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OBAMA Chooses a Gay Cuban-American Poet to Deliver a Poem at His Inauguration
President Barack Obama has chosen an openly gay Cuban American poet, whose work focusses on his homosexual awakening, to deliver a poem at his inauguration this month.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced today that Richard Blanco, 44, who will also become the youngest, as well as the first Hispanic poet to read at the presidential swearing-in ceremony.
“I’m honoured that Richard Blanco will join me and Vice President Biden at our second inaugural,” President Obama said in a written statement, the Washington Post reports.
Gay Poet Richard Blanco
Politico reported that poems by Mr Blanco include issues such as “queer shame of the family” and recollections of people calling him a “faggot.”
An example of work exploring his homosexuality is Mr Blanco’s essay titled, Afternoons as Endora, which appeared in a 2009 collection called, My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them – in which he describes himself as a “boy who hated being a boy.”
He goes on to write about the severe backlash of his grandmother. He writes: “According to her, I was a no-good sissy — un mariconcito — the queer shame of the family.
“And she let me know it all the time: ‘Why don’t we just sign you up for ballet lessons? Everyone thinks you’re a girl on the phone — can’t you talk like a man? I’d rather have a granddaughter who’s a whore than a grandson who is a faggot like you.’”
“Her constant attacks made me an extremely self-conscious and quiet child,” he continued. “But it also made me a keen observer of the world around me, because my interior world was far too painful. This inadvertently led me to become a writer, a recorder of images and details.”
President Barack Obama was re-elected on 6 November 2012. Mr Blanco will recite his work during the swearing-in ceremony on 21 January.
pinknews
Posted by
Umusambashi
January 10, 2013 at 4:41 pm
mmmm….hw befittng….quiet a way to entr into th new era…. Calculate,do ur algoritms, decipher n th nmbr of man is surely thr…th era of 666…march th month of a new birth…am not surprisd at all…women hvng babies in march,plz committee thm and urselvs in serious prayr…in fact evry believing christian shld pray
Uncle B'
January 10, 2013 at 5:06 pm
Iwe this is not facebook can you write English please….
Uncle B'
January 10, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Shame on you baka teka…
Umusambashi
January 10, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Is it really the ‘English’ or ability to understand what has been put across that matters. How so vain some pipo can be…one tends to wonder
Umupandapwiti
January 10, 2013 at 5:34 pm
Obama is gay. His wife is a transgender and those children they have are adopted. fulu stop.
☻
January 11, 2013 at 8:28 am
nomba ninshi
FK
January 10, 2013 at 5:52 pm
Watch and Pray as you see day end time coming……”
kakolwe
January 10, 2013 at 6:21 pm
That is being intelligent and sure of oneself. The orientations of someone will NEVER rub off on you simply by recognising their works. Some of the big names of personalities you look up to, you do not know their internal cravings, but that does not minimise their output.
kakolwe
January 10, 2013 at 6:25 pm
Yes Gayism is rubbish, filthy, but Obama has not asked the man to come & demonstrate ukutunga mumputi NOO!!! That is the idiet’s bedroom business! His poetry, has been recognised. Chapwa!
justice
January 10, 2013 at 7:37 pm
bafomet / baphomet at work
Wanu Ngwee
January 10, 2013 at 10:19 pm
I think this a case of Obama recognizing the outstanding work of a prejudiced individual and also living up his election promise…
jay
January 10, 2013 at 10:42 pm
Obama has chosen this guy on merit, becoz he is skilled and highly talented were writin poet is concerned.there4,it is not fair to look down upon him becoz of his personal lifestyle.moreover,the bible says thou shall not judge.
chabechabe2!
January 10, 2013 at 11:14 pm
Dear saints of God,lets be carefull,maindfull,prayerfull and look up such that you wont fall in the same grave of the devil.remember these things are written in the Bible,hence wether you like it or not these things will come to pass,but kalanda kuli iwe weukasangwamo muli ifi fyonse.
Mr Expensive
January 11, 2013 at 4:34 am
So what?Does that imply Obama is gay?
Ba medza
January 11, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Sure mu sewerage uwonemo sweet? Shaaaa!
KASABULA
January 11, 2013 at 3:03 pm
Obama summed up everything “It doesn’t matter whether you are black or white,able or disabled, young or old, man or woman, gay or straight, you can make it here in America”. Obama is not looking at bedroom issues but rather what the gay man has achieved. In Zed you concentrate on sexuality; able bodied, young and straight. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo