Michael Peterson, Netflix, The Staircase and the LGBT Angle
The Staircase on Netflix is one of those real life crime dramas, and I didn’t expect to find anything LGBT related when I started watching. In fact, this isn’t even my favorite genre and I only started watching because there was nothing else on that night. However, I soon found out there is an LGBT angle, and it’s important to the entire theme of the series.
Here’s a brief description from Wiki:
It’s a fascinating crime series that had me hooked the instant I started the first episode…for many reasons. I won’t give out any spoilers, but by the time I was finished watching I was stunned. Stunned at the way the process works…or doesn’t work.
The LGBT angle alone made me wonder. Michael Peterson who was on trial for allegedly murdering his wife was a discreet bisexual and he had associations (for lack of a better word) with other men. The defense attorney made an interesting comment, one that I was thinking as I was watching. If Michael Peterson had been involved with other women instead of men, and his sexual associations outside of his marriage had been heterosexual, would he have been treated the same way? Was he treated differently because he was bisexual?
I think he was treated differently. After I listened to the final statements and the homophobic rants of one woman prosecutor, I’m certain his bisexuality made a difference. This also happened back in the early 2000s and the world was still a very different place. Let me put it this way. If I were wrongly accused of doing something and the people on THAT jury held my fate in their hands, as an openly gay man I would be very, very worried.
Overall, the topic of Michael Peterson’s bisexuality was handled very well by his wonderful family and his attorneys. But the way everyone else reacted to finding out that Michael Peterson was bisexual was often hard to watch. Several actually reacted with disdain and shame in the most obvious homophobic ways possible. You could almost feel one or two cringe.
If you haven’t watched anything like this before I highly suggest you check it out. The LGBT angle alone is worth watching. There’s also an episode where a discreet male escort who was associated with Peterson is forced to take the stand in court, and he’s very interesting to watch. The whole thing turned the escort’s life upside down for a while.
You can read more at the link above, and here’s a link to the Netflix page.
A Dad Defending His Gay Son
I’m always interested in stories like this because they often mimic what I’m writing at any given time. As it happens, I’m working on a novel right now where the focus is on how the straight dad relates to his gay son, and how protective the dad feels toward his gay son. That’s not something that’s explored often. There’s usually an awkward relationship between a straight dad and a gay son, but I think that’s changing.
This one is about a dad defending his gay son in the best way I’ve seen so far…
Here’s the rest. There are some excellent photos, too.
Mr. Kluge’s Anti-LGBT Religious Beliefs
This happened in Indiana of all places. Mr. Kluge is a school teacher and according to this article he’s claiming he was forced to resign because he flatly refused to refer to a trans student with the trans student’s preferred name. Mr. Kluge claims it goes against his religious beliefs. But the whole story is a little more complicated and I think it’s important to watch the video, too.
Here’s a comment from trans student, Aidyn Sucec…
‘Everybody advocating in support for Kluge needs to think about what is like to be a transgender person and what it is like to live your life knowing that there are people that would say that you are not an actual human being and actively disrespect you,’ said trans student Aidyn Sucec.
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‘I think that Mr. Kluge’s religious beliefs have absolutely no place in a public high school,’ Sucec said. ‘I think what he believes is morally just conflicts [sic] with what not only I believe, what my parents believe, what my psychiatrist, therapist, and doctor believe and the school board believe are morally just.’
Here’s more.
