December 22, 2008 2:15 PM

Gay Representative, Former Presidents Among Honorary Inauguration Co-Chairs

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
White House
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has released a list of the honorary co-chairs for Barack Obama's inauguration. The group includes former Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; Senators Dick Durbin, Dick Lugar and Claire McCaskill; and well known figures such as General Colin Powell, who endorsed Obama, and the president-elect's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.

(AP)
Also on the list is openly gay Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin. Obama has taken heat from gay groups for inviting Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, who backed California Proposition 8 outlawing gay marriage, to give the inaugural invocation. As noted below, another gay representative, Barney Frank, called the choice of Warren a mistake.

Other co-chairs include basketball coach Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama's brother, and Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son. The Committee says the co-chairs will "help lead" the inaugural activities, and the release stresses the ideological diversity of the group, saying the selection are in keeping with "an inclusive and bipartisan" inauguration. A full list is below.

Honorary Co-Chairs for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration:

President Jimmy Carter
President George H. W. Bush
President William J. Clinton
Mayor Adrian Fenty
Senator Dick Durbin
Senator Dick Lugar
Senator Claire McCaskill
Representative Tammy Baldwin
Representative Artur Davis
Representative Ray Lahood
Representative Linda S?nchez
General Colin Powell
Hunter and Kathleen Biden
Craig Robinson
Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng

Click Here For All Of CBSNews.com's Special Inauguration Coverage

Add a Comment See all 20 Comments
by actornaught December 23, 2008 5:38 PM EST
You obvious inabliity to recognize them...
Posted by GoGWGo at 02:01 PM : Dec 23, 2008

Ooooh, I don''t see "those" people, unlike you "regular" americans, huh.

You have a real Phobia, and probably several. These cordless keyboards must be great for you, so you can type from under your bed...
Reply to this comment
by matrixrx2003 December 23, 2008 4:58 PM EST
Yeah for Gayness !
Reply to this comment
by actornaught December 23, 2008 3:33 PM EST
...''co-sponsors''...it''s clearly meaningless in the extreme.
Posted by ccfsdca at 12:15 PM : Dec 23, 2008

Read the article. No mention of "co-sponsors". HONORARY Co-chairs, yes, which is self-explanatory.

"meaningless in the extreme"? Just you & your loopy little post.
Reply to this comment
by actornaught December 23, 2008 3:22 PM EST
Posted by GoGWGo at 09:32 AM : Dec 23, 2008

Where does your "hyphen" obsession come from, anyway? Sounds entirely like another neocon phony comedy routine. rush? billo? To take it as far as you do is beyond petty.
Reply to this comment
by Mccarthyaw December 23, 2008 1:02 PM EST
You know what people...we are all people! The ones singling themselves out by announcing that they are "African American, Mexican American", or whatever race they are; and "Homosexual" or "Heterosexual", segregate themselves! Why can''''t we just BE and stop trying to push our beliefs and way of life on others. If you want equality then just live your life to the best of your ability and be good to each other. PERIOD!!!!! I am sooooo sick of all the bickering, hate and vile responses on these boards that I could throw up. Grow up people and quit separating yourswelves.


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Posted by Spaspy at 03:49 AM : Dec 23, 2008

Its hard for homosexuals not to separate themselves when the law of the land discriminates them so harshly.
Reply to this comment
by armydog2 December 23, 2008 12:53 PM EST
This is very poor journalism on the part of CBS. Why point out the fact the person is g-ay. they do not point out the fact the rest are heterosexual, or bi-se-xual, it is irrelevant.
Reply to this comment
by liberalme December 23, 2008 12:45 PM EST
Barbey Frank is a discusting lisping degenerate. Just the sight of him is discusting to me. Please Barney Frank go back into the closet.

Posted by wwterry8 at 01:36 AM :

Then that should include ugly people, short people or any people who are different than you?

What makes you better than anyone else?
Unless your rich, handsome or beautiful and totally perfect in every way--you''re not better than anyone else.
Personally I don''t know anyone like that and there is no one in this world better than the rest of us--they just like to think they are.

BTW learn how to spell "disgusting". I bet many *** can spell better than you.
Reply to this comment
by spaspy December 23, 2008 6:49 AM EST
You know what people...we are all people! The ones singling themselves out by announcing that they are "African American, Mexican American", or whatever race they are; and "Homosexual" or "Heterosexual", segregate themselves! Why can''t we just BE and stop trying to push our beliefs and way of life on others. If you want equality then just live your life to the best of your ability and be good to each other. PERIOD!!!!! I am sooooo sick of all the bickering, hate and vile responses on these boards that I could throw up. Grow up people and quit separating yourswelves.
Reply to this comment
by stevemd2 December 23, 2008 6:13 AM EST
I''m glad they said Tammy Baldwin is a lesbian. The simple fact is that the diabolical closet will get knocked down, and good people discover that gay people are good people also. And all this ignorance and sickness from the religious right - who include the people who gave us the abortion named Bush and destroyed our economy etc, will see their walls of hatred come tumbling down. And some of the people writing here, who only have hatred in their hearts (been reading Mein Kampf lately?) will end up going to their graves wondering while the world changed, gay people will become fully accepted. And their church leaders will preach to the dust in the pews and the dust of their departed. Good riddance.

And lets not forget the endless list of virulently anti-gay people, especially preachers, who have been exposed as gay themselves, and who are driven to hate themselves by their church, and who try to hide who they are by hating the very group of which they are a member. Probably applies to quite a few of the haters here in this blog.
Reply to this comment
by stevemd2 December 23, 2008 6:03 AM EST
"I''''m still laughing at the hyprocisy of Bend Over Barney..." Quote

Let me put it bluntly to the guy who wrote the above - if you had been forced to hide who you were much of your life, and were the victim of terrible intolerance and dicrimination " in the name of God", you wouldn''t have much room for the religious right either - People who make a mockery of everything Jesus life was meant to be as an example for all mankind.

You have zero rights to impose your religious (non) values of hate, intolerance and ignorance on others under our laws. Gay people are America''s new [n-word]s, driven by the catholic church heirarchy and the so called Christian people whose predecessors gave us slavery and segregation, also supposedly per the bible.

I wonder how you would feel if the tables were turned on you. By handing you over to the taliban in Afghanistan along with a box of your bibles. Then you would understand, but too late.

America has been up against people like you since it''s founding. Every battle - ending slavery, segregation, women voting, integrating our military, and ending laws against inter-racial marriage has been won over time. The battle for equality and acceptance of our gay community will be won also.

And if you believe in God, then you should quake for what God must have in store for you in the future, along with your ignorant, bigoted relious leaders, who always have to have someone to hate, to blind people to what they are really saying and doing.
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