Interactive Inauguration

At Club Caf?, cheers for Obama, jeers for Warren, Bush

There was no shortage of inauguration festivities in Boston on Jan. 20, but Club Caf?'s viewing party put a particularly gay spin on the festivities. About 50 people turned out to view the transfer of power that afternoon on Club Caf?'s flat screen TVs, sipping cocktails and noshing on fried hors d'oeuvres. While the LGBT media was consumed with speculation about whether Barack Obama's selection of anti-gay pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation had soured LGBT people on the inauguration, judging from the crowd at Club Caf? the Warren controversy did little to dull the excitement around the swearing-in of the country's first African American president. Attendees were vocal through much of the proceedings, cheering on the Obama family, booing Warren and outgoing president George W. Bush, and guffawing at the mammoth bow on Aretha Franklin's hat. But the loudest cheers came when Obama took the oath of office and became the 44th President of the United States.

"Immediately I called my mom and dad. I think for every African American, every American, period, [it was moving] to see history in the making and to be able to witness that and to know, from my perspective, the legacy of those who didn't get to see this moment but always worked so diligently to see and work forward for something like this to happen," said Calvin Cherry, a black man who lives in East Boston. "So we've arrived. And we have so much more work to do. This is the beginning."

Jeff Way, a Jamaica Plain resident, said he was hopeful that Obama would adopt a more global worldview than the Bush administration.

"I'm hoping for a more open administration. I'm not saying a gay/straight open administration but just an administration willing to look at the world differently and see that there's not just America out there, that it's a much bigger world," said Way. "We need an administration that can see that globalization and understand that, and just thinking about us is not the way to go anymore."

Linda Daniels, a black woman from the North Shore, said she believes Obama's election represents a turning point for the country. Obama's inauguration was the first presidential inauguration she had ever watched.

"For me it resonated on many levels," said the forensic psychologist. "One is the realization that I'm actually alive at this present point in time to see this. Secondly is that children of all colors now have a sense of hope that they can sit up there and be part of history in this way. And despite all the long and drawn-out aspects of the election I have for the first time felt proud to be an American. I have never, ever felt proud to be an American," said Daniels.

LGBT pundits have questioned whether the new president would make good on his statements of support for LGBT rights, but the spectators at Club Caf? said they don't expect Obama to tackle LGBT issues until after he deals with larger crises.

"I think he has bigger things on his agenda than the gay issue," said Jayme Kilroy of the South End. "Not to say the gay issue isn't an important issue, of course it is. But I would willingly put my gay agenda aside for the economy and the war to end."

Cherry said he believes Obama needs time to get settled into office and to deal with more immediate problems, but he said he is confident Obama will make good on his stated support for LGBT rights. He said he was impressed that Obama would talk about gay rights during his campaign speeches.

"I really believe that any president who can openly say 'gay or straight' within his speech is a person who has a clear awareness and conscientiousness that there is a diversity of people, just as he is diverse within his own culture," said Cherry.

While the soon-to-be president Barack Obama was clearly the hero of the hour with the Club Caf? crowd, outgoing president George W. Bush won little love from the gays, unsurprising given his negative record on LGBT rights (see "Our long national nightmare is over," Jan. 15). When the announcer welcomed Bush to the stage, Club Caf? owner Frank Ribaudo shouted, "Good riddance, bitch," before reminding the patrons, "No throwing shoes at the T.V."

For the attendees at Club Caf? the inauguration was as much a chance to say goodbye to the Bush years as to celebrate the beginning of Obama's presidency. The room filled with cheers and laughter when MSNBC cut to footage of moving trucks parked in front of the White House filled with the Bush family's belongings. And at the end of the festivities, as the former president and first lady flew off in a helicopter, one man at the bar shouted "Bye!" while others in the front room began singing the sporting event anthem "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye."

"It was a wonderful moment, because I think he did more to divide the nation and to divide us among other nations than any president in my lifetime," said Daniels. "And to see a president who is willing to work out difficulties with other nations through more diplomatic measures versus military is wonderful. I'm just thrilled those eight years are over."

Way, the Jamaica Plain man, agreed, saying, "Seeing the moving trucks in front of the White House was fantastic."

While Bush elicited a strong reaction from the crowd, the speaker pegged by many as the most divisive figure at the inauguration, anti-gay pastor Rick Warren, was largely met with indifference. Many within the LGBT and progressive communities condemned the selection of Warren, a man who supported California's Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage and who compared LGBT relationships to incest and pedophilia. When he took to the podium, a few people in the crowd at Club Caf? booed and hissed, but once he started speaking most people were silent. At least one man bowed his head and clasped his hands in prayer.

The silence was broken when Warren, referring to Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia, pronounced their names with an odd emphasis that sounded vaguely like a Klingon dialect. The room burst into laughter, and at several tables people began mimicking Warren's gaffe. In an instant Warren transformed from bogey man to punch line.

Cherry, the East Boston man, said Warren failed to cast a cloud over the celebration.

"The whole pomp and circumstance, the whole anticipation just washed over that. The history in the making just superceded all of that. At the end of the day it is what it is," said Cherry.