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An Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community.


The invisible, inaudible Bishop Gene Robinson

by: Pam Spaulding

Sun Jan 18, 2009 at 19:15:01 PM EST


[UPDATE: Barack Obama's speech at this event --including video -- is below the fold.
UPDATE (3AM): A video of Robinson's prayer has surfaced from Sarah Pulliam of Christianity Today. It's below the fold.]

As Blender David Hart noted on his blog and a diary, if you were channel surfing to catch HBO's inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial where openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson delivered the invocation, you didn't see him.

Remember, this was the supposed salve on the wound to the LGBT community for the upcoming high-profile appearance of Rick Warren at the actual inauguration on Tuesday, which will be seen by millions and will float out there on YouTube in perpetuity. I had no illusions that Robinson's appearance would reach the same level of exposure as Warren's, but damn -- no broadcast of it at all? That's just freaking rich.

Leah McElrath Renna at HuffPost reports that some fundies showed up to protest Robinson's appearance. These folks were "Brother Ruben and the Official Street Preachers" since they didn't even bother to come up with original signs.

With a diverse and otherwise joyous crowd of adults and children of all ages streaming by, the three protest participants shouted about hate, hell and "homo-sex" - using a megaphone to assert that "homosexuals are eternally damned" and "Jesus doesn't love homosexuals."

On its website, the group claims to "preach a loving message to sodomites. We tell them the truth, that unless they repent they shall likewise perish in Hell Fire!"

Kenny Yum of the Canada's National Post was liveblogging the event and reported that many there couldn't even hear Robinson (mic problems?) and were shouting "We can't hear you."

If you want to read Robinson's prayer in full, it's below the fold.

Pam Spaulding :: The invisible, inaudible Bishop Gene Robinson
From the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire web site. The video was shot by Christianity Today.

A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington!  The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God's blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will...

Bless us with tears - for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger - at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort - at the easy, simplistic "answers" we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience - and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be "fixed" anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility - open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance - replacing it with a genuine respect and  warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity - remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe.  We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking FAR too much of this one.  We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe.  Hold him in the palm of your hand - that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.

Barack Obama's speech at the Lincoln Memorial:

I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we love about America.  And I want to thank all of you for braving the cold and the crowds and traveling in some cases thousands of miles to join us here today.  Welcome to Washington, and welcome to this celebration of American renewal.

In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now.  Our nation is at war.  Our economy is in crisis.  Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes; they're worried about how they'll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen table.  And most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future - about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what's best about this country to our children and their children.

I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy.  It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many.  Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation.

But despite all of this - despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead - I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure - that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.

What gives me that hope is what I see when I look out across this mall.  For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith - a faith that anything is possible in America.  Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an Empire, all for the sake of an idea.  On the ground below is a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression - men and women like my grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny's grasp.  Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character's content.  And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible.

And yet, as I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between.  It is you - Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there.

It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that Oval Office - the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans - that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

It is this thread that binds us together in common effort; that runs through every memorial on this mall; that connects us to all those who struggled and sacrificed and stood here before.

It is how this nation has overcome the greatest differences and the longest odds - because there is no obstacle that can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.

That is the belief with which we began this campaign, and that is how we will overcome what ails us now.  There is no doubt that our road will be long.  That our climb will be steep.  But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard.  I ask you to help me reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today.

UPDATE 2: There was a report on the Rick Warren dustup that aired on CNN. Don't blink or you'll miss a split second shot of the Blend (Hat tip, NG)...

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just sayin'
I wasn't so off-base with the characterization of "house faggots and dykes" during the festivities--invite us to the party, but don't let the world know we're there.  It calls for swift and decisive action against HBO and loud reminders tomorrow and Tuesday.

Disappearance of our Bishop
My wife and I watched MSNBC, CNN, etc. trying to find Gene Robinson and to watch his speech.

What a sad commentary to see that his presentation did not make it to the mainstream media.

Thank you, Pam, for posting his beautiful words. We must make Obama's staff aware of this oversight/censorship at change.gov.

Best, Elizabeth


link to video of Bishop Robinson's invocation
It stinks that HBO didn't show the invocation and didn't identify the Gay Men's Choir. I hope that was HBO's fault and not that of the Obama people.

Here's a link to a video of the invocation -- apparently people near the front could hear it -- maybe it was a speaker problem and not a mic problem?

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

Hmm, the URL for the blog of the Christianity Today person who shot the video is shorter.  

http://blog.christianitytoday....

It's an excellent prayer -- too bad more people couldn't see & hear it, but maybe it will spread via YouTube.


[ Parent ]
Surfing the Intertubes
no videos whatsoever- and other than blogs/HuffPo, no mention of the snub.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

HuffPo?
I hunted through their coverage and couldn't find anything.
Can you post a link?

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

[ Parent ]
not on huffpo
just in the comment section.

[ Parent ]
Fucked again!
The back of the fucking bus, the last pew in the church, at the end of the line...fags and dykes once again in the national crapper...so much for Obama.

Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly, Cherry Grove, NY


...and without any lube!
In the words of Judge Judy, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!

[ Parent ]
gwb...now that is a new one to me..
But vivid enough I think I can remember.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


[ Parent ]
Thanks for the link to the speech
I was in New Hampshire on Saturday for the ordination of a friend.  The Right Rev. Gene Robinson officiated.  It was great to see him, as he rushed off to DC, even though the press didn't cover it.

My friend who was ordained summed up the experience this way:

I said to my very Jewish best-old-friend-from-middle-school when she called to congratulate me the instant Shabbat was over and she could use the phone, one of the things I love about the 21st century is being told "Mazel tov!" on my ordination as a female Episcopal priest by a gay bishop who's about to go to the inauguration of the biracial President whose middle name is Hussein.

