, LGBT issues -- at least not vetted as well as I would have liked to see. Having said that, we viewed this simply as an opportunity to have a gospel concert as part of our overall outreach, and since he was singing at a concert along with a number of other artists, as opposed to being a spokesperson for us, probably it didn’t undergo the same kind of vet that someone who was serving as a surrogate for me might have.

The Advocate: . I know you’re in a difficult position here trying to balance these two constituencies -- but by keeping McClurkin on the tour, didn't you essentially choose your Christian constituency over your gay constituency?
Senator Obama: No, I profoundly disagree with that. This is not a situation where I have backed off my positions one iota. You’re talking to somebody who talked about gay Americans in his convention speech in 2004, who talked about them in his announcement speech for the president of the United States, who talks about gay Americans almost constantly in his stump speeches. If there’s somebody out there who’s been more consistent in including LGBT Americans in his or her vision of what America should be, then I would be interested in knowing who that person is.

To read the article in it's entirety, go to Advocate.com