Yearly Archives: 2009
2009 In Review: Bruno
Bruno
I wrote a review of Bruno, and also commented about the film in a few other posts as well, but the review itself was the 9th most popular post of the last year on my blog. As films go, it was extremely controversial, both generally speaking as well as within the gay community. Reading back over the blog post, I still agree with everything I wrote. Especially:
While it is easy to look at the first and see Bruno as the bad guy who instigates the hatred by pushing the others way, way too far. There is no bad guy in the wrestling scene. There is just a bearded weirdo in camo bringing the crowd to a frenzy of straight pride. It isn’t what gays do or not do. The rampant, explosive homophobia and hatred live out there, and is peer supported.
If you still think Bruno is the bad guy in the camping episode, compare how that scene went with the brief scene with macho man Harrison Ford. Ford just tells the freak to get lost. No anger, no violence, no hatred. There are easy ways for straights to deal with offensiveness, and it doesn’t include the need to hit or kill.
My partner didn’t care for the film and while he could agree with most of what I wrote, he believed that Baron Cohen had gone way too far over the line. More recently, he saw an interview Baron Cohen did, and that changed his mind in a big way. He decided that Baron Cohen was brilliant. I didn’t see the interview, so can’t comment on it. But I found it interesting that it had changed his impression dramatically.
Looking back, after a year of political letdowns, I think reflecting on this film is essential. But rather than focus on the character of Bruno, we need to turn that focus to the rest of the film, and the “straight” environment Bruno is operating within. And, we need to think hard on the reaction of queers, like Peter Page, and organizations like GLAAD. The notion that we will be accepted, if we aren’t too over-the-top, is deep seated within the GLBTQ communities, and it remains as big a hindrance to achieving equality as anything else.
Read my original post
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Poll Results: LGBT Activism
A few weeks ago, I posted a poll on my blog, asking, What have you done for LGBT rights? This isn’t a very scientific poll, nor should sweeping generalizations be made based on these results, but the results are interesting and do suggest some ideas about what we need to be doing- that is, any of us who are interested in gaining full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trangender, and queer persons. If you are one of the persons who completed my poll or if you publicized the poll via Twitter or your blog, Thank-you!
I hope to post a poll every week or so as a way to generate some discussion, as well as to receive feedback from my blog readers. I hope that you will leave your comments below about this poll and its results. If you have questions you would like to see asked, let me know. This was my second poll. The first received very few hits, so if you didn’t complete it, please do. The First poll asked “What stops you from being more of an activist?” It would be interesting to consider those results in relation to this poll’s results.
There were 211 replies completed the poll. I allowed individuals to select more than 1 option, but I’m not sure how many actual people chose 2 or more items.There were a few surprises for me in the results and some confirmations of ideas I held in my head. That is- as much as such a small sampling could suggest trends and intentions.
Top votes:
Three tasks topped the list, and these were no surprise:
- Vote for pro-equality candidates and issues
- Signed an internet petition/internet blast email
- Sent an email to your elected official
Most of us have grown up equating the act of voting with the process of democracy, and following last November’s election, it isn’t a surprise. Yes, yes, yes- we need to always vote for pro-equality candidates. Very little else matters, if, in a democracy, we are not all free and equal, so In my opinion, no issue takes precedence over being pro-equality for everyone. The other two are not a surprise, as anyone taking the poll was doing it on-line and tasks like this are in the comfort zone.
Out of the closet:
- Come out to your family
- Come out to your friends
- Come out at work
I broke these three out as separate tasks intentionally, and the results were just what I expected. More people were out to their friends, and less to family, and even less out at work. The number of votes for “come out at work” was about half as the number of votes for “vote for a pro-equality candidate.” Voting is so private, and being out at work is probably the visible action of all. But all three levels of being out were in the middle of the voting spread.
It would be easy to say that this- being out- is the key to success. If everyone was out, what a difference it would make! But that said, it is still legal to fire someone for being gay, so there are real reasons why people aren’t out.
