Obama team takes blame for Robinson slight
President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural committee is taking the hit today for V. Gene Robinson’s invocation at the Sunday welcoming concert not being televised nationally, Politico reports.
Tens of thousands of attendees did hear the opening prayer given by Robinson, the openly gay New Hampshire Episcopal bishop, but viewers on HBO’s broadcast missed it.
The inaugural committee says the entire broadcast, including Robinson’s invocation, will be shown on the big TV screens along the National Mall on Tuesday.
“We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event,” inaugural committee spokesman Josh Earnest told Politico.
Robinson had been given the slot after he and other gay advocates protested Obama’s selection of evangelical preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at Tuesday’s inauguration. Warren pushed for Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage in California. Obama team takes blame for Robinson slight
Boston Globe, United States - 1 hour ago
Tens of thousands of attendees did hear the opening prayer given by Robinson, the openly gay New Hampshire Episcopal bishop, but viewers on HBO’s broadcast …
Bishop’s prayer at Lincoln Memorial silenced Chicago Sun-Times
Gay Bishop Is Asked to Say Prayer at Inaugural Event AfterEllen.com
Obama’s address at last night’s concert, and a few more gay … AfterElton.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/obama-team-ta…
Gay Bishop Gene Robinson Left Out Of HBO Concert Coverage
Sunday’s big Lincoln Memorial show was billed as the “We Are One” concert, intended to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama with a spirit of unity. But for those of us watching at home, one participant was excluded — Gene Robinson, the “first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination.” Robinson was on hand to deliver an opening prayer to the event, but this prayer went unseen by anyone watching on HBO, who provided and sponsored the coverage.
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for HBO stated that decisions regarding the timing and presentation of Robinson’s remarks were made by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and that Robinson was “not a part of our show from the start.” Indeed, Robinson appeared minutes before the 2:30pm start time of the concert coverage. HBO’s response to the matter has been uniform. A spokeperson offered AfterElton.com much the same response: “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.”
HBO comes to this controversy without any sort of significant reputation for being a network or a workplace hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In fact, the network is responsible for airing the drama Six Feet Under, which depicted gays in complex relationships unflinchingly. The Obama camp, on the other hand, has courted controversy already with the decision to include in the inauguration Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, a supporter of Proposition 8 in California. The appearance of a snub in the case of Bishop Robinson has successfully raised the temperature among Democratic activists and in the liberal blogosphere, where outrage is being pointed mostly at the incoming administration and the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Watch the prayer here: Gay Bishop Gene Robinson Left Out Of HBO Concert Coverage
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Gay Bishop Says Obama ‘Stands With Us’ on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show
Appearing on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson said President-elect Barack Obama “stands with us,” and signaled he was ready to move past the controversy of his invitation.
Robinson is the controversial New Hampshire Episcopal bishop whose consecration in 2003 has split the Anglican Church.
He has been invited to give an opening prayer at a Sunday inaugural event attended by Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Obama is scheduled to speak at the event which will be broadcast on HBO.
The announcement has resurrected the controversy surrounding the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation prayer at the January 20 inaugural ceremony, a prologue to Obama’s historic inaugural address. Gay activists say Warren is homophobic. He likened gay marriage to an incestuous relationship and polygamy, and supported passage of a controversial California gay marriage ban.
See Gay Bishop Says Obama ‘Stands With Us’
On Top Magazine, OH -
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Rick Warren should repent
Rick Warren, the controversial choice to give the opening prayer at the inaugural ceremony can’t have it both ways. He has called homosexuals criminals and perverts and now he has praised the choice of Gene Robinson the openly gay Episcopal bishop who will give the invocation at the inaugural opening ceremony at the Sunday afternoon concert on the Mall.
Warren issued a statement praising Obama for selecting Robinson, saying the president-elect “has again demonstrated his genuine commitment to bringing all Americans of goodwill together in search of common ground. I applaud his desire to be the president of every citizen.”
The large inaugural audience will allow the Rev. Warren to make a public show of repentance. His cherry picking of scripture to make a political point is often translated into a cultural point by those who hate gay people. So in the name of integrity admit the contradiction and in the spirit of Christian love I suggest the following passage for inclusion in your prayer:
Father God I repent for straying from the path you admonished me to follow in Ephesians 4:15: …speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Help us to go forward from this day committed to our truth but speaking it only in the spirit of love.
Christians believe that words have power, that God created the heavens and the earth in just six days. But the power of words can build up or it can tear down. It’s time to take the hyperbole out of your witness and demonstrate the courage to love all people in the name of Christ.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/rick-warren-s…
Vanasco: Tammy Baldwin named honorary inaugural co-chair
President-Obama is nothing if not politically savvy.
Perhaps as a bone to gays upset over Rick Warren’s invitation to give the opening prayer during the inaugural ceremony, the openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) has been named one of 15 honorary co-chairs of the inaugural committee.
Of course, honorary co-chairs are just …
Tags: Co Chair, Co Chairs, Inaugural Ceremony, Inaugural Committee, Invitation, lesbian, Opening Prayer, Rick Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Wisc
