In an item entitled “Obama’s Promises to Gays,” Marc Ambinder writes: They’re now in black and white on the White House website. Full civil unions and federal rights. Employment non-discrimination. A repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Expanded Adoption Rights.
HBO says it will telecast “an updated version” of Sunday’s inaugural-related concert tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, By “updated,” the premium cable network means it will include the invocation that had been delivered by the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay New Hampshire Episcopal bishop, at the ceremony’s start
Elizabeth Alexander: Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
A PIC source reports that some clips from the Lincoln Memorial event, including Bishop [Gene] Robinson’s prayer, will be played on the Mall prior to the swearing in ceremony. In addition, there are reports that HBO will likely include the prayer in its re-broadcast of the event.
Who made the decision to mute Bishop Robinson? HBO has blamed the Presidential Inauguration Committee. The committee has released a “mistakes were made” sort of apology that is inadequate to the offense and explains nothing.
1. HBO sound system cannot broadcast gay voices.
2. Program ran over schedule, so HBO went back in their time machine and cut the beginning of the live broadcast.
3. Appearance of a gay men’s chorus went way over HBO’s ‘gay quota’ for the event.
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.
This prayer has weighed on my heart for several weeks now. My words will be the first heard by the crowds who will have been standing, waiting, for six hours to witness this event. I figure they’ll be ready to listen, and grateful that the event has finally begun, or maybe they’ll start chanting “Springsteen” or “Bono” … Either way, I will attempt to get the crowd to pause for a moment before the fun begins, and join me in a prayer that we can all pray together.
It turns out that foresaking material possesions is as likely to turn you into a crank as a saint, writes Michael Agger in a book review for Mother Jones magazine: “I don’t mean to throw cold water on earnest self-improvement. But maybe we should set about such tasks in a way that doesn’t reek of personal branding.”
Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington recently spoke with Sister Maureen Fiedler of Interfaith Voices about his trip to Iran in October and his meeting with the country’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.