HBO Omits – and Then Restores – Openly Gay Bishop Gene Robinsons’ Invocation
January 20, 2009
In the days leading up to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and allied Americans looked forward to the Sunday inauguration kickoff concert, set to be broadcast on HBO, which openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson would open with a prayer.
When the prayer was not included in the broadcast, LGBT bloggers, advocates and GLAAD staff reached out to HBO to express their concerns. At first, HBO suggested that the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) had kept the prayer out of the broadcast, as noted on AfterElton.com. After some back and forth, the PIC issued the following statement from spokesman Josh Earnest:
“We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event.”
Within 24 hours, after hearing the concerns of LGBT people across the country, HBO agreed to play Bishop Robinson’s prayer before the inauguration and include it in future re-broadcasts of the concert. Media outlets nationwide picked up the story, which was featured last night on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and in reports by Reuters, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News, among others.
Though HBO viewers did not have the opportunity to see the invocation, bloggers posted the full prayer as recorded by a Christianity Today reporter. Rev. Susan Russell’s blog also posted photos from the event and the text of the prayer, while Episcopal Cafe featured links to the full prayer. Numerous LGBT blogs, including Joe.My.God. and Pam’s House Blend, offered ongoing commentary and updates as new details about the story emerged.
In a press release issued today, HBO gave the following update:
An updated version of the exclusive HBO special : THE OBAMA INAUGURAL CELEBRATION AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL on WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21 (11:30 p.m. ET/PT). This presentation will include the invocation of the Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson, as well as all of the original performances of the live special, which was seen Sunday, Jan. 18.
The new version will also be seen this weekend on the main HBO channel and on HBO Latino, on SATURDAY, JAN. 24 (6:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT) and SUNDAY, JAN. 25 (3:30 p.m. ET/PT).
It will also be available on hbo.com starting Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Today, GLAAD sent out the following as part of a statement, which you can read here.
GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano said:
“We are disappointed that at this landmark moment millions of people worldwide did not get the opportunity to see the invocation by the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson during the original live broadcast of the opening celebration of the Presidential Inauguration. Rev. Robinson’s incredible voice draws attention to the common ground we share and we are encouraged that HBO has restored his invocation to their historical record of that day.”
Founder of Becket Fund Compares Prop. 8 Outcry to Al-Qaeda
December 9, 2008
On the Dec. 9 edition of KPFA’s “The Morning Show,” host Aimee Allison spoke with Seamus Hasson, founder and chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and the Rev. Susan Russell, priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.
The segment centered around a full-page advertisement run by the Becket Fund in the Dec. 5, 2008 edition of The New York Times. The ad sparked controversy for its unsubstantiated and inaccurate claims about supposed “violence and intimidation” against religious groups since the passage of Proposition 8.
During the interview, Hasson responded to a question by the co-host by comparing the marches and rallies in support of the LGBT community to the actions of Al-Qaeda:
Aimee Allison
Aimee Allison (KPFA Morning Show Co-Host): So, Rev. Russell was commenting, there may be a few individuals, but not a movement. Seamus Hasson, your response to that: if there are individuals, why are anti-Prop 8 movement folks being painted with that broad brush?
Kevin J. “Seamus” Hasson
SH: Well, whether it’s an organized movement like Al Qaeda or whether it’s the Al Qaeda-like, um, inspired acts of terrorism elsewhere, people are right to be concerned about, um, radical Islamist violence-
You can read more of the transcript below, listen to the transcript clip here, or full show here.
Rev. Susan Russell
Rev. Russell rebuked Hasson’s statement and pointed to the widespread support of marriage for gay and lesbian couples in the religious community. Rev. Russell also said that the advertising campaign and statements like Hasson’s are an attempt by anti-gay activists to attack the California Supreme Court in the event that it rules that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
GLAAD continues to call on community members to contact The New York Times (letters@nytimes.com) about the Becket Fund’s advertisement and ask them to discontinue allowing inaccurate claims in their advertising.
Partial Transcript:
Seamus Hasson (Founder, Becket Fund): I gave one end of the spectrum and the other end of the spectrum. In between, there have been at least ten churches painted with swastikas, threats to close down or else. There’s been six churches with small-bore rifle fire through their windows. By my count, there have been at least six instances of burning Books of Mormon on the church steps. These aren’t isolated occurrences here and there; this is an uprising of some sort. Let me be clear, neither in the ad or here today, have I said this is the work of the gay community. We say in the ad, this is opponents of Prop 8, 46% of the California electorate voted against Prop 8. My understanding is that 5% of the California population, approximately, is gay. At least 41% of the opponents of Prop 8, maybe radical secularists, opposed to the church’s position, took these kinds of measures.
Aimee Allison (KPFA Morning Show Co-Host): So, Rev. Russell was commenting, there may be a few individuals, but not a movement. Seamus Hasson, your response to that: if there are individuals, why are anti-Prop 8 movement folks being painted with that broad brush?
SH: Well, whether it’s an organized movement like Al Qaeda or whether it’s the Al Qaeda-like, um, inspired acts of terrorism elsewhere, people are right to be concerned about, um, radical Islamist violence-
Susan Russell (Priest, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena): Can I jump in here?
AA: I was going to say–yes.
SR: I’m sorry, please.
AA: Seamus Hasson, let me just give Rev. Russell an opportunity to respond because the anti-Prop 8 protestors were just compared to Al Qaeda. And I think that’s-
SR: Absolutely. And that is going to be the headline and it should be. I couldn’t do a better case of making my case than your other caller is making. These are people who are determined to paint American citizens, living out democracy in the streets, as similar to terrorists and Al Qaeda. We had members of All Saints Church, 40 years married, 50 years in the church, standing on street corners with No on 8 signs and people drove by and called them terrorists and hijackers during the height of the campaign. What we’re working to do is to lower the rhetoric, to end the polarization, to stop the violence. The title of the ad is “No to Mob Veto.” What they’re trying to do is frame the debate, already, as the Supreme Court begins to reconsider Proposition 8. I’m confident we’re going to get the Supreme Court to come down on the right side of history on this in May. You can see what they’re doing right now, they’re framing the debate so when that happens, they can say it was mob rule against democracy, they’re going to continue to compare us to Al Qaeda and I think the American people have got to stand up and say stop. We’re a nation of freedom of religion; we’ve got to be a nation of freedom from religion.
