Did the MSM leave Melissa in the dark?

The media’s short-shrifting of gay inaugural events didn’t stop at Rev. Gene Robinson‘s untelevised prayer at Sunday’s Lincoln Memorial concert, says AMERICAblog’s John Aravosis.

“There seemed to be a dearth of coverage about the gay and lesbian side of the inaugural festivities. Our readers reported that a number of networks oddly cut away from the inaugural parade the moment the gay band showed up,” he writes.* “And not much mention of the gay ball the Human Rights Campaign held Tuesday night.”

Ben Finzel, who reviewed the HRC event for Gay.com, filed a similar gripe with what he refers to as the “so-called ‘mainstream’ press”; he called the coverage of the event a “seeming press blackout.”

Washington City Paper, for one, did not attend the HRC’s star-studded fete (Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper, and Rufus Wainwright performed)—-not that we were invited. Stretched pretty thin during the four-day inaugural gauntlet, this paper’s GLBT after-hours coverage amounted to a couple scenes from the People’s Inaugural GLBT Gayla, held last Sunday night at the Historical Society.

But was the press biased in its lack of extensive coverage of Tuesday’s HRC ball? I’m not sure how the HRC coverage stacks up against that of all the other mainstream balls, but when it comes down to it, I can’t really care too much. After all, it was just a party on a night of a thousand parties, and one that President Obama was unlikely to be attending (his dance card was pretty full that night). Sure, I would have loved to hear Lauper serenade Barack and Michelle with “At Last,” too. But arguing that your ball didn’t get enough recognition on Tuesday sounds like sour grapes. It’s a party. Just dress up, get a little drunk, listen to Melissa, then get up on Wednesday and get ready to fight real injustice.

* Not locally, it seems: Metro Weekly has footage of Fox 5’s announcement of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association as they pass President Obama in the inaugural parade.

Photo by DDFic.