BarbWire senior editor Jeff Allen was left seething at the news that President Obama invited gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to speak at his Easter prayer service, writing yesterday in a column entitled “Blasphemy: Obama Picks ‘Gay’ Bishop For Easter Prayer” that “the president chose to desecrate the Easter observance” as part of “his and the culture’s celebration of everything ‘gay.’”

President Barack Obama hosted about 150 Christian leaders at the Fifth Annual Easter Prayer Breakfast on Monday. At the conclusion of the event, the president chose to desecrate the Easter observance by spontaneously inviting the Episcopal Church’s first self-avowed, practicing homosexual bishop to offer the closing prayer. In his and the culture’s celebration of everything “gay,” apparently nothing is sacred. … The Right Rev. Gene Robinson expressed his shock in a tweet, accompanied by a photo of Mr. Obama behind the podium: “POTUS ‘preaches’ at the Easter prayer breakfast. Then, out of the blue, asks ME to close with prayer. OMG!”

In another column, Allen claimed that the Nevada GOP’s decision to drop anti-choice and anti-gay positions from its party platform is a sign that right-wing activists may need to create a third party focused on opposing abortion rights and LGBT equality.