Being a part of the group
With each receiving votes, right in the middle, the three tasks that are about joining and being “in community.”
- Attended a gay pride
- Marched/attended a rally
- Joined an organization
These three are, generally speaking, all about getting into our comfort zone. There is safety in numbers, right? Although the number of people voting for one of these options was only about 60% of those who took action on-line. I find these types of actions extremely important because they “feed” a person; they energize you and motivate you, and remind you that you are not alone. But these actions in and of themselves won’t change our current reality. If 1000 persons or 100,000 persons are in a march, the laws don’t just change. Thew march has to ac t as a motivator so that the 1,000 or 100,000 go home from the march and keep taking actions including engaging their elected officials.
Other (see below)
There were three entries for “other,” and each is very interesting. They were:
- Told my daughter I love her and support her.
- Talk about my life as if being gay is a given, not something to apologize for.
- Wrote a marriage equality novel.
All three are great ideas and good messages! For me the second, is very related to the “being out” section above. The more each of us do this- treat our lives as a given, that they are just the way they are intended to be- the more others will begin to see it that way. Giving and receiving love and support are good for everyone, and writing a novel is a great way to place our experiences into the context of real life.
Taking Action
There were 4 choices that received the least number of votes, yet are the choices that could actually accomplish the most amount of good. In an ideal world, we might think that voting for someone who is pro-equality should be enough. But it isn’t because “we” as a voting block are small in comparison to the conservative block. We are less than 15% and the conservative block is about 43%. So, the best strategy for us is to work with two groups of people: our elected officials since they are the ones who have the real authority to make legislation happen, and our friends and neighbors, since they may be people who can vote with us so that the vote for equality is greater than the vote against equality.
- Called your elected official
- Sent a snail mail letter/card to your elected official
- Had a meeting with your elected official
- Done door to door canvasing
The single most important item on the entire list was “Had a meeting with your elected official,” because when meeting with your elected official you have the ability to put a real face and life story to the issue of equality. You have an opportunity to educate your elected official, as well as answer questions that s/he may have about whatever legislation is most meaningful to you. On the poll, only 3 replies for this option compared to 24 for voting. Only 3!! I can assure you that if we increased the number of GLBTQ constituents who sat down with their elect3ed official 8 fold, we would see laws changing right and left, especially at the state or local level! The next best thing to a meeting is a personal letter sent via snail mail. Emails may not get read, or maybe simply counted. but a personal letter will be read every time. Go low tech- send a letter, and sit down for a meeting– these things can make a huge difference.
Well, that’s my analysis of the results. What do you think? Chime in with your ideas and opinions! Again, this is a very small sampling and not a scientific poll at all, but still useful information.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Rugby Star Gareth Thomas Comes Out: Receives Praise
I’ve posted a number of posts this past year about gays and sports, and this one ranks high on the list in terms of importance. Here in the US, rugby, may not have quite the following that American football or baseball has, but when it comes to tough sports, few match up to rugby. If gays can be playing a manly game like this, well, then they really can be everywhere, right?
I really want to applaud Gareth Thomas for coming out while still being an active player. The few times that big named athletes in predominately macho sports have come out, it has been after they have retired (I believe a few olympic swimmers are the exception to that) but Gareth’s announcement is utterly different. I’d be happy for any well known athlete to come out pre or post retirement, but if an athlete could have come out and didn’t, and then comes out after retirement, it almost supports homophobia and may imply that athletes should hide their sexuality. I don’t think this is anyone’s intent, but that may not change the implication. By coming out in one of the roughest sports anywhere, while still being an active player, a new message is reverberating in every sports arena around the globe!
The individual act of coming out, is possibly the single most important thing any person can do to help the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. By remaining hidden in the closet, the message is sent that we do not need equality; that we can be happy with second class citizenship, and we will never have more if we are happy with what we already have. Of the various professions that place people in the public spotlight, sports is probably the profession that can impact the GLBTQ rights movement the most, since gender roles and concepts of masculinity are perpetrated there more than anywhere else. I think coming out must remain an individual decision, and so anyone who chooses to remain hidden, must still be respected for that decision, but if group should be encouraged to come out, it should be athletes. Athletes have the ability to change everyone’s perceptions, and that can be most of the battle when it comes to gaining rights.
