According to CNSNews.com, President Barack Obama appears to have made a serious error when he appointed Brewster as ambassador to a nation where 88 percent of the population is Christian and whose government unabashedly claims their laws are based on Christian principles. The appointment sparked "Black Monday" protests this week where opponents took to the street wearing black clothing and adorning their cars and buildings with black decorations.
Brewster, who is a senior managing partner for the Chicago-based marketing firm SB&K Global, is also a National LGBT Co-Chair for the Democratic National Committee and currently serves on the Board of the Human Rights Campaign Fund. He and his partner Bob Satawake are said to have raised $500,000 for the president's re-election campaign.
While it is not unusual for presidents to grant coveted ambassadorships to exotic locations to those who helped get them elected, things went awry almost immediately after the Brewster announcement when strong opposition arose on the largely Catholic island nation where homosexuality is criminalized and same-sex marriage is outlawed.
Bishop Pablo Cedano, auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Santo Domingo, quickly responded to the news that the selection of Brewster showed a "lack of sensitivity, of respect by the United States."
Cedano told the Associated Press: “I hope he does not arrive in the country because I know, if he comes, he is going to suffer and will have to leave.”
Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, the archbishop of Santo Domingo, also expressed disappointment with the nomination of Brewster. “We don’t have to do anything. It’s the government’s job to accept them [homosexuals]. They’re interested in advancing their agenda, but they have to know there are many people in the world who are against that, both in Christian and non-Christian governments,” he told the Dominican newspaper, La Opinion.
There are nearly 10 million people living in the Dominican Republic, which shares the same island as Haiti. It is about 70 percent Catholic and 18 percent evangelical protestant, with small numbers of Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews.
Brewster's nomination is pending approval by the U.S. Senate. Regardless of their decision, however, Dominican president Danilo Medina has already been asked by his own people to reject the nomination.
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