thomascwaters.com

I wanted to jot down some thoughts about the recent police shootings here in Pittsburgh. Brad and I awoke last Saturday morning to every type of siren you could hear. Police car, fire truck, and sirens we couldn’t identify. But both of us had meetings and commitments and it was a bit into the day before we know that there had been a shooting in a nearby neighborhood. I think it took me till the past few days for everything to really sink in. I had heard a few comments about thew shooter but actually hadn’t seen his picture or read much until this morning when I read on cnn.com that he was a white supremicist who hated Jews and loved guns.

Yesterday was the memorial service for the cops and I had intentionally planned to work from home to stay out of the Oakland area and all of the traffic mess the memorial would cause. As it turned out, there was a problem at work, and so I had to take the bus in anyway. I got off the bus on Craig St. and walked up to my building, Salk Hall which is next to the Peterson where the memorial was being held. I arrived at just the right time to watch the hearses roll up the hill towards the Peterson. The steps of the center were full of uniformed individuals, all in salute as the cars drove by and I was moved. I had already been aware of how sad I felt about the losses. I thought about how horrible it would be if I was expecting Brad to come home only to receive a message that he had been killed. Could anything be more torturous for these men’s families? However, what touched me even more were seeing police from all over- which I had not expected. Police from New York and Califoria, and all over.

Now I am a bit of a pushover for a man in uniform. and here were hundreds and hundreds of handsome men looking amazing, and yet this gathering was under the most sad event.  The realness and poingnancy of the moment almost tangible.

This tidbit of personal information, I tell for a reason. Because this event sits within a week of amazing and frustrating events surrounds gay rights. The excitement: Iowa, Vermont, and Washington DC changes in marriage equality. The frustration: the backlash of lies, misinformation and exaggerations of gay rights opponents who are trying to paint people like me and my parter as the ones who are destroying America.

A skinhead who planned to pick up his activist activities against the hated Jews has destroyed the lives of these families, but all the media hype across the country is filled with verbiage about the fact that because I love my partner, it will destroy society as we know it.

There aren’t adequate words.