Being Homosexual

I hadn't planned to run a series of gay documentaries on the Blue Truck, but I guess YouTube finally figured out that I am gay and is now pushing a lot of these in front of me.  This one is an HBO documentary, first aired in May 1984:  a very different time for gay people.  Video quality is not great, but it's watchable, and still relevant to our experience in many ways.

By the way, the gay man in the screen shot below, identified only as Tom in this video, was Dr. Tom Waddell, founder of the Gay Games.

For the record:  In 1984, President Reagan was starting his fourth year in office, the word condom had never been said on television, and the AIDS crisis was a growing menace, still largely occurring in the big, far-away cities. What we had heard about it down here was damn scary, but what caused it and what to do about it were still uncertain. There were no antiviral treatments, so the diagnosis was a death sentence. The term safe sex was not yet in common parlance.  Rock Hudson's diagnosis was not made public until a year later, a few months before he died.  

If you want to revisit the plague era, here's a compilation of gay-related clips from the NBC news archives spanning the whole decade.  In some ways, it was a very different era; in others, not so much, maybe.  We still have to deal with the haters and the homophobes, who nowadays are constantly inflamed by social media and fanatical "news" channels - but at least for now, the law is on our side.  I sure hope it stays that way.

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Video: Robinson's Prayer

Somebody caught most of Robinson's invocation yesterday on video, so here you go.

Suck it, HBO.

(Big ol' honk to Joe.My.God. for finding this)

Update: Joe and others are reporting that HBO is blaming Obama's transition team for the "scheduling problem" with Robinson's prayer, saying it was their idea. Do you believe that?

Update 2: Pam Spaulding has gotten a statement from the inaugural committee, pointing the finger back at HBO:

"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," said PIC communications director Josh Earnest.

Update 3: Michael Jensen of After Elton got this communication from HBO:

"It was not an HBO omission. We merely televised the show beginning at 2:30pm. Had the PIC told us upfront that this was to be part of the telecast, it would have been."

HBO has also given PIC permission to post Rev. Robinson's prayer on their website, but we're waiting for word when that will happen.

As for the people helming Obama's PIC, their claim that this was simply a miscommunication and that Robinson's prayer was meant to be included is impossible to verify. The only thing for certain is that they have stepped in it again and made many in the gay community (and some in the straight community) ever more skeptical of this administration's attitude toward gay people.

For what it's worth, I still don't think Obama is trying hide his gay constituency from the rest of America or to throw us under the bus. He included the GLBT community in his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination and again when he addressed crowds yesterday in D.C.

Do I disagree with his selection of Rick Warren to deliver tomorrow's invocation? Absolutely. Do I think somebody in the PIC blew the coverage of Robinson's invocation? Again, absolutely. But for me the jury is still out as to whether Obama will come through on the issues that really matter to our community.

Update 4: Rachel Maddow covers the story:

CENSORED: Robinson's Prayer

Big honk to Joe.My.God for finding the link to the text of Bp. Robinson's prayer that he gave today and which was NOT televised by HBO - Go here to file a complaint with HBO. I already fired one off.

Update: Apparently Robinson's invocation could not be heard by the crowd at the event, either; the sound system mysteriously failed at that point, according to another report I just saw. Blue Truck reader Lloyd confirms it, saying

I was at the national mall for the concert, about 1/2 a mile from the Lincoln Memorial, and the moment Gene Robinson took to the stage, the speakers went out. We couldn’t hear a word of the entire invocation. Of course minutes before when Elmo was on the jumbotrons speaking about unity, everything was fine. The moment the gay bishop takes to the stage suddenly there is technical issues. Of course when I get home I find out that HBO cut Gene Robinson from the footage. It’s really horrible and sad. I really don’t think it was a “day of unity” for everyone.

A Prayer for the Nation and

Our Next President, Barack Obama

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.


O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

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 humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

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.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.


And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him 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.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

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.

AMEN.