Gay activists praise rugby star Gareth Thomas’s decision to come out | World news | The Observer.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?2009 In Review
Beginning tomorrow, I’m going to run a series of nine posts, the 9 top posts from 2009- isn’t that original? I looked back over the last 12 months, and selected the posts I had written that had received either the most hits or the most discussion and interest, and selected 9. The 9 and not necessarily 9 individual posts. Several will reflect a theme or topic that seems to be big, such as Marriage Equality. Rather than simply repost the original, I’ll provide links back to the original, and some comments about how the subject now. Have my ideas changed from when I first wrote about it?
I’m ranking these from 9 to the number 1 at the top, although I’ve taken a bit of liberty with some of the rankings. My readership has grown so much over the past 12 months, that I can’t just go by number of hits. Last January, 50 visitors to my blog on a day would have been great, and today, that would be very low. So, a story earlier in the year could have drawn far more attention even though the total number of hits were low. I’ve also made an editorial decision, NOT to consider same-sex marriage as the most important story of the year. (Shock!) I’ll say more about my reasoning when I post on that. So, in the end the rankings were based on a several weighted criteria. I’ll also follow the 9 posts with a poll so that you can rank the 9 stores- what order of importance would you give them?
I’ll start 2010 with a post of 10 predictions for 2010 (again, original, I know). I have no crystal ball, but these ideas will reflect what I think we can look forward to in the coming year, or things I feel we should be looking towards.
Thank you very much for being a part of ThomasCWaters.com over the past year, and here’s looking for another great year!
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Tom Goss in Pittsburgh: Art, music, a crush and inspiration
Last night (Thursday) I had a chance to see a performer that I’m have a crush on, for a while now. Crush. I say that and my boyfriend rolls his eyes. More accurately I suppose, Tom’s music just speaks to me- he is saying something I really want to hear and he sings beautifully as well. But up until now, I have never seen him in person, so it was a real treat to have Tom Goss performing at the Club Cafe here in Pittsburgh. Opening for Tom, and also singing with him on a few songs was Pittsburgh based, Jeremiah Clark.
I haven’t a clue how I found Goss’s music in the first place. Facebook seems a likely spot or Twitter, but all I remember is being captured immediately. Which brings me back to this notion of having a crush. It has been days since I started this post, and every day I have thought about what to write. I sat there listening, just entranced by every word of every lyric. Tom isn’t the first recipient of such a crush- that’s why my partner rolls his eyes. He has seen this before. Often an artist of some sort does this to me. But I think there is something especially poignant about this time for me. As I listened to each line of spoken emotion, I felt inspired and jealous at the same time. The words seems to roll of the tongue as if they are easy and spontaneous… And here I sit struggling every day to pen a blog post. Though I’m not so naive, and do realize that a songwriter can struggle over lyrics too. I don’t think it is so much about my writing, but rather about my artwork (yes, that creative outlet I seem to be ignoring these days.) Maybe the crush is a reminder to let myself create.
But really runs deeper than that. There is so much love in Tom’s music, and I don’t finds that in my artwork at all. IKt is a voice I don’t know how to speak in my artwork. My partner will say that I know love and share love, but in my artwork, or the ways I express myself? Might as well be a foreign language. I have chalked that up, overt time to a simple solution- my work, the purpose of my work is about other subjects, that’s all. Someone has to talk about the other stuff, right? Som, I have a crush- I’m drawn like you wouldn’t believe to this sharing about love, because it is a topic, I want to be sharing about too, and yet, when I try, nothing comes out. Yet.
