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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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National News |
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| National News | |
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NATIONAL NEWS
by Rex Wockner -
SGN Contributing Writer HBO fails to air Robinson prayer at inaugural ceremonies HBO's exclusive (and free) broadcast of Barack Obama's January 18 inaugural concert failed to include the invocation by controversial openly Gay New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. It is widely thought that Robinson was added to the inaugural festivities in the final days of planning in an attempt to offset the extensive criticism Obama received for choosing anti-Gay mega-church pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inaugural itself on January 20. After Gays cried foul over the Robinson blackout, HBO blamed the snafu on Obama's inaugural committee. (HBO's broadcast actually began several minutes after Robinson's prayer.) The committee responded that it had fully intended Robinson's segment to be televised and "regret[ted] the error in executing this plan." Robinson's prayer said, in part: "Bless us with anger - at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people. Bless us with discomfort - at the easy, simplistic 'answers' we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future. Bless us with patience - and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be 'fixed' anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah. ... Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance - replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger." Robinson also said: "Help [Obama] remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims. ... And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking far too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand - that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace." The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C., also performed at the concert, with Josh Groban and Heather Headley. HBO did broadcast that, but the chorus was not introduced from the stage or identified by HBO onscreen. Human Rights Watch files brief in California marriage case Though it usually is more concerned with international issues, Human Rights Watch's LGBT Rights Division filed a brief in the California same-sex marriage case January 15. Gay rights lawyers and several municipalities have sued in the state Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8, the voter-approved constitutional amendment that re-banned same-sex marriage in November. HRW's friend-of-the-court brief said that equality is a basic value underlying human rights standards that cannot be retracted at the whim of a simple majority. "The principle of equality is a bedrock foundation of respect for basic human rights," said Scott Long, director of the LGBT division. "California should respect the values enshrined in its constitution and in international human rights law and continue to ensure that all Californians are entitled to equal protection of the laws." The brief agrees with Gay rights lawyers who have argued that Prop 8 unconstitutionally "revised" rather than "amended" the state constitution. "California's constitution requires that any measure attempting to revise the underlying principles of the constitution, rather than simply amend it, must first be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature before being submitted to the voters," HRW said in a statement. The brief also cited "the example of seven countries that have understood the principle of equality to require equal access to marriage for same-sex couples," the statement said. Same-sex marriage is legal in Belgium, Canada, Nepal, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Spain. "What happens in California will have resonance far beyond the state's borders," said Sid Sheinberg, co-chair of HRW's California Committee South and vice-chair of the organization's international board of directors. "It is important for the court to look to international examples, and for California to continue to show leadership in protecting all people's rights to equal dignity and respect." With assistance from Bill Kelley |
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| picture top: Scott Long below: Gene Robinson |
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