Gene Robinson update: Presidential Inauguration Committee says invocation was supposed to be broadcast. Might it be tomorrow?

Crowds attending the concert at the Lincoln Memorial
(AFP/Robyn Beck)

Late last night AfterElton.com reported that HBO, which had broadcast The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial Sunday afternoon — a concert organized by the Presidential Inauguration Committee to start the inauguration festivities — said they were not to blame for the exclusion of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer delivered just before the concert started. 

The Presidential Inauguration Committee just issued a statement saying, "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.” — PIC communications director Josh Earnest.

I'm also hearing that Robinson's invocation might be broadcast tomorrow on the jumbotron screens placed around the mall for the inauguration ceremony. That would be a smart gesture by PIC and would go some ways toward making up for this.

PIC's statement doesn't exactly come out and say the whole thing is their fault, but it does seem to verify HBO's comments yesterday that they had nothing to do with Robinson's (pictured, right) exclusion from the broadcast. The network was in touch with us today and again reiterated this by saying, "It was not an HBO omission. We merely televised the show beginning at 2:30pm. Had the PIC told us upfront that this was to be part of the telecast, it would have been."

HBO has also given PIC permission to post Rev. Robinson's prayer on their website, but we're waiting for word when that will happen.

As for the people helming Obama's PIC, their claim that this was simply a miscommunication and that Robinson's prayer was meant to be included is impossible to verify. The only thing for certain is that they have stepped in it again and made many in the gay community (and some in the straight community) ever more skeptical of this administration's attitude toward gay people.

For what it's worth, I still don't think Obama is trying hide his gay constituency from the rest of America or to throw us under the bus. He included the GLBT community in his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination and again when he addressed crowds yesterday in D.C.

Do I disagree with his selection of Rick Warren to deliver tomorrow's invocation? Absolutely. Do I think somebody in the PIC blew the coverage of Robinson's invocation? Again, absolutely. But for me the jury is still out as to whether Obama will come through on the issues that really matter to our community. 

What do you think?