The Ordination and the Inauguration


Merciful heavens!
I swear.  I cannot believe that after ALL THE FUSS they created talking about how one of Teh Geighs was going to give this invocation that Gene Robinson's prayer wasn't even televised or broadcast on NPR.  The hell?  I don't want to be angry. I really don't.  I want to be swept up in the hopeyness of it all.  But then things like this happen, and I'm left thinking WTF?  It takes the sheen off this whole thing for me.  

But
There is still to come:
A lesbian couple (any pictures yet?).
And a gay band in the parade.
Wow, that will really make my day.  

I plan on watching movies and drinking adult beverages.  

Pam,
J'aime ma Peau



Exactly
You are being reduced to entertainment for straight people. Can anyone say, "black-face minstrel"?

This has spoiled the entire Democratic rise to power and it started when Obama sent Donny McClurkin to S. C.

I can't even stand to watch all of the celebrations because of the people who are left out and spit upon.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


[ Parent ]
Ok, no more self-pity, please!
So, I think we all should sit back and reflect what happened today.  And that for me is not Gene Robinson not being widely broadcasted (isn't religion what got our community into trouble in the first place?).  It is:

The Washington Gay Mens Chorus in the footsteps of Marian Anderson. Anderson wasn't allowed to sign in the DAR constitution hall, so  Eleanore Roosevelt asked her to sing publicly in front of the Lincoln memorial.  She chose to sing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".  Today the exact same thing happened - asked by the president, the GMC sang - the same song Anderson sang.  Isn't that a very big signal?

Finally, in his speech, Obama specifically included the gay community.

Seriously - that is 500% more than what we had during the last eight years.  I think it is up to us now to take it from here and help the new government getting somewhere.  


Not self-pity, just some reality-based observations.
The Washington Gay Mens Chorus in the footsteps of Marian Anderson. Anderson wasn't allowed to sign in the DAR constitution hall, so  Eleanore Roosevelt asked her to sing publicly in front of the Lincoln memorial.  She chose to sing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".  Today the exact same thing happened - asked by the president, the GMC sang - the same song Anderson sang.  Isn't that a very big signal?
That is a big signal, and no one discounts its symbolism. But the GMC is not going to be seen by as many people as Rick Warren will.

The issue is a lot of ink and bandwidth was spent by the Obama talking about the importance of Robinson's appearance, and others who were trying to talk this up as an equivalent counter-gesture to inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation on The Big Day. It was nothing of the sort or course, but today's "disappearance" of Robinson was yet another insult. Trust me, Warren's appearance will be seen by millions if not billions. Visibility does matter.


[ Parent ]
Secular society
Isn't it so much more important though, to take the whole gay rights discussion - and politics in general - out of the grip of religion?  

Church and religion will never drive equal rights.  It didn't in the 60ies (actually it didn't in the last 2000 years) - it won't do that now.  

So being a relevant part of the secular agenda seems to be so much more important than fighting the religious fight.  My big hope for the next four (eight?) years would be, that Obama succeeds in breaking the unholy connection between politics and church.
-  


[ Parent ]
Apalling ignorance.
The African-American church drove the Civil Rights movement in the mid-1960's. Martin Luther King was a preacher before he became an activist.

"When reality bites, bite back!" ~ The Werewolf Prophet, resident Looped-Garou of Prophecy Street

[ Parent ]
Yes, against the main stream churches
There surely are progressive churches - but the mainstream churches aren't.  

Interesting how quickly differing opinions are labeled as ignorance here ...  


[ Parent ]
Aren't WHAT?
Um, did you fail to notice that Bishop Robinson is a member of the Episcopal church? You don't get more mainstream than a member of the Anglican Communion. They're pretty much the definition of mainstream.

The preachers like MLKJr. who were at the heart of the civil rights movement of the 60s were mainly Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians.

Your utter ignorance regarding the role of religious leaders in civil rights and progressive politics is showing. Please educate yourself before you try again.


[ Parent ]
Now, this is getting FUN
Episcopal Church regarding gays - why not take a quick visit to wikipedia:
Despite these affirmations of gay rights, the GC affirmed in 1991 that "physical sexual expression" is only appropriate within the monogamous, lifelong "union of husband and wife."[36] Although some dioceses within the Episcopal Church bless same-sex unions, the church as a whole does not.

oh, there is more
In October 2003, an emergency meeting of the Anglican primates (the heads of the Anglican Communion's 38 member churches) was convened. The meeting's final communiqué included the warning that if Robinson's consecration proceeded, it would "tear the fabric of the communion at its deepest level."

[...]

On one side of the debate, the 1998 Lambeth Conference 1.10 is quoted, which states:

   "This Conference ... in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage."

Sounds close to the latest catholic catechism to me: we won't stone you if you are gay, but don't even think of practicing and get ready for repenting ... a lot.

Oh, talking about catholic church - remember the Pope's latest rants against gays ... very supportive indeed.

And then Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell, Joel Osteen, ... - none of them is providing any positive impulse for equality.

I am looking for a label that can compete with your loving 'utter ignorance regarding the role of religious leaders in civil rights and progressive politics' - oh, how about 'utter ignorance regarding the destructive history of religions regarding civil rights and progressive politics'?

In one point I agree with you though: there are individuals organized in churches that do a lot of great work.  I am specifically thinking of LGBT affirming catholic, episcopal, ... priests that risk their relationships with their 'corporate headquarters'.  But I am afraid, that religions as organizations just don't.


[ Parent ]
Episcopal Church polity and practice: bylaws more conservative than actual practice
rupi3000 and others, I have posted a long explanation of the past 5 years worth of policies and politics of the Episcopal Church in a diary entitled

"The Episcopal Church's politics re: status of LGBTs since 2003 and Bishop Gene Robinson's election "


[ Parent ]
The Gay Men's Chorus...
was not identified as such on the HBO broadcast.  It was a bunch of guys in red ties and that's all.

[ Parent ]
Well
But then again nutty wingers obsessing over Krispy Kreme's celebration of "choice" also care about symbolism.

I wish our community could be a little smarter and level-headed about the picks we fight.

