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01.20.2009 12:11am EST
(Washington) At 11:30, Barrack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States in a ceremony dating back to George Washington, who took the oath of office in New York, then the capital of a new nation.
Obama comes to office with the highest approval ratings of any President in history. George W. Bush leaves with an approval only slightly higher than Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign the presidency.At the Capitol Monday evening, the final touches were made to the inaugural stage on the steps of the massive building. Dozens of streets are closed to traffic and Homeland Security, the FBI and DC police were checking everything from pedestrians going into the area to ensuring manhole covers are secure. It is the tightest security of any inauguration.
Packages, coolers, glass containers, backpacks, laser pointers, animals other than guide dogs, bicycles, and even baby strollers are banned.
The weather will be brisk – in the mid 30s – but sunny, and people planning on attending are being told to dress warmly and to wear comfortable shoes.
It is estimated that as many as 2 million people will be there, capturing their place in history.
About 240,000 people have been given tickets allowing them a better vantage point – mainly Congressional aides and campaign workers.
Invitations went out to a number of prominent gays and lesbians including at least four who will be part of the Obama administration – John Berry, who will be the next director of the Office of Personnel Management and the highest ranking gay in the administration; Nancy Sutley, who was tapped to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Fred P. Hochberg, who will head the Export-Import Bank; and David Medina, the deputy chief of staff for Michelle Obama.
Also invited were Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop in the worldwide Anglican faith, and Ohio LGBT rights activists Lisa Hazirjian and her partner Michelle Kaiser of Cleveland.
But all won’t be pink bliss. There remains considerable resentment with the choice of Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation prayer. Warren, the pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., publicly supported California’s Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to ban gay marriage.
In an effort to mitigate the anger over Warren, Robinson was invited to give the invocation at Sunday’s kickoff gala at the Lincoln Memorial, although due to a “mis-communication” between the Presidential Inaugural Committee and HBO, his prayer wasn’t televised. The PIC has since said they will be sure to include the prayer when the concert is replayed on screens on the National Mall today.
Obama’s inaugural address is expected to last about 20 minutes. In the words of one political observer, it is expected to be “a barnburner” rivaling the soaring oratory of John F. Kennedy.
With the nation in a financial crisis and with two wars ongoing, the stakes are high for Obama to calm the national fears and create a sense of stability.
The inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue will feature a national composite of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association. The association has drawn on members from across the country to make up a special band for the parade.
Tuesday night, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will host 10 official inaugural balls, including the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Ball at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!
First Rev. Robinson is snubbed, then the LGBT Marching Band association is snubbed.
Just as the band was seconds away from passing the Obamas, ALL the t.v. networks CUT AWAY to commercials.
SHAME ON THEM! CALL YOUR NETWORK AND DEMAND AN EXPLINATION.
Read this
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1098389&cid=26532233
Do we need to start calling Obama a bigot?
I’m glad to see others speaking of Obama favorably. I’m sick and tired of the “so called Obama voters”, who are whining and being ugly. Stop It!! No matter how you feel about Obama, he’s got 4 years in office. So stop crying, whining, throwing temper tantrums, about our president. I think there are alot of people pissed off that he hasn’t changed our country to be a peaceful, acceptable, and friendly United States. So keep whining about “no support”, economic crisisses(msp?)and all of the crap you are wallering in. The man was just inagurated today. After the eight years of crap that Bush has pulled, running our economy into the ground, making the poor decide whether or not to eat or keep the lights on, and allowing doctors to not treat someone if they don’t like them. What do you think Obamas gonna do. Obama has alot of crap to clean up in our government, and he isn’t going to clean it up in a day. After the horrible president we’ve had, you should be thankful for the one we just voted for. Quit being Obama bashers.
President Obama, congratulations! But I want to see positive results soon, okay? Although I don’t expect you’ll really do anything meaningful for the GLBT community, just undo the damage Bush has done. That’s all.
I am glad he is president. I am glad that he was sworn in. As everyone else, not happy about Warren, but I don’t have to be happy about everything, and I am ready to spend the next year or two watching policy before I make any attempt at a decision on what I think. It is now policy that will tell the tale. By the end of four years I think we will have seen more progress than we saw in the last eight or more. No one could be much worse than our recent x-pres. I voted for Obama and I am still glad I did, even though I live in Kentucky and it really didn’t count anyhow. I am glad to have someone who supports science and who is an intellectual. We may not know how to react having a professor as president, rather than our recent cowboy-wannabe. And I just love Michelle Obama, because like so many black women I have known, she is fabulous and fierce, and she works an outfit. I am just so happy to have someone there who can work fashion again. She gives me more hope than he does for furthering gay rights. She loves fashion and looks good in it.
Am I the only one who noticed that Obama’s waning inclusion of GLBT community hit a new low when he didn’t even include us in his inauguration speech.
Before the election, inclusion of Gays and Lesbians was a common theme in Obama’s speeches, Sunday Bishop Robinson was excluded from the HBO broadcast, and today the GLBT community was excluded from the event.
Now tell me how Obama is different from any other politician!
President Obama isn’t the end all be all. He will not be able to fix all of our country’s ills but I’m happy on this day.
*Happy the man I voted for was elected
*Happy the last guy is leaving
*Happy this country elected biracial and Black identified man to the Presidency
*Happy my mother and most of her siblings lived to see it.
I miss my Grandmother today
Most of all, I’m happy there’s a sense of hope and optimism here and apparently, around the globe.
This administration won’t be perfect. They will screw up but I believe he has the best interest of our nation as a whole at heart.
