first of all, let’s just talk about how fabulous michelle (christian-missionary-wardrobe) obama looked today, especially after that election night outfit debacle. and what’s more, how good ol’ jill biden never disappoints and always has a hem at least 5 inches higher than michelle’s during any public appearance (and just for today: hooker boots). i watched the inauguration with jess and she was drooling over jill’s MILF-y look.

now that all that important stuff’s out of the way, let’s talk about me.

you might imagine that i’m pissed off right now, especially because i was openly pissed off about rick warren making the invocation on this day of days from the start. and also maybe because he talked a lot about jesus (or “yeshua,” as he’s known to friends) in his invocation - along with saying “malia and sasha” with creepy, child-molester intonation.

or, also because openly gay bishop gene robinson’s speech was conveniently left out of sunday’s “we are one” concert broadcast on HBO - a decision that apparently was made by the PIC (presidential inauguration committee). afterelton.com has this update, which includes a ‘takin’ the blame’ quote from the PIC, and an assertion that this morning, before the inauguration, robinson’s words (along with the enitrety of the concert) were to be aired on the mall’s jumbotrons before today’s ceremony. i still haven’t been able to find confirmation that that actually happened. anybody? anybody?

but alas, friends, i’m not too pissed off. but why?

as you may know, us second-class gays were not included in any laundry list of oppressed folk by any speaker this morning - although the sucker in me totally appreciated obama’s allusions to “tolerance” in various forms. “tolerance! that means he’s talking about the gays! we got somethin’! right? right!?”

so where’s the silver lining - other than in michelle’s monastic overcoat?

it’s here :

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers.

what what WHAT!? did he say “non-believers!?!” atheists!?!?! WTF!?!?!?

yes, my friends. i might be a big ole fag, but i’m also a big ole “non-believer” - and while i can’t say that any remarks today were particularly envelope-pushing regarding the rights of me and my sexually deviant brethren, the inclusion of atheists in an inaugural address is MASSIVE.

of course, obama has mentioned us godless folk several times in speeches, and there have been allegations that his parents were atheists themselves, but the fact that at perhaps the most-watched, presidential-pattern-setting moment he decided to include us means that we exist. we exist, we are americans and we matter.

the gay in me is still seething, but the atheist in me is brimming with joy. of course this is a small victory - after all yeshua was there in full force all over that ceremony - but where as the gay rights movement is rolling in full force, atheists are continuously legally and socially oppressed wherever they go. we are a group that is more often ignored than condemned and in this religiously-righteous day-in-age any mention in the public theatre is monumental.

overall, i’m doin’ fine. gay and atheist angst inside my chest is swirling, but on this historic day i’d like us all to remember the following (my dad commented on my last post with this, yesterday):

Chris and friends,
I share your disappointment and anger, and deal with it by reminding myself that America is not simply a country, it is a process moving ever forward toward something more noble and inclusive. That process comes to a screeching halt the moment we become so disillusioned and bitter that we allow injustice to continue. Justice was not born with the universe, not essential to the cosmos as is gravity, electromagnetism and the nuclear forces. Justice must be manifested by thinking, feeling beings. Barack Obama stands as president today because, despite the setbacks in his own life, he always remained true to that hopeful process. Let us in our own struggle also be true, and when the day comes when we watch the first openly gay American take the presidential oath, let that same arc toward justice compel us to include those who have yet to have their human dignity acknowledged. With that great process in mind, we can truly celebrate this inauguration day.

amen, y’all.