But it seems the SLAP IN THE FACE crowd is constantly growing and growing and growing and growing ... and not using up our political capital that isn't big in the first place on those RIDICULOUS controversies that won't change one closeted kid's life or give back his or her job to a gay/lesbian that has been fired because of their homosexuality or allow couples in their eighties to get married and so on.

ENOUGH !


[ Parent ]
I agree
If I understand what other posters have said above, nobody anywhere broadcast Robinson?

As upset as I am that the nation didn't hear Robinson's amazing invocation (or whatever it's called), every time the President says "gay or straight," he puts a nail in the coffin of homophobia.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report


[ Parent ]
SO, Will the Blueprint get WORKED on or NOT?

HRC has develped a blueprint of actual decisions and policies that the Obama administration can put in place without needing any legislative input.  We'll just see if any get done....

Course it's nowhere to be found on their self congratulaory site now. 

 

So, LEV I have liked hearing him SAY it too, but as of TUESDAY NOON, its

DO IT TIME 



It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


[ Parent ]
The GMC went UNIDENTIFIED.
GLBTI folk most likely will catch the connection to Anderson & "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", and will identify the GMC because 1) they were all men and 2) they all had on red AIDS ribbons, but this was a dog-whistle that most Americans cannot hear.

So, once again, us queers are invisible...

"When reality bites, bite back!" ~ The Werewolf Prophet, resident Looped-Garou of Prophecy Street


[ Parent ]
Oh, we're watching and reflecting all right
The Gay Mens Chorus. A marching band. How sweet. So a bunch of fags and dykes get to play the part of minstrel celebrating the exclusive rule of the first-class straight world over the second-class queers, same as we always have done. I do wonder where would they be without us to do their hair, decorate their homes and offices, sing and dance and perform on stage, and arrange their wardrobes.

Obama has specifically included queers in a lot of his speeches. So fucking what? What ACTION has followed up those oh-so-inclusive speeches? Rick Warren, "God is in the mix," a whole lot of backpedaling, and our lives as human beings and citizens being downgraded to "social issues." We're still waiting for a kiss to come without the bitchslap.

When I see DADT and DOMA repealed, when I see an inclusive ENDA, the Matthew Shepard Act, the Uniting American Families Act, and a federal Civil Union or Marriage legislation go through, then I'll consider myself "included" rather than pandered to.

Don't tell us the shit sandwich is tastier because it's got more mustard on it to mask the taste. It's still the same shit.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi


[ Parent ]
Bravo!
That's all.  Just, Bravo!

[ Parent ]
Ditto!
clapping hands  Well said, Keori!

[ Parent ]
And don't claim
We can't do more than one thing at once.

The Obama-bot rallying cry: "Hey you selfish homos, stop having temper tantrums. HOW DARE YOU bring up your problems when I have problems which are far more important than "civil rights" for a bunch of pervs. Go to the back of the bus and keep quiet. If you're good little fags and dykes, maybe we'll give you a lollipop some day."

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


[ Parent ]
Precisely
It makes me sick that law-abiding, tax paying American citizens actually have to make the case for our human rights. This is America, FFS. This is the land of "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

We should NOT be in a position of having to suffer this injustice again and again, time after time after fucking time. We did not consent to have our rights denied us, taken from us, our human dignity stripped away, our support taken for granted and spat back in our faces.

It is not selfish to demand our human and civil rights. It is our duty as Americans. It is not a "temper tantrum" when we are outraged by blatant hypocrisy and lies disguised as "outreach" and "inclusiveness." It is dissent, heralded as the highest form of patriotism. It is not a "problem" when our Constitutional rights are taken away one by one. It is a human travesty perpetuated by a fascist majority.

Jonathan Edwards, the colonial American Congregationalist preacher, wrote, "There is a beauty in Equality, as appears very evident by the very great respect men show to it, in every thing they make or do." Perhaps PE Obama, so intent on knowing what his God thinks, should pay attention to what America's original theologian and philosopher had to say 300 years ago.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi


[ Parent ]
For as long as I can remember, the Democrats
have been using this same line to keep us on the back burner.  "We'll get to LGBT Equality real soon now.  Promise.  Honest Injun, we will.  Really.  But right now there are more important things we have to do."  We've been hearing this for decades.  

To their credit(?), a few of them have moved beyond it to, "We'll get to you LGBT folks real soon now--as soon as we can.  We want to do it now, but we have to work out the legal/administrative/financial problems first.  Honest."  It's still bullshit, but at least it's new bullshit.  

But the Democrats always--ALWAYS--have some damn reason or other for delaying fair treatment for us. And they always have their LGBT flunkies--HRC, the Advocate, et al--lined up to assure us that they really, really, really do love us, despite appearances to the contrary.

Enough, already.  

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu


[ Parent ]
Well, if it is all words
If words don't count and actions really do, then why are we bitching about this Gene Robinson thing ?

Wait until you see what Obama does on DADT and DOMA, and then you can scream SLAP IN THE FACE.

In the meantime, enough with the ridiculous whining. I wish Gene's nice sermon had been broadcast. It hasn't. Let's move on.


[ Parent ]
Because words do matter
A thought leads to words. Words lead to actions. Actions lead to habits.

Words influence people's thoughts, and the cycle begins again.

PE Obama's words and actions are not isolated incidents. As the approaching-legendary Melissa McEwan is fond of saying, "This shit doesn't happen in a vacuum." His words and actions are perpetuating the Democratic Party's habit of continually stomping down the LGBT community and then taking our support for granted come election time.

What are we to do? If we raise hell, we're "whining" and "throwing tantrums." We're "hysterical divas." We say nothing, we're a bunch of "spineless little pansy queers." Which one will it be, hm? Pick your label, because you'll get one whether you want it or not.

