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 honor of National Coming Out Day , I'm going to re-tell my own, personal coming out story. But before I do so, there are a few things we must address. First, coming out is not an event. Rather, it is a process. It is something that anyone who is part of the LGBTQQIAA2S ( please don't ask me what that means ) spectrum goes through every moment of our lives, once the process has started. For some, the process never goes very far; they live their entire lives in the closet. But that's another issue for another day. It is a process that must be repeated every time an LGBTQQIAA2S (oh screw it, I'll just use the universal "gay" to refer to this spectrum—that acronym is just too damned difficult to type) person meets someone. It is repeated every time we approach a new situation, a new person, a new location, a new job, a new...well, you get the idea. For some, the process may get easier over time. For others, it may become more difficult. For still othe...

Senator Bernie Sanders, a 2016 US Presidential Candidate, speaks with a reporter about the historic visit by Pope Francis to the USA in September 2015.

Bernie Sanders Interviewed by The Des Moines Register Editorial Board It should come as little surprise to people who know me that I am throwing my support behind United States Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is running on the Democratic ticket for President of the United States of America in 2016. As a Progressive Republican (f/k/a Lincoln / Hayes / Roosevelt / Eisenhower /  Rockefeller Republican ), I agree with Bernie on most of his views. More than that, Bernie is as sincere, authentic, and honest an elected official (aka politician) there ever was. In fact, not only is Sanders sincere, authentic, and honest but he has a decades-long track record that we can examine that goes back over four decades. He has been fighting for the same issues for over forty years. He has been advocating for the middle class for nearly half a century. And he has been fighting for civil and human rights for over half a century -- since he was a young student at university. ...

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 ...

I was having a discussion with an older gentleman in my friend's hair salon yesterday, while I getting my hair done ( the salon is owned by my friend, and as we barter for services I don't pay anything out of pocket). The essence of the conversation revolved around the political crisis that we're facing. We discussed some of the possible reasons that we've managed to sink into such a time of extreme crisis: the vast majority of people in this country (the USA) do not want to know what's going on in the world or in this nation, unless it's something they don't have to think about. In other words, they just want to kick back, pop open a brewskie, and be entertained. They do not  want to think about and/or deal with real-world issues—something they leave to the realm of their employment (should they be one of the 37% in this nation who are gainfully employed). I posti that a very large part of this mentality is due to the fact that we have no real news c...

I just e-mailed the following letter to Pastor Hamlin, at pastor@greenbeltucc.org, with a cc: to the Miss Greenbelt Pageant organizers, at natasha@missgreenbelt.com, christine@missgreenbelt.com (they list no other contact information on their web site, at  http://www.missgreenbelt.com/  ) * * * Dear Pastor Hamlin: I write to you because you are listed as a supporter of the Miss Greenbelt Pageants . As a church and religious organization with clear pro-marriage equality stances , I would like to know why you are supporting this clearly anti-LGBT organization and one of its start spokespersons, Little Miss Greenbelt, Sarah Crank. A few days ago, 14-year old Little Miss Greenbelt, Sarah Crank, who is home-schooled by her very anti-LGBTQ Concerned Women for America lobbyist mother,  told the Maryland state legislature , and I quote, " It would be the best birthday present ever if you would vote no on gay marriage ." and " People have the choice to be gay, but...

{EAV_BLOG_VER:50d9bce121877b1b} [EDIT 4 June 2011: Please ignore the first line of this post; I'm having to do some technical stuff with which you need not be concerned...] I just faxed the following letter to the management company of the apartment building I've been living in for almost six months now: I write to advise you of an incident that just occurred at my apartment door. Approximately 15 minutes ago at around 2:45 a.m., a woman began banging on my door almost to the point of knocking it down. She complained that I was making too much noise. For the first time since I moved into my apartment XX at XXX, a friend came over to help me unpack. As you are aware, I previously have been unable to unpack because the movers stacked everything from my previous apartment to the point where I was physically unable to move anything, due to my physical handicaps. The woman complained that she’s sick and tired of me sliding things around back and forth and moving things aro...

For the past month, I have been performing various functions as a consultant for Marriage Equality New York (MENY) with respect to their 13th Annual Gala . It feels good to be doing activist and advocacy work again, and also to be working on a project. What I didn't expect to find was an amazing individual, whom MENY will be honoring at its signature event of the year: Edith "Edie" Windsor . What does this have to do with the fiscal argument for marriage equality, you might be asking yourself? Quite a bit, actually. Part of what I'm doing for MENY and its gala is something I do best: information gathering. In seeking out information about one of its honorees at the event (Edie), I came across the complaint she filed in federal court ( Southern District of New York ), challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA ). You see, Edie has had to pay over $360,000 in estate taxes to continue living in the very same home that she and her l...

So the gay community is up in arms over a soundbite provided by Kelly James, Ph.D., who is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Winthrop University and who serves as faculty advisor for GLoBAL, Winthrop University's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Ally League. Apparently, so much so that she's receiving hate mail. It's more unfortunate that people are riled to such levels as they are unable to conduct a civil discourse. If one takes the time to read articles instead of just headlines, one would find out that Professor James is the bloody faculty advisor for the gay group on campus. So, while her concerns are real and her heart is in the right place, unfortunately, her mind hasn't followed suit.  Quoth she, in whole , But, my first thought was that, "I've got to let my students know" so that when they are out and about in Rock hill that they, you know, act straight, And that’s a sad lesson in 2011 to be teaching young people. I m...

I know I don't usually start off a blog post with a video (those who have been following my blog for a while know it's something I might end a post with, but not start one...) however, this is too important, and too moving, to not put up front. I'm not a vlogger . I just don't think I do well in video. But I do think I have a fairly decent command of the written word, and I've used that as my medium for quite some time. As someone who's been online in one form or another since the 1980s (that's before  the Internet was open to the public), I've used my powers of persuasive writing to advocate for a number of things—such as politics, the environment, and yes, for gay rights. “In my own unassuming way, I know I can make a difference. You can as well.” ~ Kinsey Millhone . Often, one of the questions posed to me, as a blogger, is, “Why do you blog?” I just finished reading T is for Trespass , the latest (as of this writing) released book in Sue Graft...