Tom, expressed thursday, that he doesn’t really want to be political. To which I replied that making songs about love is very political indeed. He didn’t buy that, I don’t think, but I stand by it nonetheless. Now, more than ever before, we must be giving voice to the wide breadth of our experiences as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people. As we make gains in the political arena towards full equality, the negative voices and hate mongering will only increase. The real battle isn’t just about rights, but rather, about who is controlling the message. There is no better way to bring truth to the discourse, than through love songs, that display the whole of our experience, and the reality and depth of our relationships. If these love songs are not political, then, that is exactly what we need in order to make political gain. (In addition to lots of political work, that is.)
As crushes go, this one is pretty ideal. Tom as a partner and I have a partner. Too often, a person can mistake a crush for something else and miss the point of it entirely, chasing after something and losing even the crush in the end. Some people talk of finding their muse, that may have some similarities to acknowledging a crush. I’d advocate for more people to have crushes, actually. Imagine a world, where often and passionately we felt inspired and moved to look for and step outside our safe box of current existence. I’ll close with a video of Tom Goss and one of my own images. Maybe you will be inspired too.
This is an image from the BabyDoll Series, a series I’ve been working on forever, but haven’t found the nerve to show it as a body of work.
copyright Thomas C Waters
As Seen on Twitter!
Recipe for Activists! It is simple math:
Complaining + Action + contribution = change.
Complaining alone = zero.
#Lgbt #fb
posted by @MichaelsThought
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Mice Prove Gender Isn’t Fixed at Birth
The linked article doesn’t contain a ton of information, and frankly, I’d like to know more, but it is interesting, none the less. The issue of Gender, what is is, and isn’t, and the relationship of Gender, Gender Identity and Expression to the gay and lesbian rights movement is an important subject that we don’t talk about enough. The “T” is there in LGBT (or GLBTQ, or whatever combination you are most fond of using) . yet there are those in the Transexual, Intersex, and Transgender communities who feel it doesn’t belong, or who feel as if, they are still ignored and invisible even though it is listed.
I think that while the LGBT community has included T, few have really taken the time to understand what that is, who is included, and what that means for those who self-identify as Trans, as well as for the rest of the GLBTQ communities. Trans folk “belonged” (and continue to do so, in my opinion) because no sexual minority deserves less than full equality. Trans folk don’t choose to change genders. They choose to accept that their insides don’t match their outsides, and decide to align these to be more whole. Gays and lesbians don’t chose to be gay or lesbian, but they do chose to accept themselves as they are rather than deny their identity.
But what do we really know about Gender? What is it and why is it the way it is? For me, my identity as a man is so tied to my anatomy, that I have no basis for understanding how someone can know that their true gender doesn’t match their identity. I have bought into the status quo idea that gender is anatomy. But this status quo may fall away, just as other concepts and ideas have been replaced over time as we have come to understand the science behind what we see and think we know.
Gender and anatomy are as intertwined as anything with Religion,given that the primary basis of the Jude-Christian creation story is all about Adam and Eve. But just as Religion had to come to terms with the limitations of it’s own lore surrounding astronomy, it will eventually have to come to terms with the shortcomings of it’s creation myth too. Time will tell, if Religion can do that, or if it feels so tightly bound to Adam and Eve that it (Religion) would rather become irrelevant than keep the overall cosmology while reorienting itself with updated ideas about the origin of human life.
No matter how hard Religion fights, we must continue to look towards Science to help understand biology and what we call life generally, as well as gender specifically.
Wow, that got a bit heavier than I was expecting- enjoy the linked article.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Busting the Filibuster And The LGBT Community
I haven’t written too much about the Health Care debate even though it is something I care deeply about. I have a lung condition that I’ve had since I was a teenager, and now that I’m getting older, it is starting to have more of an impact on me. I would like to change jobs, but can’t afford to lose my coverage, and worry about being denied for pre-existing conditions, and I worry, even if I keep my insurance, what would happen if I got very sick? How much of my retirement savings will have to go simply for health care? From a less personal perspective, I can’t imagine how we can turn our economy around when we pay so much for health care, and that industry enjoys a lack of competition, and continually turns bigger and bigger profits. And, how will our legislators ever turn their attention to real and meaningful legislation regarding equality , when budget and deficit issues will remain on as driving forces because we never fix the real problems, and the role the current system plays in that regard.