The invitation to the Right Reverend, to the DCGMC, to the band, was an attempt to pander, nothing more. We are not stupid. We know this shit when we smell it. Being accustomed to the smell does not make one immune to the stench. PE Obama continues to prove time and again that he enjoys wallowing in the source of it.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi


[ Parent ]
Ignore every sign that Obama won't do jack for us?
Ignore his penchant for taking advice from the likes of Warren and McClurkin?  Forget about all the harm he's done already, with bullcrap like "God is in the mix"?  Choose to overlook all the deliberate slights?  And blithely assume there won't be more in the same vein?  Wait until he adopts more horrible policies that hurt us and will take decades to undo?

Right.  Good thinking.  That would really be productive.  I'll bet you don't strap on your seat belt till after you've had a crash, too.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu


[ Parent ]
wait and see; wait and see; wait and see
Ah, I've seen plenty and I don't like the sight of it.

[ Parent ]
'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.'
Here's a quote from one MLK's speech I just found in an editorial...I don't know which speech.
"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed," King wrote. He added, "This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' ..


[ Parent ]
In case you didn't notice
HBO identified all of the choruses that performed except the gay one.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu


[ Parent ]
Oh Please
Obama sold the rights to HBO with the explicit requirement that HBO would not broadcast Bishop Robinson and that no gay performers would be identified as such.

I guarantee you, given Obama's record, HBO was a slick trick to weasel out of letting Americans hear Bishop Robinson and to pander to Evangelicals.

Where were the openly gay performers, identified as such, in this wonderful new world of unity?

Obama is doing this because Evangelicals have more power than gays. Obama has no moral center. It's all about how many people he can get to like him.

It's crap. I'll be in DC to protest Obama's inauguration over the way he is treating gay Americans with my husband and my grandchildren.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


[ Parent ]
Have Fun oldbrit....
I still think an AirHorn during Warren would be best. But it would get you arrested. Remember a black arm band worn from NOON to 3PM is the 'approved' way to demonstrate publically. e.g. even the military get to do this. I wonder if any of them will.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


[ Parent ]
A Rainbow Colored Armband
would be even better. Or at least wave a rainbow flag during the prayer. If I were going to be there Rick Warren would be seeing my pride flag draped back during the prayer.  

[ Parent ]
Proof
Do you have some proof of this allegation?

[ Parent ]
The only weakness I see around here is your post
Here's the thing. I mentioned this on Bilerico. I have a friend who used to work on the Hill. If you want something, he used to say, then you have to fight for it because no one here is going to give it to you.

FDR said something similar. Self pity would be waiting for others to fight for us. Strength is doing exactly what people here are doing.

So, I think like Karl Rove, you got an issue with defining things in reverse. Patriotism is not patriotism. Strength is self pity. That's a good talking point. But that's all substantively it is.

For the first time in a long time, I am actually starting to respect the gay community rather than roll my eyes in disgust.


[ Parent ]
i waited and waited.....
and waited and it clicked that either he did not come on or either they did not broadcast his prayer.  then we saw his name in the rolling credits.

i am first thankful to you pam for posting the prayer here so i can at least read it. i caught your tweet on twitter.
i wanted to hear him speak it out for us all. his spirit and heart share So Much to those that also live in love and by love.

we already rattled off a few emails to hbo caling them on this!  this is them!
so i am understanding that if you did see him, no one could hear him because the mic was not on...tsk, tsk.
and i read nor heard anything about a pre-celebration
which is where they stuck him.  I am waiting now to hear the rt. rev robinson's thoughts about this. and obama's.

Always Seeking To Encourage.
WTm


the praying activist, WTm-

by Faith I am part of His Family!

Gal 3:26


It'll be more than interesting
to compare this wonderful, heartfelt prayer to Purpose-Driven Pastor's on Tuesday.

On second thought, I'll bet there will be absolutely no comparison.

Me, I'm preparing a fundie dog-whistle bingo card for Warren's invocation.


no comparison . . .
because apparently there is nothing but a written transcript of the event. . .and . . .unfortunately, many families were left out regardless of the invocation.

HBO was, and is not available(free or not)unless you subscribe to a premium package through your cable provider and have access to an additional service like "on demand". . .My international friends (Belgium, Australia, France, and Japan)were/are blocked from viewing the event online.

What a shame that the rights to the "peoples inauguration" have been sold off by the Obama inaugural team for such a pittance.


[ Parent ]
Add Canada
to that list. HBO Canada did show the celebration yesterday, but did not broadcast it to everyone, only the people who pay for HBOC. We don't pay for it.

[ Parent ]
homosex is a threat to national security.
i wonder what homos who can't get laid qualify as?  an unexploded bomblet?

in case anyone wants to know the terror alert level from homosex:
http://slugtales.com/gay-marri...


looking for the right rev
And here we go once more, having to take some bitter with the sweetness of today's inaugural events.  After all the hoopla regarding Bishop Robinson's "inclusion" as an attempt to "balance" the Rick Warren invite - Bishop Robinson's invocation is a no show.  We were so disappointed!  An opportunity missed today but not lost since folks expressing out loud their disappointment.

I agree with wisdomteaches me - it would have been wonderful to hear the right rev's invocation - it is so filled with love for humanity and for God.  Thank you Pam for posting it so we can at least read what Bishop prayed.

By the way, this is a great site, my first time posting a comment.

kw  


Even more reason
to get your pledge in for the Rick-A-Thon

http://www.rick-a-thon.com/

I'm in D.C. and was at the concert. Unfortunately I missed the beginning. I am now sitting in my friend's apartment watching the concert on HBO. Pretty disappointed that I didn't get to see Robinson on TV either.

I'll be rocking the Rick-A-Thon with signs all over the capital. I'll post pictures on http://www.rick-a-thon.com when I get back to MA.

Looks like Rick Warren is about to raise at least $2000 for LGBT equality. It could be up to $5000.  


I don't believe that HBO would broadcast any spoken prayer by a minister
since HBO advertisers aren't likely to be willing to pay for what would amount to audience zone-out at the beginning of the broadcast hour. I would like to guess that most people aren't really going to be into hearing anything Warren says, but will want to go to the 2 minute Youtube summary: Obama speaking the oath.

do you really think they will cut out warren tomorrow?
i mean, if they have some odd policy about preachers giving prayers, that's what they'll have to do.  do you really expect that?  i don't.

