What the Philadelphia Mayor Had to Say About Marriage Equality
Here in Pittsburgh, we do not yet know if our mayor, Luke Ravenstahl will sign on or not. But below, is what Philadelphia’s mayor had to say:
“We respect everyone’s right and everyone’s wish, certainly in the birthplace of freedom, liberty and democracy, the city of Philadelphia, and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania should do the same,” Nutter said. “I encourage our members of Congress to support this great effort. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the American thing to do.”
Gloria Casarez, the city’s director of LGBT affairs, said Nutter’s backing is integral, considering his leadership as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
The statement that the mayors have been asked to sign on to states:
“We stand for the freedom to marry because it enhances the economic competitiveness of our communities, improves the lives of families that call our cities home and is simply the right thing to do,” the statement reads. “We look forward to working to build an America where all people can share in the love and commitment of marriage with the person with whom they share their life.”
In addition to my posting an open letter to Mayor Luke, here on my blog, I have written to him directly requesting a meeting. I eagerly await a reply, however, the mayor has never accepted a request to meet from me in the past, so I am not sure what will happen.
I especially appreciate the focus of this statement on the economic impact of Equality. Civil Marriage is a Civil Right. Equality.
via PGN-The Philadelphia Gay News. Phila gay news. philly news – Nutter joins marriage equality mayors.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?GOP Big Government/Small Government Rhetoric is All Smoke and Mirrors
The link is to an interview with a Tea Party spokesperson in South Carolina, and the Tea Party is the epitome of Small Government rhetoric, right?
Ms. Martin said that although Mr. Gingrich “is not the perfect candidate,” she believes many Tea Party members have decided to coalesce support around the former Speaker.
I think they were definitely sending a message against Mitt Romney. And I think they were saying, ‘Look, we’ve got to have somebody who can debate the president and this is who we think can do it.’ Newt is not perfect. But he’s a warrior. Look, his whole staff left him practically and he just won South Carolina.
Ms. Martin was careful to say that the Tea Party Patriot leadership has voted not to endorse any particular candidate during the primary. She did, however, state that the Tea Party is a powerful force in Florida and will play a role in the outcome of next week’s primary in that state, particularly for Mr. Gingrich who has less financial resources than Mr. Romney and will therefore need to rely on grassroots support.
But the picture is really more complicated than that. At the Federal level, the attack against Obama is often fueled with rhetoric about shrinking government, and Obama ids being blamed for being all about big invasive government. This is not true, but that is the rhetoric.
However, the real big invasive government moves are happening at the State level all across the country.We have seen that with efforts to limit bargaining rights, voter ID bills that cost an enormous amount and solve no existing problem, and all the pushes to limit reproductive rights.
Thus, the whole of the GOP strategy is to curtail and hinder civil rights at the State level, and cripple government oversight of big business at the Federal level. Growing an invasive government on the one hand, while shrinking it at the other. In both cases, the American people actually lose.
via » Tea Party Patriot Leader: Newt Win Is Win for Tea Party – Big Government.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Navarro Admits To Same Sex Encounters
This is not news at all (link is from 2006) but I thought it was interesting in lieu of the controversy raised by Cynthia Nixon’s comments.
Rocker DAVE NAVARRO admits he has experimented sexually with other men, but insists he is not gay. The star, who is married to CARMEN ELECTRA, claims the encounters with members of the same sex actually helped convince him he is straight. Navarro tells the gay publication dot Newsmagazine, “I’ve come to realise through my experimentation over the years that I’m not gay, nor am I bisexual.”
I love the way he admits to experimentation, and that alone doesn’t force him into the category of bisexual. On the other hand, he is a celebrity, and we all know that the media created about celebs isn’t always truthful. Still I applaud the ease with which a man understand that he knows more about his own sexual orientation because of his willingness to have differing experiences.
So, considering Nixon- has he chosen to be straight, or was he already straight and merely chose to accept his sexual orientation?
via Dave Navarro – Navarro Admits To Same Sex Encounters – Contactmusic News.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?What did Cynthia Nixon choose?
Note 5:12PM I’ve added a few links to this post of other commentaries.
Tracy Baim, writes on The Huffington Post: In Defense of Cynthia Nixon: Why ‘Born This Way’ Doesn’t Matter. The quote here is from her (Baim’s) wonderful post.
While some argue that women are more prone to the “nurture” side because of a more fluid sexuality, I don’t think it is as simple as that. I think women, starting in the 1970s, took a very political approach to identity politics, and it was empowering to believe we control “our bodies, ourselves.” For men, because of the pressure to be masculine and fit a male stereotype, it was easier to place the power elsewhere, with Mother Nature, not mother nurture.
I quoted this part because I think one of the primary questions here is all abut “self-identification” and “disclosure,” not merely Sexual Identity as if that were an easily evaluated characteristic like blood type or something. I especially applaud Baim’s ideas that identity politics (or I might say gender politics) is every bit as much a part of the discourse as biology, genetics, and environment.
