thomascwaters - Latest Comments

Re: Open Letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

Eric Miller — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:26:04 -0000

I hope you are following our situation here in Dallas with a mayor who has refused to sign. I hope the folks in Pittsburgh can mount as much pressure.

Re: Open Letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

tcwaters — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:19:13 -0000

Hello Steve! You are so very missed here in Pittsburgh! Magdalena was here on Tuesday and ask about you.

Yes, sent off to the Post Gazette! Thx!

Re: Open Letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

Steve Zupcic — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:13:17 -0000

Are you getting trying to get tis published in the P-G?

Re: Open Letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

Rayden — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:55:44 -0000

This is great. I hope we get a substantive response.

Re: Will Brian Sims help or hinder LGBT progress in Pennsylvania?

tcwaters — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:03:04 -0000

Thanks for trying to add to the dialogue and posting your thoughts. I'd be interested to know what you feel is a "badly formulated argument" ?

The truth of the matter is that no LGBT bill will have an ability to move forward as long as the GOP controls the PA House. That is clear. As long as Darryl Metcalf is in charge of the committee that a LGBT bill will need to come out of- there is no chance of it leaving committee.That is true stuff. Brian is running against one of the strongest, most outspoken progressives in the PA House who has been a hard fighter for LGBT Rights. That's a fact. It is also true that his opponent has enough seniority to have some power in Harrisburg. Again, just a fact. If Brian is elected, he will be a starting freshman with no real power at all. Just a fact.Replacing a well respected and extremely vocal, hard fighting progressive with a freshman out gay candidate won't do anything to fix the two issues that are holding up LGBT Rights.

Brian is smart, articulate, handsome, and has a wonderful story to share. He was a successful athlete, and he is a real inspiration to many. I like Brian a lot, and I think he would make a good representative. I just wish he would choose to do what he is doing and work to take out a GOP rep rather than a consistently hard working progressive.

Again, thanks for your comment!

Re: Will Brian Sims help or hinder LGBT progress in Pennsylvania?

Davepl1973 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:27:48 -0000

I'm not even sure who Brian Sims is but I commend any GLBT person who wants to work on my civil rights or who's willing to put themselves through a political campaign in the hopes of making things better in this state. I also know for certain that whatever he's doing, it HAS to be more helpful to PA's GLBT population that a badly written, badly editted, badly formulated argument that his race isn't important to gay civil rights. How about instead of trashing the idea of electing an openly GLBT assemblyperson, you spend half the amount of time supporting the idea. Seems likle he's doing something to help and you're just doing something to complain.

Re: A Partial Comparison of Corbett and Onorato for PA Governor

Palma — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:27:26 -0000

Really great to finally find a blog I can relate to. Just my kind of thing.

Re: cis

tcwaters — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:43:10 -0000

Here's a problem I have with this cis/trans issue. It is a binary, and so much of what I understand about trans and queer is that gender binaries are the problem, and not the solution. If a gender binary doesn't fit real people and real lives, why then try and apply another binary?

Re: Book Forward: Activist Book Club

tcwaters — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:12:35 -0000

Thanks for the comment Debbie! Your book is actually in my Kindle app on my iPad already! I noticed it at the same time I was looking for From ACT UP to the WTO, and downloaded it immediately.

I'm very interested in getting through it eventually, especially because I would start at the premise that emotions are not all that helpful, yet it I stop and remember what made ACT UP so powerful and successful... emotion was extremely important. So, I'm intrigued why my basic premise for today's activism seems misaligned with my own history.

In trying to compare today's efforts, like the Occupy movement as well as the more general movement for LGBT Equality with ACT UP and the fight against AIDS, I'm interested in seeing how identity creation played a role too. The connection, at least here in the US between Gay men and AIDS was an essential part of the momentum that started the ball rolling, as well as what cohesion existed within the Lesbian and Gay community. I wonder how, as the "community" has sought to be more inclusive, it has also hindered cohesion. It isn't really news to many that parts of the LGBTQ do not feel very included. Simply adding the letters doesn't equate to efforts to truly include.

I hope we see your book added to our reading list, and I would hope that you feel free to add your voice to the various discussions that begin here on thomascwaters.com. The virtual book club may turn out to be a bust, and in the end, it may be me writing about what I read. I hope that isn't the case, and others will join in, read along and add their commentary too. Please help spread the word.

Re: Book Forward: Activist Book Club

tcwaters — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:11:41 -0000

Re: Book Forward: Activist Book Club

Debbie Gould — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:40:37 -0000

I enjoyed From ACT UP to the WTO immensely. Please excuse my shameless self-promotion, but I want to draw your attention to a book about ACT UP that I wrote. It's called Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS and in it I explore AIDS activism from the start of the epidemic in 1981 through the mid-1990s, paying particular attention to shifts in that activism over time and the role that emotions played in those shifts. Themes I take up include political imaginaries and their conditions of possibility; the role of gay pride and gay shame in LGBT political responses to AIDS; ambivalence and activism; social movements as sites of world-making; the erotics, humor, and intensities of activism; solidarity and its fracturing; and political despair. Here's a url for more information: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/...