Lurleen on Twitter

[ Parent ]
HBO doesn't HAVE advertisers.


I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu


[ Parent ]
HBO
I figured that HBO must have had some ads - that it charged viewers for its channel because it had good original content, not because people didn't have to fast-forward through contents.

Explain to me why HBO would schedule shows with gay characters but censor Bishop Gene and fail to name the DCGMC? I can see trimming all the religious types out of the broadcast, including Warren - religion doesn't fit into "entertainment" or "celebrity-watching", unless it's Madonna with her "Kabalah" (not dissing the belief, just the chi-chi-ness).


[ Parent ]
My husband...
...got an email (in response to his email to them) from HBO saying that the decision to send Bp Robinson out early came from the inaugural committee.  Nothing beyond that.

[ Parent ]
Bishop's Prayer
The Bishop's prayer is exactly fitting, considering the treatment he received, and the lack of outrage!!  

Juniper


Tell HBO what you think
Tell HBO what you think about their erasure of gays from "our" party.

thx Joe.My.God for the link.

Lurleen on Twitter


Thanks for posting Robinson's invocation here
I listened to the entire event on NPR while watching what I could see of the video feed at HBO online. The music was great and Obama's speech was inspiring, however it was disappointing to not hear Robinson.

Confused
Was Robinson missing from HBO or HBO AND NPR?

[ Parent ]
What I'm <em>Left</em> with...
I can't help but be reminded of the hierarchy so evident in the "struggle for human rights." It was portrayed well in HBO's "If these walls could talk" second segment where the college lesbians got kicked out of the  campus Women's Rights group when the university threatened to shut down the organization. They were told, "We'll get to your issues...but for now we need to deal with birth control." Shit rolls downhill and in our society, the GLBT is pretty much at the bottom.

Thanks for posting this Pam, it's valuable info and Gene Robinson's words are brilliant and touching.


Another Irony!
The broadcast started with Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man."

And I quote:

In surely one of the great ironies in music, a reserved, openly gay Jewish leftist from Brooklyn produced the sound we all instantly identify with the conservative values, vast landscapes and bold pioneer spirit of the rugged American settlers.

from
http://www.classicalnotes.net/...

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report


"America the Beautiful" lyrics written by Katharine Bates, probably a lesbian
Thanks, Lev, for pointing out that bit about Copland and "Fanfare for the Common Man".

Lyrics for "America the Beautiful" were written by Prof. Katharine Lee Bates, a Wellesley English professor, who lived together for 25 years with Prof. Katharine Coman, an Economics professor and later Dean of the college. Due to the times (1882 and after) and the sensitive nature of their jobs (as colleges assumed responsibility "in loco parentis" for the students), the relationship was generally assumed by the world at large to be a chaste "Boston marriage", and neither would have spoken about sex in unambiguous terms. Whether or not actual genital stimulation was involved, it would seem obvious that Bates had at least affectional lesbian inclinations. Why else write a whole book of memorial poems for her housemate?


[ Parent ]
Surpassing the Love of Men
Thanks for that info, Nancy!  Lillian Faderman's book Surpassing the Love of men is an amazing study of the Boston Marriage.Love between the sexes in those years was far more freely expressed than now, so who knows what people's emotional lives meant when they lived in such a couple.  But of course nobody would discuss this in schools, just as I was amazed that both my kids studied Whitman in highs chool without any inkling of his "preference."

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

[ Parent ]
I was searching all over for it too
THIS sucks...and not in the fun way

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


Facts
Okay, the HB0 broadcast started with drumming at 2:30.  Does anyone know at what time Robinson spoke?  I will be curious to know what he says about being excluded, and how it happened.  Surely he knew the broadcast was starting at 2:30, so someone had to have hurried him along, no?

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

A symbolic hurt
to all LGBT's.  I am not religious but I still feel wounded.  HBO not even recognizing the Gay Mens Choir.  Another slap in the face.  

Same-Sex Marriage is good for the economy.

When will YOU wake up?
I am not gay. I must have some gays in my family somewhere, but I am not aware of them. I say this so that you will understand that I am an ally who supports equal rights for all people and that my support is not based on discrimination against my family members.

I am also a lifelong Democrat, a lifetime member of the NAACP, and have been politically active supporting civil rights, opposing war, etc. since the late 1960's

NOW, HERE IS MY QUESTION FOR MY FELLOW AMERICANS WHO HAPPEN TO BE LGBT OR Q:

When are you going to wake up and realize that Obama is not your friend? Obama doesn't support equal rights for all people - especially you!

When are you going to get angry enough to take to the streets and make Obama pay a political price for refusing to support your rights?

My husband, children and I went to DC for the March on Washington for LGBT rights (the one at the end of Reagan or during Daddy Bush preidencies).

My husband and I laid down on the street in front of the White House while our children drew chalk outlines of our bodies on the pavement.

We're Here! We're Not Queer! We've Got Your Back!

As Bishop Robinson said, "Bless us with anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


who are you to castigate us?
really, who?  when you assume that we're in need of waking up, you bitch slap us as bad as obama.  fuck you and your big opinion of yourself.

Lurleen on Twitter

[ Parent ]
Your anger is misplaced
You didn't answer my questions.

I'm disappointed that you take my comments as an attack upon you. My purpose is to remind you that you have many allies out here who will stand with you, but we can't take the lead. The leaders and the energy have to come from lgbtq people. We can add numbers and energy to the cause, but you have to lead.

If there's one thing MLK and Malcolm X agreed upon, it was that you won't get your rights if you don't demand them and take them. I agree with them.

So, I'll rephrase my comment thusly:

When you take to the streets, I'll be there with my husband and my grandchildren to support you.

As for waking you up, my finger to the wind tells me that gays still support Obama in overwhelming numbers.