One of the real problems of the “born this way” argument, is that it fails to treat sexuality s fluid. It presupposes that you are either born gay or straight. We might pay some lip service to the notion of bisexuality (so that people are born as gay, bi, or straight), but come on- really. When ever anyone is talking about being born this way, they really are talking about gay. Consider John Aravosis, and his rebuke of Nixon for example. For him, being gay is not the same thing as being bisexual at all, and Nixon has no right to call herself gay. I think he is full of shit in this regards.
So what did Nixon choose? The controversy seems to be over if she chose to be gay, but is it that or not? Perhaps, if we are more clear, we each choose to accept our innate sexuality or we do not. In that regard, I don’t choose to be gay, but I choose to accept that I am gay, and choose to acknowledge my innate sexual orientation.
Read all of Baim’s post, it is really great.
I think the emphasis some place on the “born this way” argument stems from internalized homophobia. On some level we buy into that being gay is wrong, and the solution- what makes it not wrong is that it is out of our control. This is a fairly self-disempowering idea, and plays directly into the homophobe’s argument that you can be born that way, but you must fight it and not allow yourself to act upon it.
I really wonder what the various commentaries would be if it had been a man who, like N icon had had both male and female relationships and was now making the claim that they had made a choice. So many of the commentaries seem to suggest that there is a real gender difference here, and not only is what is being said, but how this issue fills our minds, differs between the sexes.
From the “male” side of it (the Aravosis side perhaps) I also wonder how a history of the AIDS pandemic influences our ideas. Are some folks such abolitionists when it comes to the nature vs nurture argument because of how hard we battled for any dignity and love at all as we were blamed for bringing the pandemic on ourself?
I think another reason some battle against nixon’s comments so strongly is because some don’t want to really deal with the notion of sexual orientation as fluid. Some want to pretend that bisexuals make up only a very small and quirky part of the whole. Sexual orientation as fluid, such as expressed by the Kinsey scale would suggest that the majority of people are bisexual. If the gay community (in this regard, including women/lesbians) is but a small subset of the whole sprectrum of sexual orientation, it may seem fighting for gay and lesbian rights will be forever futile.
I deserve equality no matter if I was born this way or I chose to be this way. Isn’t that what equality is really all about?
What do you think?
Even if we are born this way, how might it change the current LGBT civil rights movement if we each chose to speak out and own our own power (which may be a way to understand Nixon’s comments)?
via Tracy Baim: In Defense of Cynthia Nixon: Why ‘Born This Way’ Doesn’t Matter.
More about Cynthia Nixon’s comments:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/cynthia-nixon-wit-being-gay_n_1223889.html
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/01/homosexuality-as-a-choice.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathy-renna/cynthia-nixon-choice_b_1231025.html
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The letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
I want to thank those readers who can commented to me about this open letter! I want to make sure to be more clear about one point. While I would hope that Mayor Luke would sign on to Freedom to Marry’s project, I personally am not pushing the mayor to do so. What I personally want to see is transparency. I want to see him make his intentions clear. If he is going to sign, that’s great. If he is not going to sign, I’d like to see him express his reasons why.
Too often, politicians at every level of government fail to be transparent with their constituents. They make promises, sometimes knowing at the time they make them, that they will not keep them. Sometimes they have the best of intentions, but are unable for one reason or another to follow through. Even when no promises have been made, their constituents can be unclear about how or why an elected official is acting in one way or another.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer community is a vital block of voters, and more importantly, a meaningful community of constituents whose rights, needs and interests deserve real attention by our elected officials. Local government is perhaps the level of government where an elected official can have the most honest and direct relationship with his or her constituents. I seek to ask Mayor Luke to participate in that open and honest direct relationship. I do not demand he do things my way. I request he be clear, host, and articulate what he is going to do or not do, and why.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Thoughts about the Black and White Reunion
I spent Saturday at the Black and White Reunion, Summit Against Racism. While I would not have thought of myself as a racist person, the ways racism is systemic and pervasive as white privilege as well as more explicit racism, is something that has come into my view a number of times recently. It is time for me to better understand what things I can do to combat racism. The Black and White Reunion has been happening for now, 15 years on the weekend after Martin Luther King Day. I first heard of it two years ago, when the Progressive Unconference was here, and people were trying to be at both events, and so when I saw this advertised, I knew I wanted to attend this year.
As a gay activist, it is difficult to see the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans community as racially diverse. At most any gathering of the community, it is very white, and mostly male. People talk about this, and express a desire for it to be different, but it doesn’t seem to change. Why is that, and what do we really do about it? We know that there are LGBTQ persons in every racial group, so there is no reason why this diversity should not be more easily visible.
While the Summit got off to a late start due to the weather, it got going nonetheless. That illustrates the commitment of the organizers who are racially mixed, to the importance of this event and efforts. That time was useful, to meet people. The crowd gathered ranged from very young to very old and everything in between with a great contingent of folks from the Occupy Pittsburgh camp at People’s Park. While “race” may not seem like the predominant issue for the Occupy movement, financial inequality fostered by corporate greed and the current corrupt system of wealth protection hits the African American community very hard.
