Obama's First Days According to Rev. Gene Robinson 

They may have even forgotten you were gay.Exactly. Who would have thought I could make them forget
that?

I was particularly struck by the contrast between
your prayer and that of Rick Warren, who invoked
the name of Jesus in several different languages. And then sort of forced us all to say "The
Lord’s Prayer." I have to say that I love "The
Lord’s Prayer" -- it’s a part of my faith
tradition, it’s always been a part of my life. But
for the first two or three phrases, I just choked on
the words, I just couldn’t do it – just
because I was so aware of the people around me.

And then my
political mind kicked in and I thought, it will be just my
luck that the CNN cameras will be on me not praying "The
Lord’s Prayer" in the middle of this, and
I’m not here to make a big protest against Rick
Warren. So I did join in but, literally, I found myself
choking on what I consider to be beloved words.

Speaking of politics, you’ve said in a few
pre-inaugural interviews that you have pressed President
Obama on LGBT issues and you’re convinced
that he’s a friend of the community. What
specifically did you raise and what were his reactions? I don’t remember the specifics, but
knowing me, I raised “don’t ask,
don’t tell,” DOMA, I know I mentioned a fully
inclusive ENDA -- and on those things, he was quite
specific in terms of being right where I wanted him to
be. The place where that diverged of course, as we all
know, none of the viable Democratic candidates endorsed gay
marriage.  But my sense is that he understands
why all of the legal protections and rights that come
with marriage are appropriate and necessary for gay
and lesbian couples and will be supportive of that. And
I’m not at all convinced that he won’t
eventually be supportive of gay marriage. But I think
for political reasons he knew that would be very, very
difficult in the primary fight not to mention the general
election.

Of course, earlier this month, the Windy City
Times uncovered the fact that during his 1996
bid for the Illinios state senate, President Obama said
on their questionnaire that he supported full gay
marriage rights. My guess is -- and I have absolutely no evidence
from him about this -- that as he began to think about
a possible run for the presidency, he was politically
smart enough to know that he needed to win the general
election in order to be able to do the things that he felt
called to do and that, [gay marriage], in his and
every other candidate’s judgment, was a third
rail.

As a person of faith, does that bother you at all? I think life in general is always a balancing
act between what is right and what is workable. And
you don’t get a chance to do the right things a
lot of times, if you’re not in a place to affect
those changes. So sometimes you’re not able to
say as frankly and as clearly, what’s going on
with you. Some people would see that as hypocrisy or
compromise. I think it’s the dance we all do.
There are things that I personally believe that I
would not say from a pulpit -- partially because I have a
responsibility to the church, to teach what the church
teaches and, as a Bishop, I’m a representative
of that institution. Is that compromise, or is that
selling out? I don’t know. But maybe it’s the
dance we all have to do between the values we actually
hold in our heart and what we’re actually able
to accomplish in a community as diverse as America.