Thanks, Debbie Gould

Re: cis

Justin Gilmore — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:50:45 -0000

http://www.bilerico.com/2012/0...

Re: cis

Justin Gilmore — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:50:24 -0000

Stuff Cis People Say to Trans People

Re: cis

tcwaters — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:46:38 -0000

Thanks for adding to the dialogue!

Re: cis

Justin Gilmore — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:15:45 -0000

I thought this problem was solved long ago by people centric wording. Like: "a person is disabled", or "a man who is gay", or "a women who is transgendered", or "a man who is cisgendered".

In contrast to "I am a gay", "I am transgender", or "I am cisgendered" (The latter I will start using)

This is the way to make the difference between identifiers and identity clear.

Re: Changing the system without screwing the future.

OccupyTheVote — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:16:38 -0000

Great article. Keep up the good work!

Re: Is Gingrich anti-US Constitution?

Eugene Garner — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:54:24 -0000

Newt is a typical neocon who panders to anyone that offers him a buck for his vote. Totally morally and ethically bankrupt.

http://www.constitutionattacke...

http://www.ratifyconstitution....

Re: Can Christians “get” gay? (And does it matter?)

tcwaters — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:03:49 -0000

I also want to add this from the Wikipedia. I would encourage anyone who disagrees to consider leaving a comment to share why they feel as they do. More dialogue leads to more learning and understanding.

Surgery is usually used on intersexed babies to give function to the genitals or a more usual appearance. The surgery usually makes the baby look female, as this is less complicated. When they become adults, some people agree with this surgery as made their life easier when they were a child. However some people do not agree as they may not identify with the gender the doctor chose for them. Some people who had surgery to make them look female have a male gender identity. Some people who had surgery to make them look male have a female gender identity. Some surgery may cause loss of sensation or cause pain when they have sex. Some of these intersexual people want doctors to stop doing surgery on intersexed babies. If a baby has an intersex condition that can come with either gender identity, some doctors now say they should not do surgery early. They say they should wait until the baby is older, then the child, adult or teenager can tell doctors his or her gender identity.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wi...

Re: Can Christians “get” gay? (And does it matter?)

tcwaters — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:18:20 -0000

This was received as a comment but the Disqus system seems to have made it disappear. "Queerly" replied to my comment this:

This was meant as a reply to the Dr M person below, not you. Sorry about that. I don't know how it ended up up there.

I would reply that my request is the same either way. The doctor (??) has as much right as the next person to offer their opinion, which s/he did.

Re: Prop 8 and the voice of the people.

tcwaters — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:00:06 -0000

Saw this today, and it adds more details and ideas to the discussion.

http://www.prop8trialtracker.c...

Re: Can Christians “get” gay? (And does it matter?)

Queerly — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:34:07 -0000

This was meant as a reply to the Dr M person below, not you. Sorry about that. I don't know how it ended up up there.

Re: Can Christians “get” gay? (And does it matter?)

tcwaters — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:20:07 -0000

Can you please cite where and who is "pathologizing intersexuality"? You are free to offer your opinions, but kindly stop telling others what they should do. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and if you want to demonstrate why their opinion is misguided or wrong, add references and links that bring more information to the dialogue.

I would say however, that I am not sure that gay people who come out later in life demonstrates that orientation can be learned. For many, their orientation was clear to them, and they simply buried it, hid it or battled it. For some others social norms and rigid ideas about choice may have prevented a person from coming to understand their orientation. In fact the inability of Gand L's from truly becoming straight suggests that orientation can not be learned.

I'm interested in having more people talk about gender and fluidity. How are the notions of Gender, Sex, and Gender Roles connected, similar or different? Is Gender biological? Is Sex biological? Or are these social constructions?

Re: Can Christians “get” gay? (And does it matter?)

Queerly — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:20:10 -0000

Please stop pathologizing intersexuality and please stop using biological determinism as a sole means of describing human desire and behavior. Intersexed people are another sex, not a syndrome or disease. Sexual orientation CAN be learned (why do you think so many people live straight lives for so long and come out later) and sexual orientation as well as gender is fluid and can change throughout one's life without the need for head injury or biological change. You should know from your psychology classes (hell this is 101 shit) that all human behavior and so forth is from a combination of multiple things (genes, environment, etc) all interacting with each other.

Re: QUILTBAG and the 5 year plan

tcwaters — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:46:31 -0000

Thanks for your comment! I think you hit on something very important- that often there is an expectation or urgency to be able to label ourselves (or others??) and there are periods within many journeys, where a person may not know and may be "trying on" different labels to see which fit. Thanks for highlighting that.

The notion of "questioning one's sexuality" may be scary to some. Questioning can imply being open to the possibility that it isn't what it seems, and/or can seem to imply choice, when in reality, the process of coming to terms with our sexual orientation is a journey, not a decision.

Re: Can Christians “get” gay? (And does it matter?)

tcwaters — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:36:51 -0000

Thx for the comment. I'm not really sure how it directly relates to the post, but it is good info none the less.