I support Obama, but he needs to be roughed up a little bit and pay a political cost for the way he is treating gay people. If he doesn't pay a political cost for what he is doing to you, he will have no reason to do anything other than

There's nothing that stops Obama from ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", including you in ENDA, hate-crimes statutes, and providing equal pay and benefits to glbtq federal employees, except that Obama doesn't have the will to do it.

It is simply not true that your rights have to wait until after the economy and other issues are straightened out. There will always be "good reasons" to ask you to wait. We got civil rights legislation passed during the Vietnam War, so, I say "to Hell with waiting".

My family and I are with you.

Liz

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


[ Parent ]
go for it oldbrit....

You are absolutely right. Wake up all of you who want to win incrementally county by county... YOU WONT  Get out there and demand your rights or you wont get them. PERIOD.

STR8 Against H8 



It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


[ Parent ]
Lurleen!
I'm sending you a virtual shoulder rub over the wire.  You've been tense lately.

*-rub-* *-rub-* *-rub-*  I can feel the knots!  *-rub-* *-rub-* *-rub-*

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto


[ Parent ]
your Robinson quote says it:
"Bless us with anger at discrimination. . .".

[ Parent ]
my blessing OVERFLOWETH


What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
I have to create a new signature
"my blessing overfloweth"...is looking like a likely contender

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
Of course, you're absolutely correct, oldbrit.
So many of us -- myself included -- so badly want to believe the nightmare is over and we want to get to hope like everybody else and we want to think that change is coming.

But Obama is making that impossible.

I turned against him with the Warren atrocity and then turned right back around again and believed he could be at least worked with after the Robinson invitation, but now?

Even if he is somehow secretly for us or has some master plan we can't understand right now, I don't care.  I have to go with what he does.  And what he does is only slightly not as bad as what we're used to.  And that's nowhere near good enough.

Thank you for your post.  And thank you for your support.  You've convinced me.


[ Parent ]
Why did HBO have EXCLUSIVE rights?
The question is not why HBO cut it. The question is...why was HBO the only channel that was allowed to broadcast it?

If this had been broadcast on all the networks, this would not have happened. Was this a national, public event for all Americans, or a private event by HBO?


I thought that sucked too
So much for ALL the People, now it's for all the people with premium cable. I think I need to go spew at Obama transition site, when you can still  find a thread on their "blog" which allows comments, I think New Year's Eve is the last thread you can use, about page 3.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
Apparently Robinson WAS seen...
on C-SPAN and NPR, but the talking heads were not aware that he was there and kept talking.  I think that Robinson was sabotaged at a fairly low level.

Just think.  You're standing back stage, nervous, preparing mentally to speak in front of that huge crowd and someone that you've seen directing traffic back stage taps you on the shoulder and says "you're on."


[ Parent ]
+Robinson is pretty seasoned by now
He's been swarmed by nutcases before, most recently on film at a Not Lambeth service in London.

[ Parent ]
EXACTLY
Who knew?  No one until it happened, obviously.

[ Parent ]
Beautiful Prayer
I can't believe they slighted him so PUBLICLY.
ALL f*cking bets are off for MLK tomorrow and especially for G*D DAMN Warren on Tuesday, don't just turn your back and kiss, yell "F*CK YOU HATEFUL PIG BREEDER!"

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


I'll be in DC to protest
My suggestion is to scream in unison, "Fuck You! Fuck You!..." over and over again.

If it's loud enough, it will be picked up by broadcast microphones and they won't be able to broadcast Warren's "prayer".

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


[ Parent ]
I'll be in DC to protest
My suggestion is to scream in unison, "Fuck You! Fuck You!..." over and over again.

If it's loud enough, it will be picked up by broadcast microphones and they won't be able to broadcast Warren's "prayer".

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


[ Parent ]
CONTACT HBO here
   http://www.hbo.com/apps/submit...

for silencing the Bishop's prayer

btw Queerty.com has this covered too

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


AmericBlog is VERY angry too


What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
DC Gay Men's chorus weren't recognised either
WE ARE TWO

hetero-America, and faggots

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


I'm sure when the Lesbian and Gay band goes by the reviewing stand
Either the network's cameras will be on something else.

Or the talking heads will "forget" the mention them.

Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" is so 2006.


[ Parent ]
to*
Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" is so 2006.

[ Parent ]
when the band gets to the reviewing stand,
i think they should just lower their instruments and stand in sorrowful silence.

Lurleen on Twitter

[ Parent ]
Band? What Band?
The broadcast is with "limited commercial breaks" . .let's all take bets on when the insertion of a commercial is appropriate for the Obama LGTB Liason?

[ Parent ]
they still need to delivere this message personally to obama.
but i take your point.

Lurleen on Twitter

[ Parent ]
I mentioned this on Pam's diary on parade
the lesbian and gay band is just in front of those whacky pastel antebellum fembots from Alabama.I hoped a dyke trombone player tips one of those pepto bismo colored hoop skirts right over a Scarlet-wannabees head,,,I'd pee my pants laughing.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
here's those Alabama Scarlet wannabees
   http://www.dcpages.com/gallery...

Now would you mix that bunch with a gay lesbian group....someone is gonna tip a skirt, or snatch a parasol, it's just too tempting of queer sense of humor.
I'd love to be in the HOURS of pre-parade standing around to see the inter-actions. A video camera put in that area would be PURE GOLD.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
Looking at those women makes me giggle thinking of Designing Women episode
Where Southern house tours were given in Julia's house, the tour lady dressed like Scarlet, and made Julia wear a headscarf Mammy outfit....it has a classic rant of Julia's about stupid tourists sneezing fudgcicles and wearing their flip flops, putting their slurpees on her mother's antiques..."as God as my witness I'll burn the house down myself"

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
here's other bloggers
   http://www.blogrunner.com/snap...

Pam is quoted on Dan Savage's Permission to get Upset
  http://slog.thestranger.com/sl...

