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 areas in the state of California. The ads ran during the inauguration coverage in 42 of 56 counties in California. All but one station sold air time to the group. KABC refused to sell the air time to the group.

According to Chris Yokogawa, the media buyer for Get to Know Us First's ad agency, "They said it was too controversial to air during the Inauguration, since ‘many families will be watching.'"

I'm not sure how commercials of loving families who happen to be headed by gay couples, are "too controversial" for families to watch, but maybe someone can fill me in. It's not like it's porn we're talking about. Dana includes video of the commercials in her post. Check them out for yourself, and tell then me they are controversial. The affiliate has since decided the commercials are not too controversial, and has tried to make good by airing them during a new 2 hour episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Any of these incidences alone wouldn't necessarily give me cause to think we are being snubbed. But when I look at them all together, it does start to make me think there is still a general mindset that the world needs to be shielded from the gays. While we've come a long way, we still have a ways to go.

GeekPornGirl has an interesting thought about this. In her post Maybe Gay Really is the New Black...At Least on Television, she writes

In fact, straight people love gays the way white television audiences in the 1970s and 1980s once loved The Jeffersons , Good Times, and Sanford and Son.

 Yep, the LGBT community is welcome on television as long as we are cute, provocative, entertaining, or inane.

But if we try to take part in a serious event... say, an inauguration - even by invitation - television crews may suddenly jump to a commercial break.

I think Dan Savage summed it all up best in this quote from Permission To Get Upset?

But, hey, we made the list-Barack's good about including us in the list of people he wants to bring together: "If we could just recognize ourselves in one another... Democrats, Republicans, Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native Ameicans. Black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not..." I don't see how straight Americans can recognize themselves in gay Americans if they're not allowed to see us, I don't see how this inauguration brings us all together if gay Americans are edited out of the festivities.

What do you think? Did/do we get snubbed? Or are we being overly sensitive?

Zoe is a BlogHer Contributing Editior (Life-GLBT). She writes about her every day life at gaymo