Rebroadcast of HBO's "We Are One" to include Gene Robinson, be shown on Jumbotrons on National Mall
A source with Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration Committe (PIC) has confirmed to AfterElton.com that a rebroadcast of HBO's We Are One concert will be shown on Jumbotron screens on the National Mall as part of tomorrow's inauguration and will also include the invocation given by Rt. Reverend Gene Robinson. The invocation was originally not included in the HBO broadcast, an omission that struck many in the gay community as another example of the Obama administration's insensitivity toward and mishandling of gay issues. The source also clarified PIC's earlier statement — "We regret the error in executing this plan" — which struck some as pointing the blame back at HBO. In fact, the PIC source says that even though it was always their intention to include Reverend Robinson, it was their mistake it didn't get done and the blame is entirely theirs. Even though millions of viewers will now see Rev. Robinson, the nation's only gay Episcopalian bishop, speak during Obama's inauguration, it is hard to imagine it having that much of an impact. Nonetheless, the reaction of the gay community to this, as with the passage of Prop 8 and the selection of Rick Warren to deliver the prayer during Obama's swearing in, once again shows we're fed up and not taking anything sitting down. Submitted by on Mon, 2009-01-19 17:00. |
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Finally... a straight answer...(no pun intended)
Yes, you are so right
Yes, you are so right RJ...Obama could have avoided all this by NOT choosing Rick Warren in the first place. There were so many other pastors he could have chosen from. And now to quash the noise, Bishop Robinson is put into the proceedings at the last minute.
It's so disappointing that Obama chose Rick Warren. I really wished he hadn't.
True, but....
How about NO representative of the religious right?
They were upset that Warren accepted the invitation anyway. I seriously doubt they would have been upset about being excluded. They obviously didn't vote for Obama because if they did, they wouldn't have been considered religious right-wing, would they?
Since Obama was set on having a religious invocation, all he needed to do to minimize griping on either side of the political spectrum was to select a religious leader like Joseph Lowery, who is participating but has been rendered an after-thought by the Warren circus.
Face it folks...
GayPastor - I hate to
Obamarama - conservative in Canada?
A local rag here published an op ed which listed a bunch of Obama's policies - including not supporting gay marriage - and stated that if he was a politician in Canada he would fall totally into the conservative camp.
Yes, there is cause for celebration that he's being elected but as others have stated, there is a long way to go.
Love to see it
It is hard to imagine
For the first time in many years the adage "better late then never" simply does NOT work regarding this incident.
I told my partner recently that our community needed to start getting angry again, that all the diplomacy and political insertion was only serving to keep us in "our place" and there was little moving forward in the community.
So I am pleased many people were angered by this happening and personally, I was hurt that I could not hear this prayer when the program aired live.
Regardless of how many times HBO airs it now, how many screens PIC puts it on, that moment was taken away from me. I was excluded and the irony is the prayer was presented under "We are One".
It it was a mistake, it was a really stupid one!!
So HBO did record
So HBO did record Robinson's invocation.
Now I don't buy that the exclusion was an inadvertent mistake.