Bishop Robinson Will Give the Inaugural Celebration's Opening Prayer

photo by Allen McInnis

Gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson will be at the inaugural celebration, as reported here and elsewhere:

"I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, We are One, to be held at the Lincoln Memorial," Robinson wrote in an email to friends.

The announcement comes after weeks of outcry from the gay community over Obama's choice of evangelical, anti-gay pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation.

Not that I'm taking credit or anything, but I did write this in the Huffington Post on December 18, in a piece on politics and conflict resolution:

Regarding Rick Warren, why not invite one more minister to speak at the Inauguration? I have someone in mind: Rev. Gene Robinson. Gene Robinson is the openly gay Episcopal bishop whose appointment has caused a rift with anti-gay Third World Anglican communities. I'm not gay and can't speak for the community, but that might help.

I'm sure many other people had the same thought. 

It's not clear from the story how much time will elapse between Bishop Robinson's prayer and the inauguration itself.  I hope he gets a lot of press attention. 

Comments

[thebewilderness]

Someone in the Obama transition team needs to explain that a foot on all the bases is not a demonstration of bipartisanship.