Gays, lesbians hopeful despite inaugural pastor
Hope – and the idea that the country’s new leader would break down barriers of discrimination – overshadowed the disappointment many gays and lesbians felt when an outspoken critic of same-sex marriage gave the invocation at President Obama’s inauguration Tuesday.
“I am completely hopeful, optimistic, relieved, enthusiastic – even knowing that he’s going to disappoint,” said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Obama’s decision to have the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural prayer dampened Kendell’s expectations “of how culturally competent Obama is on gay and lesbian issues,” she said. “I think it’s a reminder of how much work we have to do.”
Warren, Evangelical pastor of the Saddleback Church in Orange County, was a chief proponent of Proposition 8, the California ballot measure approved last year that bars gays and lesbians from marrying.
He also has equated same-sex marriage to incest, polygamy and pedophilia and has said that gays and lesbians should resist the urge to act on their sexuality. Warren made no such references during the globally broadcast invocation.
Instead, he spoke of the need to pursue commitment to “justice for all” and “civility in our actions, even when we differ.”
Gays, lesbians hopeful despite inaugural pastor
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HBO Ste to SHow Bishop Gene’s Obama Prayer
Word is that HBO is editing their broadcast so that all of their Encore Performances include the prayer of openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
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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 …
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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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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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Sigourney Weaver hopes new flick will help gay teens tackle their parents
American actress Sigourney Weaver hopes that her first TV movie Prayers for Bobby will help gay teens when they come out about their sexual orientation to their parents.
Weaver plays the real-life mother of tragic gay youth Bobby Griffith, who committed suicide in the 1970s after his religious parents spent years trying to ‘cure’ him.
According to the actress, Leroy Aaron’s book of the same name, from which her new film was adapted, has become a tool some gay youngsters use to help their parents come to terms with their child”s sexuality.
See Sigourney Weaver hopes new flick will help gay teens tackle their …
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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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Rick Warren Chooses Silence
The Rev. Rick Warren, the megachurch pastor who became a lightning rod for controversy when he was anointed by President-elect Barack Obama to give the premier prayer at the inauguration, has decided to let his prayer speak for him.
Mr. Warren has decided not to grant any interviews before the inauguration next Tuesday, though he has received more than 100 requests for interviews, including strong appeals from competing celebrity television reporters, according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross (who has also served for years as spokesman for the Rev. Billy Graham).
Mr. Ross’s firm released a statement saying, “Dr. Warren has determined there is no way he could fairly accommodate any interviews at the expense of others, but instead will let his prayer speak for itself.”
See Rick Warren Chooses Silence
New York Times, United States
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