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


I commented on CNN's live blog of AC360
they are repeating some HBO footage and Obama's speech. I said if they or HBO have the prayer footage they should play it NOW

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
Seriously, is anyone actually surprised? n/t


Plus ça change, plus c'est la même merde.

NO.....

But as I thought I had just 'missed it' by tuning in late..I wasn't miffed during the concert.

But remember BamaBabe...as of TUESDAY NOON it's DO IT TIME... not just say it time. 



It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


[ Parent ]
NOT HBO.....it was OBAMA's Teams fault.....
Contacted Sunday night by AfterElton.com concerning the exclusion of Robinson's prayer, HBO said via email, "The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show."

Uncertain as to whether or not that meant that HBO was contractually prevented from airing the pre-show, we followed up, but none of the spokespeople available Sunday night could answer that question with absolute certainty.

However, it does seem that the network's position is that they had nothing to do with the decision.

So way to go folks WAY WAY WAY WAY under the Bus....

and I thought that was the Gay Men's Chorus, but of all the performers they were NOT announced or labelled on HBO... at least with their fantastic pink ties and hankies it was sort of obvious.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.


Gay Band
It makes me wonder if all the networks will rush to commercial when the gay band marches in front of the reviewing stand on Tuesday.

HBO NOT AT FAULT
Initially, I thought HBO was the problem. Then, I read America's Blog. John Aravosis says that there was a 10 minute break between Bishop Robinson and the start of the HBO broadcast.

Now:

HBO was only broadcasting the event. The Obama people were running the show. The HBO broadcast started at exactly 2.30PM - exactly on schedule.

The Obama people obviously new that anything that occurred prior to 2:30PM would not be in the broadcast. This means that the Obama people intentionally cut Bishop Robinson out of the program by putting him on the stage before the HBO broadcast started.

Let me also point out, that if the program had been carried on C-SPAN, the moment anyone walked onto the stage, CSPAN would have gone to the event, whether it was 15 minutes early, on time, or 30 minutes late.

My conclusion is that Obama didn't want Bishop Robinson's invocation to be broadcast so it was presented before the HBO broadcast started AND that Obama sold the broadcast right to HBO so that he could keep Robinson off the air -- Again, let me repeat: If CSPAN had covered the event, CSPAN would have started their coverage as soon as anyone appeared on the stage, so Robinson would have been included.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


C-SPAN
didn't go to the event, though, they kept talking which means they were part of a conspiricy or they weren't notified.  I'd opt for number two.

[ Parent ]
C-SPAN
Was blocked from broadcasting the event. . .HBO purchased the exlusive rights from the Obama Inaugural.


[ Parent ]
HBO gave the broadcast free to other stations
Or so the PR said beforehand.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

[ Parent ]
But the prayer happened...
...before the event, not during the event and both NPR and C-SPAN were covering the pre-event live as were MSNBC and CNN.  None of them carried the prayer, AFAIK, even though I've read that Robinson could actually be seen in the background on C-SPAN.  The only video of the prayer was taken by a reporter for Christianity Today, which Pam posted this morning.

[ Parent ]
At Least the Fundies
At least the fundies have the balls to hate me to my face.

Obama is a two faced lying politician.  I would rather have GWB who at least hated me to my face.  I didn't expect anything different from him.

OH well 4 more years of the same crap


Pam, I think that your comment says it all. "That's just freaking rich."
There really are no other words.

I would like to be explained
Now, I would like the fine people in this thread to explain me something. It is quite something for you all to believe the Obama people are somehow not inclusive enough, tone-deaf (Warren) or enough, homophobes (the latter would feel dumb to me but fine if you wanna argue as much).

But can someone - ANYONE - explain me exactly what would be the purpose of the Obama people PURPOSEDLY slighting the gay community ? Especially with things like ... cutting the invocation out of a broadcast ? WHY ? What purpose would that serve ?

When you have people saying that after all Bush may have been better, you know the SLAP IN THE FACE crowd has jumped the shark.

Whatever.


On face value.
It would serve the evangelicals of course.  And, Obama's support from them.  We only have face value to look at.

[ Parent ]
Angry and disappointed, but I agree
No, it's not the same crap as eight years of Bush: contempt for all humanity, spitting on treaties & the Geneva conventions, despoiling the environment, defrauding the American people, kidnapping and torture,reckless disregard for science, working to eliminate women's right to choose.

Yes, I'm angry, but to start castigating Obama and say Bush was better is not tenable.  If someone wants to draw those harsh conclusions, there's not enough evidence yet.

When did Bush ever list types of people in national addresses and include "gay or straight"?    

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report


[ Parent ]
HERE's THE VIDEO of prayer
    http://blog.christianitytoday....

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


video found!
A commenter on Americablog found a video--posted by Christianity Today magazine, go figure. I'm embedding the link below. I also downloaded the video onto my own computer just in case Christianity Today decides to pull it:



sorry petey
Sorry Petey, we posted at about the same time, so I didn't see your post.

no problem, I was just going to attempt to embed it, not my best talent


What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small


[ Parent ]
So we're back to square one
Lovely, just lovely.

All right people, we have a day and a half to get this spread around. We may be able to use this to our advantage.

Fetch my pearls, I need to clutch them!


update post is live
My follow up post is here with reactions around the blogosphere. The Inaugural Committee nixed broadcasting Robinson:
Contacted Sunday night by AfterElton.com concerning the exclusion of Robinson's prayer, HBO said via email, "The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show." Uncertain as to whether or not that meant that HBO was contractually prevented from airing the pre-show, we followed up, but none of the spokespeople available Sunday night could answer that question with absolute certainty. However, it does seem that the network's position is that they had nothing to do with the decision.
Recloseted.  

Try this as the answer re: HBO vs. Obama
When I tuned in to HBO, a few minutes early, I noticed that the HBO broadcast started at EXACTLY 2:30PM EST.

HBO was broadcasting a live event, but they were not producing the program. Obama's people produced the program.

So, it was Obama's people who made the decision to put Bishop Robinson BEFORE the start of the HBO broadcast.

