Queering the Inauguration

Joe.My.God reports that besides Bp. Robinson, more than 100 other queers will be part of the inaugural opening festivities next Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial in the presence of the president- and vice president-elect.

Guys, this is truly historic; when I was in high school, the local gay bar was still getting raided and shut down by the cops. Now not only are we not being locked up, we're center stage for the national celebration of a new president. Feels real good to me:

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (GMCW) will perform at WE ARE ONE: THE OBAMA INAUGURAL CELEBRATION AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, the Opening Celebration for the 56th Presidential Inaugural, on Sunday, January 18, 2009. The event will take place from 2:00-4:00 pm with an exclusive broadcast on HBO the same day (7:00-9:00 pm ET/PT). The event is free and open to the public, kicking off the most open and accessible Inauguration in history.

This is the first time in American history that the GLTB Choral Movement will be represented at an inaugural ceremony. 100 GMCW members from the larger chorus of more than 225 singing members will perform. Both President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will be in attendance. An audience of 800,000 is expected at the Lincoln Memorial.

Musical performers scheduled for the event include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder.

Among those reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington. The Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson will give the invocation. Rob Mathes will be the music director and arranger for the backing band, which will support all of the artists.

Of special interest to us down-home queers, it's nice to see a couple of country acts in the line-up. Country music superstar Garth Brooks, whose lesbian sister Betsy Smittle is a vocalist and guitarist, has taken flack from conservative country music fans in the past for his pro-gay-marriage stand. But as PlanetOut reported a while back, Garth is unapologetic in his views:

"If it's against the law, then that's something that you're just going to have to fight for," he told The Village Voice. "If you truly love somebody and you want to get married to them, get married to them. I know that's what I did."

Garth married another country music superstar, Trisha Yearwood, in 2005. His 1993 pro-tolerance anthem "We Shall Be Free" earned him a GLAAD Media Award. Here it is, and it's a dandy too, boys: when we're free to love anyone we choose/when this world's big enough for all different views . . .

(Apologize for the poor sound quality here, it was the best vid I could find.)