Articles by: Thomas Waters

Hate Crimes and Dharun Ravi

Hate Crimes and Dharun Ravi

Closet-ness, and the desire to make our sexual experimentations and lives private is not a new event. Tyler Clemente is far from the first person who has had his privacy violated, and many lives have been ruined over time. This doesn’t diminish the horror of his situation, but it also places it into a longer context that the simple generic notion of gay bullying. The problem doesn’t go away simply by the way we treat one character, Ravi. The real solution is far bigger than that.

May 22, 2012 — 1 comment — general
Change in Leadership at Butler PFLAG

Change in Leadership at Butler PFLAG

As I have tried to see LGBTQ from a larger perspective than what my life in the relatively big city of Pittsburgh is all about, I have come to have an even more profound appreciation for PFLAG groups. Their work is immeasurable and essential to supporting LGBTQ persons everywhere. Butler is not what one might call a bastion of liberal thinking, and s for this group, like a number across Western PA to keep doing such important work is all important.

May 21, 2012 — 1 comment — general
Western PA LGBTQA blogger and social media summit coming.

Western PA LGBTQA blogger and social media summit coming.

A “summit” may sound a bit intimidating, but it isn’t meant to be. Rather, this isn’t just getting together for coffee and chitchat. Our goal is to start a process where individuals who often work in isolation, now feel they have a network or more support, ad as a group, we own the role we can play in communication and activism.

May 20, 2012 — 2 comments — Activism, general
Symbolism Doesn't Make Anything Better.

Symbolism Doesn’t Make Anything Better.

Simply saying it gets better doesn’t make it so. This isn’t Bewitched where Samantha wriggles her nose and things change. The value of It Gets Better is to place a sense of hope and focus that down the road, if you get yourself that far, it will be better. And in my personal opinions, Huang’s ideas are simplistic and do little to grasp the reality of the needed hope that will help save these kids.

May 19, 2012 — 2 comments — Activism, Election, Same-Sex Marriage

More than just politics: Obama and gay marriage.

Really great piece on Americablog about Obama and Gay Marriage. Read it all, but here is a good clip: This is not about Obama. It’s about us. The nation is increasingly open to marriage equality because we have been listening and learning – from our friends, from pop culture and from the strides made by the gay rights community. I don’t think history will remember the President’s announcement for his personal narrative. The breakthrough here[Read More…]

May 18, 2012 — Comments are Disabled — Activism, Election, Same-Sex Marriage
Stop saying Mitt Romney bullied some kid!

Stop saying Mitt Romney bullied some kid!

You! Imagine your son or your daughter, or your brother or sister or someone you know. Close you eyes and thimnk about a group of kids stalking that person, and overpowering them and holding that person down kicking andf screaming, and cutting off their hair. Imagine the moments after that kid is realeased from being held down and their hair is severed, and violated and there is no way to step back. What Romney did was a truly violent act of invasion of another’s body. No invasion is worse except for rape.

May 16, 2012 — 3 comments — Activism, Election, general
African Americans and Marriage Equality: Is this a race issue?

African Americans and Marriage Equality: Is this a race issue?

At the heart of this, isn’t only the place of the religious community component within ther African American community- although that is one element of it. The other is the distinction between Marriage as a Civil Imnstitution where a marriage license is issued by the State, and a judge, or other officiant facilitates, and Marriage as a Religious Ritual or Rite of passage.

May 16, 2012 — 1 comment — Election, general, Same-Sex Marriage

Mayor’s LGBT Advisory Board Announces Job Fair.

Received this via email: Pittsburgh, PA- May 16, 2012- The City of Pittsburgh’s Mayor’s LGBT Advisory council will be hosting it’s first annual diversity job fair on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at PNC Bank’s Firstside Center located at 500 Firstside Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. The job fair is intended to offer potential candidates a forum to meet with representatives from various corporations throughout the city of Pittsburgh to discuss employment opportunities. The participating corporations all[Read More…]

May 16, 2012 — Comments are Disabled — general
14 PA Legislators flee from corporate front group ALEC

14 PA Legislators flee from corporate front group ALEC

Blogger’s note: This is a press release received today from Keystone Progress, and the only part of this post, which is mine, is this comment itself. ALEC may not be the type of subject matter that most of my regular readers really care about. It may not seem LGBTQ related and it isn’t a story about some good progress towards rights or some story of victimhood. But ALEC is a subject, everyone needs to care[Read More…]

May 15, 2012 — 1 comment — general

Queer Families and Mother’s Day

The single greatest fallacy that the Far Right uses against LGBTQ Civil Rights is the accusation that we are destroying the family, which could not be further from the truth. If anything Marriage Equality does more to protect the family than any other piece of legislation out there. Because we are already mothers and fathers and our families deserve equality. They deserve safety and legal protection and cultural support and acceptance. Their hate-filed fallacy has another dimension too. With it, they seek to silence all of us who are also sisters, and brothers, and daughters and sons. The Far Rights fallacy robs so many families; harms so many families today, as gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and queer children hide a part of themselves from their loved ones for fear.

May 13, 2012 — 2 comments — general
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