Inaugural Politics

On Sunday, V. Eugene Robinson of New Hampshire, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop, will deliver the invocation at the kickoff event celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. His part in the inaugural festivities is appropriate symbolism in light of Mr. Obama’s choice of anti-gay Pastor Rick Warren, leader of a Southern California mega-church, to deliver the invocation at the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday at the Capitol.

Mr. Warren was a high-profile supporter of California’s Proposition 8, which won at the polls last November and repealed the state’s same-sex marriage rights. Mr. Obama’s supporters in the homosexual community and other civil rights advocates have been justifiably disappointed that Mr. Obama would give an anti-gay fundamentalist such a visible stage. Bishop Robinson’s appearance will ameliorate some of that sting.

Symbolism is helpful. But if Mr. Obama is the “fierce advocate” of equal rights for gays that he says he is, it will be followed soon by concrete action. That would include repeal of the unjust “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which forces homosexuals in the military to deny their true nature or be thrown out. Polling shows that the public has come around to supporting gays serving openly in the military. The new president and Congress should repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” this year.
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