Peter's Place

It's not often that I write movie or book reviews, and for good reason: I struggle to come up with meaningful insight that portrays the essence of the medium, and my thoughts and feelings about it, without giving away any spoilers. I was asked to review a new, independent film made by friends of a friend, and I reluctantly agreed. It has taken me over two weeks to put my thoughts together because I honestly didn't know where to start. The film completely blew me away, in pretty much every aspect. There is just so much I want to say about it ... but I found it difficult to start because I didn't know which of the myriad thoughts floating around in my mind should be brought up first. I also worried about how I could do justice to such an important work of art that does what all great artistic masterpieces do best: provoke and trigger public discourse. To review the film, I was given a private link where it is hosted on a password-protected server—and no, I'm not giv...

In 1985, +Bernie Sanders , then mayor of the City of Burlington , Vermont, granted protections to its citizens, including LGBTQ persons . This bold move was deemed to be political suicide and the end of his career in politics. But it wasn't the first time Sanders has supported LGBTQ rights. His 1970 letter advocating the repeal of laws against "deviant behavior" implies support for marriage equality Sanders's support for civil rights and of LGBTQ communities extends to the beginning of his career . Unlike others, he never had to "evolve" on his positions to support basic human and civil rights; it has been a part of his basic code of morals and philosophies from the moment his work in activism , civil rights , social justice , and ultimately, his career in politics , began. There are few individuals even in our own community who were fighting for LGBTQ equality in 1970 -- the risk for prosecution of homosexuality and imprisonment was far ...