The linked blog by Bridgette P. LaVictoire, draws another connection between the health care debate and GLBTQ issues, by discussing the filibuster. It is a very good history of the filibuster, and I’d call it, required reading for any beginning discussion about this as an issue. But I don’t think it goes too far after the history lesson. She writes:
This move has odd ramifications for the LGBT Community. While this would seem to be something completely unrelated to LGBT issues, the issue of the filibuster has been one of the things the has held up reform on DADT, DOMA, ENDA, and even the Matthew Shepard Act.
The big problem with ending the filibuster is that it then becomes impossible when the Senate flips parties to stop those pieces of legislation from being reenacted by the new Senate.
I don’t know- I don’t see anything “odd” about it at all, but I get her point. On the surface, it would look like eliminating the filibuster is a good thing, but upon deeper inspection, doing so would eliminate a tool used by either party that is in the minority, and will it be in the best interest of the LGBT community to have the tool or to not have this tool when the conservatives are back in power?
The perspective I want to bring, is that this is the wrong discussion to be having from the very start, and misses the far more important issue growing out of the health care debate for GLBTQ and progressives. Party lines, in and of themselves mean absolutely nothing for our issues as illustrated by the way Blue Dog Dems are working to kill real reform, and the way that the bill is being used to try and push back a woman’s right to choose and endanger abortion rights. The filibuster enables a broken system where “party lines” are more important than real legislative progress, and the Congress focuses more attention on deciding who has the power, and puts, essentially no real time or energy into doing what is best or right for all Americans.
I do not disagree with her assertion in general. We have the system that we do, and we need to think hard about the future ramifications for the change to the system. But she seems to imply that this see-saw power shift from Dem to Repub to Dem is the only way our government will be, and maintaining the ability for the minority to hold up real progress is the only useful tool we have. I think as long as we accept that premise, we will never see real reform on GLBTQ issues, because conservatives, no matter what party they claim affiliation, will remain in power and we will be screwed. High paying lobbyists of big industry will always have more sway than what is best for the people. LaVictoire is best described as operating from a dis-empowered  position.
I do not disagree with her assertion in general, but I would like to see dialogue about how do we really get legislators to be doing their business based on what is best for America and the American people? Why isn’t there a vibrant and thorough discourse about health care going on within the GLBTQ community and our communication tools? Why is the closest we get to any meaningful connection between our rights and the current primary legislative agenda, a short post about what could happen if we lose a procedural tool for stopping real progress?
What is odd, is that gays and lesbians seem comfortable with waiting for our politicians, rather than actively working to change the system that allows our needs and real equality to never become a primary focus. Losing the filibuster will have real ramifications, but keeping it does too. As long as we continue to pretend that decisions are made based on party lines, we will always fail to confront the conservative movement which is alive and well in both parties, and we wil never see legislative change that ends our second class citizenship.
Busting the Filibuster And What It May Mean To The LGBT Community – Lez Get Real.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Nevada
Saw this on Facebook:
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?Nevada: the only state with legalized prostitution (Proverbs 23:27-28), the gambling capital of the United States (Proverbs 13:11), home to the highest divorce rate in the country (Malachi 2:16) draws the moral line at gay marriage (no biblical verse available).
Meet Lois Herr: Candidate Against Joe Pitts
This is from FireDogLake:
“Don’t forget it’s Stupak/PITTS – I’m the one running against him in PA-16 and I want everyone to know that there’s a radical Republican co-sponsor who should lose his seat over this.â€
There has possibly never been a time when progressives and those seeking rights and legislation that help women and minorities, need to band together and fight for what we believe in- equality and justice. During 8 years of a conservative led government, we knew that the rights of many would be under siege. but now, when democrats hold a majority, you would expect things to be different, and they are not. Now more than ever we must vote for change- real change.
via FDL Action » Meet Lois Herr, Candidate Against Joe Pitts, Author of the Stupak/Pitts Amendment.
If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?
