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A few days after President Obama's inauguration, I started to see posts pop up across the internet eloquently articulating how the gays had been snubbed during the television coverage of the inauguration festivities. Not to be to quick to jump on the "we're being snubbed bandwagon," I decided to collect as much evidence as I could before I made a decision. The list of snubbing offenses includes: the concert coverage not identifying the D.C. gay men's chorus singing with Josh Groban, while all other performers were; HBO not including the Gene Robinson's invocation as part of the broadcast; not all networks showing, or identifying the Lesbian and Gay Band Association in the inaugural parade coverage; and ABC station, KABC, refusing to sell commercial air time to marriage equality group GetToKnowUsFirst.org, for ads to be aired during the inauguration coverage.
Now I will admit that I would probably never have noticed that the D.C. gay men's chorus didn't get their shout out, because I didn't know they were to be a part of the festivities. But, I can imagine that if I had been someone who was excited about seeing their performance, I probably would have noticed. I'm sure I would have thought it odd that there was no mention. But me being me, I would have thought, well that was an unfortunate oversight, or maybe a missed line. I just have a hard time believing that they would intentionally be left out.
I feel similarly about the Lesbian and Gay Band Association not getting air time, or not being identified by some television stations. I have a tenancy to want to believe those were not deliberate slights to the GLBT community. Me, wanting to believe in people, would like to think the lack of air time was just an unfortunate placement of commercials during live coverage, or something like that. And maybe the lack of mention was just that the announcers being sidetracked not moving the conversation along with the same pace as the parade.
I did however, feel a bit of a slight with the exclusion of Gene Robinson's invocation in HBO's pre-festivities concert coverage. I don't think you have to be gay to understand why the bishop's inclusion in this inauguration event was so important to so many in the GLBT community. I completely expected the invocation to be part of the coverage, and was shocked when it wasn't.
Pam, of Pam's House Blend, was one of the first to cover this story.
Remember, this was the supposed salve on the wound to the LGBT community for the upcoming high-profile appearance of Rick Warren at the actual inauguration on Tuesday, which will be seen by millions and will float out there on YouTube in perpetuity. I had no illusions that Robinson's appearance would reach the same level of exposure as Warren's, but damn -- no broadcast of it at all? That's just freaking rich.
-read full post The invisible, inaudible Bishop Gene Robinson
Pam's post also includes both a print copy and a video of the invocation by Bishop Robinson. The video was provided by Christianity Today.
AfterElton.com immediately contacted HBO about the exclusion of the invocation. HBO sent an email reply which explaining
"The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show."
-read Michael Jensen's post Developing:HBO says they aren't to blame for not including Gene Robinson in concert special
It seems odd to me that Obama and his team would be politically shrewd enough to give us the Gene Robinson olive branch after the whole Rick Warren thing, which angered so many in the gay community, but then not be on the ball enough to make sure we have the opportunity to see the him speak. It doesn't make sense to me.
Still I thought all these things could be explained away. Then, I read Dana's post at Mombian, ABC Affiliate Refuses to Know Lesbian and Gay Families, and I started to think maybe there is something to this being snubbed thing. After the passage of Prop 8 in California, a non profit group called Get To Know Us First formed. The group's mission was to make and raise money to air commercials featuring real GLBT families, to show that our families are same as all other families. There are several different commercial spots, targeted for the specific demographic
