A Gay Bishop to Kick Off the Inauguration

The team in charge of the event chose the gay bishop Gene Robinson to open the event. This is “important” for minorities, according to the cleric.

As to ease tensions after the controversy over choosing a conservative pastor to deliver an invocation at the inauguration of Barack Obama, the organization committee announced that Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual Anglican bishop, will kick-off the ceremonies.

Gene Robinson is widely known as the first gay person to become a bishop at the head of a mainstream Christian church, the American Episcopal Church, in 2003. He will kick off the swearing-in ceremony on the steps of Washington’s Lincoln Memorial on January 18th.

“We intend to carve this event into history as a moment where our country united itself to face and overcome such difficult challenges,” declared the event’s producer, George Stevens, Jr., a week before the January 20th ceremony.

“Disagree Without Being Disagreeable”

In last December, the choice of Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor opposed to abortion and gay marriage, triggered a harsh controversy among progressives and gays. He’s indeed known for comparing abortion to a “holocaust.” Back then, Barack Obama justified this choice by declaring that he was a “perfect fit” for his campaign: “[W]e cannot agree on anything but we can disagree without being disagreeable.” He also assured a vast diversity of opinions would be represented during the ceremony. Barack Obama then chose to send a strong message to all the differently-minded Americans, be them homophobic or gay. In an interview granted to the “Concord Monitor,” a New Hampshire daily newspaper, Gene Robinson declared seeing a gesture toward minorities, adding “[I]t is important for all of the communities to be represented in one way or another.”

National Unity

According to George Stevens, Jr., this will be a call for the national unity. On the theme “We are One,” numerous celebrities have been invited: Beyonce, Bono, Bruce Sprinsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, Shakira, Sherryl Crow, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock will sing, whereas Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington will read historical texts. “The guest stars list is impressive, but this is no show business event,” the producer assured.

On the other hand, no foreign ruler has, according to the tradition, been invited. Because of the huge crowd the organizers expect, and of the resulting security risks, world leaders are asked not to attend this ceremony, but to send their ambassadors instead.