Today, President Obama and his administration get the benefit of the doubt from me.
Tomorrow and the next few years will tell the story
From: Whithouse.gov
The agenda of the new president!
I know this will not satisfy any of you, and that you will claim it is not true, that the GOP/Hillary could have done better or that it is a lie or even that none of this matters in the face of Rick Warren…but here it is, for your disapproval.
Support for the LGBT Community
“While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”
– Barack Obama, June 1, 2007
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes:
In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees’ domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples:
President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage:
President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
Repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell:
President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.
Expand Adoption Rights:
President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
Promote AIDS Prevention:
In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma — too often tied to homophobia — that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS:
In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.
gruese..? none of that were direct comments from President Obama. So, no, it is not time to call him a bigot.
I think this election is the greatest thing to happen in our country in a LOOOOONG time! Congratulations to Pres. Obama and his family and God Bless America!
Am I the only one who noticed that Obama’s waning inclusion of GLBT community hit a new low when he didn’t even include us in his inauguration speech.
Before the election, inclusion of Gays and Lesbians was a common theme in Obama’s speeches, Sunday Bishop Robinson was excluded from the HBO broadcast, and today the GLBT community was excluded from the event.
Tell me how Obama is different from any other politician!
Well, actually Trace, I was wondering if Mr. Whipple designed the First Lady’s Ballroom gown. It looks like it was made out of Charmin Bathroom Tissue.
I saw her and Obama dancing at one of the Balls earlier, and I swear I heard people shouting: “Please, don’t squeeze the Charmin!!!”
Just another example of the Obama’s keeping their distance from “the Gays” by avoiding anything that smacks of being too tasteful or chic.
Also, in case you didn’t know, Obama is going to keep that over-the-top, garish rug with the sunburst, imperial Presidential Seal in the Oval Office. It was designed, in part, by Laura Bush after a long night of drinking and snorting coke with the Little Shrub. The design layout was then sent out, with loving care, to be hand-woven by child slave-labor in China before returning to be installed at the White House.
Bill Clinton had his own rug laid down too — which was said to be very soft on the knees. It was also heavily treated with Scotch Guard so that protein-rich body fluids could be easily mopped up. Likewise, George W.’s rug is blood repellent so that no evidence of torturing prisoners-of-war would be left behind in the Oval Office to clash with the neo-fascist decor.
I suppose George’s pinball machine and his Mr. Slushy maker is staying behind too in the Lincoln Bedroom — which should be a big hit with the kids. An outdoor basketball court is also in the planning for the Rose Garden.
So move over Jed Clampett, the Jeffersons have arrived!!!
~ Bud Evans
http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com
Roger Ramjet said: “Just as the band was seconds away from passing the Obamas, ALL the t.v. networks CUT AWAY to commercials.”
This doesn’t surprise me at all — in fact, it is exactly what I expected from the commercial networks.
Fortunately, I was able to watch the parade on C-Span and I can testify that they DID show the GLBT Band and identified them as well.
Thanks C-Span!
I was a very big Hillary supporter but I am thrilled at our new President and hope that things will change for LGBT people. We stand a far better chance with Barack in the White House than we would have with 98% of the rest of the people gunning for it.
We have a new perspective and a chance for a very bright future. Yeah, I had some “ah shit” moments also with Warren and then Robinson being white washed out of the festivities but you know what? I’m already over it. I am optimistic. If I cry a few tears they will be of relief and joy. Yes, Joy! It doesn’t always just have to be about what I get out of it.
I cannot imagine how I would be feeling if McCain and Palin were parading through the streets.
These are good people. You have to play politics to be a politician and if you don’t nothing gets done. For anyone.
If only one good thing comes out of it for me in the end that will be one good thing that I will have that I didn’t have before. I’m proud of our country. I am so happy for black people especially because one day us Gay folks will know what they are feeling today. One day our dreams will come true and if we deny others that joy then I don’t really think we deserve it.
Yeah, it’s been a long time coming for us. Since the dawn of time basically but I feel a little closer to better times than I have for a very long time. One of the very reasons I wanted Hillary was my memories of how my life was when her husband was our President. I always liked her more than Bill so I figured she would be great. Her heart is in it.
I think Barack’s is also. Hey, he can include people that I don’t like. I have friends that some of my other friends don’t like but that’s just how life goes for all of us.
You can’t be in politics if you aren’t calculating. I think he is using the Warren crowd the same way he is using us but in the end everybody gets a voice including me. If people I don’t like get a voice and I piss and moan over it why do I wonder when they get pissed when I get my voice?
Either way we will not have Bush in there undoing humanity in the name of the EndTimes.
I’ll still bitch like I always do but right now I am thinking of a mother and father and their two small kids who have had a monumental day and made it just as big for so many of the other people they share the planet with. They are still going and they are cold and exhausted and I am warm, and safe, and home with my partner.
I feel better already. I’ll raise a little hell and write many letters and cry foul as often as I can but I’m not scared I’ll be locked up or made a criminal like I have been for 8 years.
The world can only get better and we need to get better too. WE need to organize more and put our best face forward and get shit done.
My goal is that Gay kids stop killing themselves. When the man in the White House uses the word Gay frequently it becomes much more difficult for the world to justify hating us. I don’t think he’ll let that happen to us.
I have great hope.
During nearly every campaign speech, (now)President Obama included our community. Did I miss the part of this inaugural day which was supposed to make us feel included.Although, I did hear an anti-gay minister mention people of every color under the sun. Mr Obama ,I have 4 letters for you and your campaign, LGBT.