Articles by: Thomas Waters

Serial Killer: Remembering The AIDS Epidemic

Serial Killer: Remembering The AIDS Epidemic

Tomorrow, December 1, is World AIDS Day, and around the globe, it will be marked by events and efforts to focus attention on the ongoing impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Just this morning, I had a woman tell me, “it doesn’t seem like a crisis anymore.” But the truth is, across the planet, the entire human race is beinbg devastated by this ongoing epidemic, even if here in middle class white America, it doesn’t seem[Read More…]

November 30, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general
Barney Frank to retire.

Barney Frank to retire.

Frank’s accomplishments cover a wide array from Health Care Reform to Finance Reform, yet he has never failed to be 100% there for our homosexual agenda.

November 29, 2011 Comments are Disabled general

The fight we are fighting is not for gay rights, but for modernity.

The only way to grasp the incongruity- what TWO calls a “fake” conservatism, is to see it in a pre-modern mindset where men make all the rules and do whatever they want.

November 28, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general

Two LGBTQ/community organizing opportunities in Pittsburgh next weekend.

In my opinion, one of the main things that keeps the local LGBTQ community from accomplishing more, is that too many within our community (meaning both organizations and individuals) fail to become engaged in the larger social justice movement. Too many gays and lesbians seem to only care about their own issues, and are ignorant of, or oblivious to the way our issues are inextricably connected to broader issues such as economic justice, gender equity, worker’s rights, the peace movement, and all the other areas of the social justice movement.

November 27, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general
PSEC: Safe Schools Petition

PSEC: Safe Schools Petition

For many LGBTQ or youth perceived to be LGBTQ, a safe school environment can be the difference between life and death. Take a moment ad get involved! Sign the petition, and get to know the work of PSEC!

November 23, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general
Pittsburgh and the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR)

Pittsburgh and the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR)

Maybe Transgender Day of Remembrance isn’t that important to people here? Or maybe it is?

November 22, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general
Why does the 99% become 41%: Occupy the voting booth!

Why does the 99% become 41%: Occupy the voting booth!

I’ve been quite captured by the Occupy movement, and have written multiple times that I believe it marks the most important grass roots political movement since the anti-war efforts of the ’60’s. But one thing has been nagging at me. If we are the 99%, how is it that we let our government get so broke that it is selling us down the river?

November 22, 2011 Comments are Disabled general

LGBT Spain, and the lesson for the US 2012 elections.

All we have to do is look at the GOP’s agenda in the House. Since they regained power, everything they have done has been to attack individual rights. They ran on the economy, but their actions are all about social change and a return to an ultra-conservative control over personal freedoms.

In the bigger picture, the GOP’s efforts have been about destroying Obama so that a Republican would win, and what might it mean if the GOP had total power, or at least a far greater level of control? Look at Spain.

November 21, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general, Same-Sex Marriage

Prop 8 and the voice of the people.

it is a perspective of Equality that has moved out into a public conversation more than any other issue. And so, no matter what happens with Marriage Equality, it will either push full equality farther along or hinder our progress on all fronts., so it impacts every single member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer communities.

November 17, 2011 1 comment general, Same-Sex Marriage

Prop 8 path forward to be known tomorrow.

But it also seems rational, that since this was a citizen’s initiated effort, that the court will allow citizens to appeal the case to the next level of the court. It is anticipated that at that level, it will win, but if it is allowed to continue, there will be no stopping the case and it will go all the way to the Supreme Court. In this scenario, more people may potentially win, as it could influence the right to marry nationally, but given how conservative the Supreme Court currently is, one can easily imagine the case being decided against Marriage Equality. Bigger potential win, but bigger risk.

November 16, 2011 Comments are Disabled Activism, general, Same-Sex Marriage