Now, here's the problem that I see:

After Donny McClurkin, and Obama's continuing relationship with James Meeks, inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration was especially hurtful, not because Warren is minister who holds theological views about gays, but because Warren is a political activist against the civil rights of gay people. That is the issue.

A minister who has a gay-negative theology who is not also a political activist would not have been as hurtful, and in the spirit of inclusiveness, one could argue that having a variety of religious traditions represented at the various events is a good thing -- after all, we are required to support the rights of Americans to worship as they choose.

So, inviting Warren goes beyond simple inclusion and opening a dialog.

Enter Bishop Robinson:

Obama announced that Robinson would give the invocation at the Lincoln Memorial and built that up as demonstrating inclusiveness. The problem, though, is that Obama built up the expectation that Robinson would give the invocation and the anticipation of seeing him give it -- Then, they put Robinson in the "pre-game" show so that we would not get to see the man Obama had promised would be there.

That decision is a betrayal of trust. Everyone I've talked to didn't see the equivalence between giving the invocation at the inauguration and at the Lincoln Memorial, but we were willing to give Obama a pass and accept it as the best he could do at this particular moment to make amends.

So, we're faced with Obama cavalierly slapping gays around - again.

Here's the bottom line for me: Donny McClurkin and Rick Warren both represent GRATUITOUS actions because Obama could have reached out to black Evangelicals in South Carolina and to Evangelicals in general in other ways that would not have been hurtful to anyone.

In 1992, Bill Clinton campaigned on eliminating discrimination against gays in the armed forces. This was a great political risk and demonstrated real commitment because support for gays serving openly in the armed forces was less than 40% in 1992. Once elected, Clinton immediately attempted to fulfill that promise. He couldn't achieve it and we got "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" - which as bad as it is, is still a step forward from where we were.

In this election, Obama promised to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces by getting rid of Don't Ask / Don't Tell. Obama supporters demonize Clinton over Don't Ask / Don't Tell, but it took real courage in 1992. There's no courage involved in allowing gays to serve openly today since a significant majority - over 70% in some polls - support this action. Even with a majority of the public supporting elimination of Don't Ask / Don't Tell, Obama has now announced it isn't a priority and that he will get to it later.

Same for DOMA - Obama supporters attack Clinton for signing DOMA, but they ignore the fact that Clinton signed DOMA to stop the Federal Marriage Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. As bad as DOMA is, it only takes a vote of congress or a court ruling to get rid of it. A constitutional amendment can only be overturned by repeal of the amendment -- which is a much more difficult task.

So, where does this leave us?

I think it requires organized resistance. Obama has to learn that gays have sufficient support that going against equal rights for gays carries a political price -- that is more expensive than the price paid for supporting gay rights.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)


well said
While I supported Obama, I was surprised to learn how may LGBT folks were almost in love with the man. Yes he is better than Bush, but is he really that great? I don't remember him getting on national television and saying that homophobia needs to end or publicly supporting any LGBT legislation.

The few times people have tried to point out Obama's signing of pro-lgbt legislation or helping to block anti-lgbt legislation, he wasn't the leader in the effort. He was a name on a piece of paper, along with a lot of other names (and no one is acting as if these other people are the second coming). How do we know he didn't sign it as part of a deal to get a piece of legislation he wanted passed?

Well here's to the hope that he will be the great lgbt emancipator that so many in our community think he is.

Help defend equality, visit One Kalamazoo http://www.onekalamazoo.com/


[ Parent ]
good points -- where to complain?
So it sounds like it was the Obama people's fault that HBO didn't show Robinson. (Not sure who was responsible for the audio problems with Robinson and for HBO's not identifying the Gay Men's Chorus.)

Who do we complain to? The contact option on change.gov has been disabled -- it says to contact the White House tomorrow.

I would like to complain directly to the Inaugural Committee or to other Obama people. Does anyone have a link or some email addresses?

Not that complaining will do a whole lot, but it sure beats not complaining. And it's my way of celebrating this "National Day of Service."

Thanks!


[ Parent ]
that's interesting
because a number of people commenting on Savage's article mentioned they sent letters to change.gov yesterday.

I wonder if they disabled the link after receiving so many angry comments?

Help defend equality, visit One Kalamazoo http://www.onekalamazoo.com/


[ Parent ]
Money
I gave more than ever before during in 1996 and worked in many other ways to elect democrats but was so disgusted by Pelosi and Reid that every time I got a call for donations to this or that committee, I said bluntly: "The Democrats in Congress are weaklings, they're not challenging Bush, and they won't get a dime of my money.  I'm fed up."  One caller paused and said, "I know what you mean" before hanging up. I think any time we receive requests for donation or support now, we can say, "Show us your actions on gay rights." It's a start at making our disapproval clear.  

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

end discrimination with economic boycott
Gays have to unite like religious groups.  The only thing that will make a difference in this country is an economic boycott. People who discriminate should not be rewarded with our money.  Everyone knows which businesses to patronize and which ones to boycott.  The choice of Warren for the celebrated opening tomorrow had to send a message to all. Robinson as the PRE-inauguration was a feeble attempt to keep in our good graces.  Patience is not going to change a thing.  It hasn't so far.  How long do we want to wait? If Obama is so gay-friendly, he wouldn't have chosen Rick Warren who opposes everything gay.  Gays spend so much money!  Stop spending now!  Money is power!  Every gay person can participate in this. Start today!

"Christian" Broadcasting Network
My law firm is based in the building serving as the backdrop for the interview with the CBN guy.  Their DC outpost is on the ground floor, facing the street.  Every single time I walk by their windows, I have to stop myself from doing something lewd or offensive on the sidewalk.*  This is doubly true when my husband and I are walking down the street together.

*But sometimes I just can't help myself.  For about two weeks following the passage of Prop 8, I found myself reflexively flipping them off every time I went by.


Please . . .
give them an extra finger from me and my family next time you pass.

[ Parent ]
But of course!
Done and done.

[ Parent ]
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