HBO Censors Openly Gay Bishop During Inauguration Event?
When President-Elect Barack Obama named the bigoted mega church pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, I lost the hope I had for his administration. Sure, he would still be a welcome change to the outgoing regime, but rhetoric surrounding equality for all Americans seemed to be nothing but talk. Then when it was announced that the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, would be giving the invocation to the opening inauguration event at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, I small ray of hope re-emerged from behind the cloud of doubt. I was newly motivated to watch the President-Elect give a speech at his whistle stop in Baltimore. His speech gave me a bit more reason to think maybe there was still a chance.
I believed that our future is our choice, and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian, and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.
However, when I tuned in today to watch Bishop Robinson's invocation, HBO (with exclusive coverage) denied me, and countless others who had hoped to find a place for themselves with the incoming administration. There is no word yet how this decision was made, but I believe it is our place to express our outrage. Contact HBO and let them know how you feel about this.
Update: There are reports that the speakers at the event were turned off during the prayer so that not even the crowd heard him speak.
Update: It now appears that only some of the speakers were turned off due a badly timed technical glitch. Ironically, conservative Christians are claiming the glitch as an act of God.
Update: After Elton is now reporting that HBO is claiming that they are not to blame, but instead this was the decision of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Final Update: The New York Times is reporting that the Presidential Inaugural Committee has taken responsibility and that future rebroadcasts will include the invocation.
See the invocation transcript after the jump.
Mikey
Posted to Hot Stuff, WTF? on 18 January 2009
· Comments (3)
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