Openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson delivered the invocation at the Lincoln Memorial today as part of Obama’s inauguration ceremonies.  However, HBO’s broadcast began after Robinson spoke, cutting him from the broadcast entirely.  While Rick Warren’s invitation to lead an invocation was seen by many as a slap in the face to LGBT supporters, Obama’s choice of Robinson seemed like an olive branch to those who felt betrayed by the decision.

AfterElton.com spoke to HBO, who said that the deicision to keep Robinson’s invocation before the broadcast was made by the Obama team:

Contacted Sunday night by AfterElton.com concerning the exclusion of Robinson’s prayer, HBO said via email, “The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show. Uncertain as to whether or not that meant that HBO was contractually prevented from airing the pre-show, we followed up, but none of the spokespeople available Sunday night could answer that question with absolute certainty. However, it does seem that the network’s position is that they had nothing to do with the decision.

YouTube - Gene Robinson’s Prayer Kicks off Inaugural Events.