One of the things that I’ve come to understand that many who have been doing racial justice work have known for some time, all of the “isms” share much. Underneath is the same systemic stuff. It is the way power is protected and passed from those who have it to only those they feel should have it. Yet, it is insufficient to say that all the isms are the same or to suggest that the ways they influence real people is exactly the same. So, a willingness to focus on racism at one time, and a focus on sexism or heterosexism, for example, at other times is essential. We just all need to work together as marginalized communities supporting one another. Together we can make progress.
Within the LGBTQ, we will only make progress once we start to recognize how white privilege acts within our community and our organizations. It isn’t merely a matter of trying to increase minority representation on boards of directors, but rather, seek out and make sure we are speaking for the needs of queer people of color. A step towards that must include a willingness to be participants in efforts for movements important to people of color, a space where the (mostly( male, white gay community is rarely found. My first inclination when others pointed out how I benefit from white privilege, was to be defensive. There is no time to waste on such emotions. The damage racism causes to real people and to our community (both inside the LGBTQ as well as outside of it) is real, and enough damage has been done. It is time to be self-reflective and accountable to people of color and be active participants in racial justice work, as it is a part of human rights work.
http://blackandwhitereunion.org/content/14th-summit-program-schedule
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Open Letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
This week, I received an email that described how the Group Freedom to Marry has begun to work with mayors:
Freedom to Marry today launched the Mayors for Freedom to Marry project. There are over 70 mayors listed, including Erie PA’s own Joe Sinnott! (The other 2 mayors in Pennsylvania are Philadelphia’s Michael Nutter and Bethlehem’s John Callahan.)
Three Pennsylvania mayors are signed on, but you Mayor Ravenstahl are not one of them.
Mayor Ravenstahl, can you explain to Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community if you plan to sign on, and if you do not, please share your reasons for not signing on. Pittsburgh has been a space welcoming to the LGBTQ community for many years, having a city-wide non-discrimination ordinance in place, and implementing a domestic partner registry, however the rights of many gay and lesbian couples remain unprotected due to our inability to protect our relationships by legal civil marriage.
As Mayor you have been visible as a supporter of the LGBT community, and the community deserves to understand why you haven’t signed like three of your Pennsylvania counterparts.
Sincerely,
Thomas C Waters, blogger and Pittsburgh resident
Updated 1/26/2012:
As per Eric’s comment, here is a link about the situation in Dallas.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Black & White Reunion: Summit Against Racism
From their website:
This year the Black & White Reunion will again be holding its Summit Against Racism in its usual location at East Liberty Presbyterian Church on January 21, 2012, the Saturday following the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. This section will hold all the available information about the 14th Annual Summit Against Racism — check back frequently to find out all the particulars on this year’s event.
In the near future you will be able to click to follow this page and be notified of any additional material as it is added. You can also sign up for the B&WR Newsletter to be notified by email of the latest B&WR announcements.
One of the things I’ve been learning that racism isn’t only the very overt actions and words that some may identify as racist, but also many small and more nuanced things. Experiences like this summit can help anyone find ways to act showing more respect and inclusivity.
http://blackandwhitereunion.org/content/14th-summit-program-schedule
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Facing the Bathroom Bill Arguments Directly.
Most often, when the issue of a “bathroom bill” is introduced, most often the response is to point out that equal rights isn’t about bathrooms. However, Autumn Sandeen wonderfully addresses this issue head on, and points out how in other civil rights battles, bathroom rhetoric became a tool to fight against equality. This whole post is worth reading, but here is an excerpt:
What hasn’t occurred is a logical argument. 1.) Is bathroom predation of women and children by “men in dresses” a common occurrence? 2.) If it is a common occurrence, is it a more common occurrence in countries, states, provinces, territories, counties, and municipalities where public accommodation antidiscrimination laws based on gender identity have been put into law?
The answer, with regards to those who opposeordinary equality for trans people, is that this hasn’t been studied by opposition groups. And, that’s likely in part because fear mongering alone has been successfully winning in the marketplace of ideas without such studies.
Autumn Sandeen: About Civil Rights and Bathrooms | Montreal Gazette.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Rachel Maddow: I Like Gay Culture
Rachel is not alone. I totally get her point. For me however, the issue isn’t simply relationship recognition, but rather equal treatment under the law. I’m sure she would agree.
“I feel that gay people not being able to get married for generations, forever, meant that we came up with alternative ways of recognizing relationships,” she told THR. “And I worry that if everybody has access to the same institutions that we lose the creativity of subcultures having to make it on their own. And I like gay culture.”
I wanted to post this however, because I love her quote here. “I love gay culture.” At times if we get too caught up in talk of Equality, we can miss remembering how we are unique and different and amazing.
via Rachel Maddow On Gay Marriage: ‘I Don’t…Feel Any Urgency About It’.
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