[updated - see below]
HBO did not broadcast openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer yesterday, but video was shot by Christianity Today. The quality of the picture isn't great, but Robinson's words are clear. The Washington Monthly provides some more reporting on the event. If you want to get depressed, go to the USA Today report and read the comments. Such viciousness isn't even remotely Christian, but reading that kind of anger after listening to Robinson's moving prayer certainly provides perspective on what he has to endure to live with integrity. It also shows you what an amazing man he really is.
Update
Pam's House Blend rounds up reaction to Robinson's prayer being cut out of the HBO telecast. She also links to a report that the Presidential Inauguration Committee -- not HBO -- made the decision to put Robinson in the pre-show, which meant that he wasn't in the telecast.
Showing posts with label Gene Robinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gene Robinson. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Today in Gay: The inauguration & ministers, race &, Proposition 8
--> Slate runs down the newly released and expanded list of pastors appearing in Barack Obama's inauguration. Slate also clarifies that the Rev. Joseph Lowery is pro-gay rights, but not pro-gay marriage. Previously, I and a lot of other folks reported that incorrectly. (Apologies!)
--> Bishop Gene Robinson talks to the New York Times about his role in the inauguration, while Rick Warren jabs gay folks and the Episcopal Church in the eye.
--> Atlantic blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates does a great job of debunking the early exit polls and showing, once again, that black voters were NOT the reason Proposition 8 passed. I agree heartily with his call for LGBT Americans to engage the black community in the debate over marriage. The comments to his post are worth reading.
--> Obama's appointments of LGBT folks seem to be building steam. We haven't broken into the sacrosanct inner sanctum of the cabinet, but we are gaining elsewhere. Today's news: John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management. For those of you keeping score, we now have five openly queer folk named to the Obama Administration. These also include:
--> A marriage equality bill goes to the Legislature in Maine. Meanwhile, Indiana heads in the other direction.
--> A Tennessee hotel fires two gay men for the crime of being (a) gay and (b) talking about it.
--> Finally, under the category of Biggest Bummer of the Day, city commissioners in Kalamazoo, Mich., rescind their vote to protect their LGBT citizens from discrimination.
--> Bishop Gene Robinson talks to the New York Times about his role in the inauguration, while Rick Warren jabs gay folks and the Episcopal Church in the eye.
--> Atlantic blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates does a great job of debunking the early exit polls and showing, once again, that black voters were NOT the reason Proposition 8 passed. I agree heartily with his call for LGBT Americans to engage the black community in the debate over marriage. The comments to his post are worth reading.
--> Obama's appointments of LGBT folks seem to be building steam. We haven't broken into the sacrosanct inner sanctum of the cabinet, but we are gaining elsewhere. Today's news: John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management. For those of you keeping score, we now have five openly queer folk named to the Obama Administration. These also include:
- Fred Hochberg as head of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
- Brian Bond as the deputy director of the White House Office of the Public Liaison
- Nancy Sutley as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
- Mark Dybul, an appointee under George W. Bush, who will stay on as the global AIDS ambassador
--> A marriage equality bill goes to the Legislature in Maine. Meanwhile, Indiana heads in the other direction.
--> A Tennessee hotel fires two gay men for the crime of being (a) gay and (b) talking about it.
--> Finally, under the category of Biggest Bummer of the Day, city commissioners in Kalamazoo, Mich., rescind their vote to protect their LGBT citizens from discrimination.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Jan. 12: Today in Gay
I'm experimenting with what I hope will be a regular roundup of the most important, interesting and/or funky news of the day in LGBT America. Think of this as an extremely idiosyncratic queer front page.
Under the category of We Always Meant to Do This (and do attach a chagrined look to this link), Obama has given a role in the inauguration to openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. (For anyone who has been living under a rock: See Rick Warren.) As Ezra Klein very astutely notes:
Saturday marked another day of protest over Proposition 8. Karen Ocamb reports on the happenings in Los Angeles. The MSM reports on the Pittsburgh rally. Attendance at these rallies seems down from the Nov. 15 protests and other early demonstrations. My concern is that Stonewall 2.0 may sputter because the new activists are not coming up with a 2nd act. (Act 1 of the play: Take to the Streets. Act 2... um...) My feeling is that without political action, protests can be a dead end. Wockner is more optimistic as he rounds up news reports via Google News. The online organizers, Join the Impact, continue to push forward.
This is a teeny bit stale, but still news... Obama's incoming Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says our new president WILL keep his word to get rid of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban on gays in the military. Gibbs' comment comes at 4:21 in this video. This sounds great. I love the short, sweet answer, but words mean little, especially now that the campaign is over. It's time to govern. What I want to see is action. On the other hand I'm reasonable. I'll settle for a timeline and a plan.
Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard says he's "heterosexual with issues" as a new HBO documentary chronicles Haggard's fall. (Note that the documentary is by Nancy Pelosi's daughter, Alexandra Pelosi.)
A candidate for Republican National Committee chair claims we can all be "cured" of our gayness. My question: Can he be "cured" of his straightness?
Finally, a mental health break from the satirical site 23/6 video. For those of you, like me, who vividly remember those awful school films from the Fifties, this is truly eerie.
Under the category of We Always Meant to Do This (and do attach a chagrined look to this link), Obama has given a role in the inauguration to openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. (For anyone who has been living under a rock: See Rick Warren.) As Ezra Klein very astutely notes:
Yeah. I'm sure the two (outrage over Warren and appointing Robinson) had nothing to do with each other. They just didn't want to announce Robinson till after they'd endured a month of harsh criticism and a thousand calls from furious gay donors threatening to withhold support from the party and an outpouring of anger from those who'd worked endlessly for Obama's nomination. All part of the plan. Sure guys.Political Animal weighs in Robinson's role and reports on the growing lists of progressive pastors now involved in the inauguration.
Saturday marked another day of protest over Proposition 8. Karen Ocamb reports on the happenings in Los Angeles. The MSM reports on the Pittsburgh rally. Attendance at these rallies seems down from the Nov. 15 protests and other early demonstrations. My concern is that Stonewall 2.0 may sputter because the new activists are not coming up with a 2nd act. (Act 1 of the play: Take to the Streets. Act 2... um...) My feeling is that without political action, protests can be a dead end. Wockner is more optimistic as he rounds up news reports via Google News. The online organizers, Join the Impact, continue to push forward.
This is a teeny bit stale, but still news... Obama's incoming Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says our new president WILL keep his word to get rid of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban on gays in the military. Gibbs' comment comes at 4:21 in this video. This sounds great. I love the short, sweet answer, but words mean little, especially now that the campaign is over. It's time to govern. What I want to see is action. On the other hand I'm reasonable. I'll settle for a timeline and a plan.
Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard says he's "heterosexual with issues" as a new HBO documentary chronicles Haggard's fall. (Note that the documentary is by Nancy Pelosi's daughter, Alexandra Pelosi.)
A candidate for Republican National Committee chair claims we can all be "cured" of our gayness. My question: Can he be "cured" of his straightness?
Finally, a mental health break from the satirical site 23/6 video. For those of you, like me, who vividly remember those awful school films from the Fifties, this is truly eerie.
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