Thomas Peters in surgery

Timothy Kincaid

August 13th, 2013

As many of you know, Thomas Peters, the Director of Communications for the National Organization for Marriage (theirs, not yours), was critically injured in a swimming accident about a month ago. I’ve followed his progress on a website set up by his family to notify those interested in Thomas’ progress. It has been slow with tiny milestones measured in hours off a respirator and ice chips eaten. I don’t think anyone expects a full recovery.

I know that Peters has been an active and vociferous opponent of equality and an enemy of the belief that one should treat others with the respect you would appreciate. Nevertheless, he is a fellow human undergoing a tragic circumstance, and I believe that the harm he has caused has, ironically, come from a desire to do good. I fight his activism, but I wish him well personally.

Today he went into surgery to remove a broken vertebra in his neck, insert a metal replacement, and fuse it to the adjoining vertebrae. This is a challenging situation and a great concern to those who love him. If you pray, please include Thomas Peters in your prayers today; if not, please send him best wishes.


[I will be limiting comments on this thread to those that are positive and supportive]

TampaZeke

August 13th, 2013

Best wishes and much metta.

Tina c

August 13th, 2013

Best wishes on the road to recovery.

Thanks for updating us.

Lindoro Almaviva

August 13th, 2013

Hope things change for the better Thomas. Lots of positive thought for you, your family and your wife.

codyj

August 13th, 2013

Heres good wishes for a speedy recovery,Thomas, altho Im a gay man,and an agnostic,and fully aware of your role in NOM, I’m truly saddened by your most unfortunate accident….Get Well Soon, Best Regards/Wishes….CodyJ

IT

August 13th, 2013

I’m glad to see you write this–it’s the right thing to do. Fortunately he’s young and fit and I hope he is getting the best care possible. Certainly we send him our best hopes and prayers for an uneventful surgery, and speedy (and hopefully, complete) recovery.

Hyhybt

August 13th, 2013

I hope Thomas Peters has a long and fulfilling life ahead of him. Thank you for filtering the comments; it’s shameful that such is even necessary.

TampaZeke

August 13th, 2013

Why can’t we do BOTH?

Why live in an either/or world when you can have both/and?

Bose in St. Peter MN

August 13th, 2013

Yeah, it’s been sobering to track his progress, and wish him and his family the best possible results during an incredible ordeal.

It has also struck me as a great testimony to the power of marriage to bring two extended families together. Glad that he and his wife have that support.

Chris Gable

August 13th, 2013

Our Episcopal Church parish, where 75% of members are gay people, is praying for Mr. Peters and his family in their time of need.

Chris Gable

August 13th, 2013

* We’re in Los Angeles.

Lindoro Almaviva

August 13th, 2013

Why can’t we do BOTH?

Because:

1. Some people do not feel it necessary to be gracious to those who work to destroy their lives. Some of us think it is the nice thing to do, because we would hope that others would do unto us, but some people see this as a pipe dream and hold a more realistic opinion that given the chance, Thomas would not be gracious with an LGBT individual who was similarly situated. That is just a fact, that line of thought is not right or wrong, it just exists and it is based on hard evidence; it is a fact of life.

2. SOME of those people discussed in number 1 have not learned that sites like this one are monitored by anti-gay pundits looking for evidence to support their victim claims. This means they lack a filter and they come here (as they have done in the past) and allow the worst of them to be witnessed by regulars, lurkers and monitors alike. Feeding the anti-gay monitors with succulent quotes to flame the “gay hates us and would kill us if they could” fantasy.

3. SOME of the people discussed in number 1 and 2 (not the same) see anyone trying to be gracious to someone they see as the enemy and instead of using the “live and let live” mantra, decide to argue and post challenges to those who just want be the nice person once because that is what they feel called for. This has turned the conversation into a debate on why would anyone send positive thoughts to the enemy and the such (not to mention religious challenges, etc, etc, etc); some devolving quite fast. We call for diversity, but there is very little tolerance for diversity of thought, even in the gay community.

Personally, I do not have a problem if the moderators say, This threat will be moderated and type X comments will be deleted. That gives us ALL the fair warning that if we do not agree with the commentary, then that specific threat is not the place to be that day; and instead email the moderators to voice our opinion/dissatisfaction.

Henri

August 13th, 2013

At least there is a teachable moment here. The singular of vertebrae is vertebra.

Timothy Kincaid

August 13th, 2013

Henri, yes it is. I fixed it.

I guess I’ve forgotten most of what I learned in Latin class some 37 or so years ago.

AdrianT

August 13th, 2013

My thoughts are with Thomas. I wish him the very best. Xxx

Larry

August 13th, 2013

Thanks for posting the update. I had forgotten that this happened. From the sound of it, things are going to be really tough for him. One serious issue with this kind of injury is the risk of pneumonia, since it sounds like he’s needing a respirator. The number of years he has remaining will depend a lot on whether or not he can breathe on his own. Christopher Reeve managed to go 9 years after his injury. I’ll pray for this kiddo.

kokas

August 13th, 2013

“We call for diversity, but there is very little tolerance for diversity of thought, even in the gay community”.

Indeed, my comment wasn’t even disrespectful or offensive and it got deleted. I don’t wish Mr Peters any harm, I was just asking why should people send condolences to an anti-gay activist when so many others are in similar situations or worse. Is is possible that some of you actually believe that gestures of good faith can change these people’s minds?? Whatever, not my problem.

Mr Peters, have a speedy recovery!

Lindoro Almaviva

August 13th, 2013

I was just asking why should people send condolences to an anti-gay activist when so many others are in similar situations or worse.

well, your question is easily answered:

[I will be limiting comments on this thread to those that are positive and supportive]

To me, this reads Anyone who wants to send a get well message, by all means. If you have to question even the validity of this gesture, this is not the threat for you. Did you take a moment to see the threat for when he was critically injured?

And lastly, if you have to question the validity of the gesture, I would not be the one hanging to the tolerance banner. and i will leave it at that.

Dan

August 13th, 2013

Lindoro, the word you’re looking for is thread, not threat.

Lindoro Almaviva

August 13th, 2013

Thank you! I try not to use this excuse too often, but English is not my first language

TomTallis

August 14th, 2013

My hope for Thomas Peters is that this horrible experience teaches him humility and a willingness to live and let live.

Preston

August 14th, 2013

All life is precious and fragile. There are times when I need to celebrate our commonalities rather than differences. This is one of those times. Sincere wishes for recovery.

Timothy Kincaid

August 14th, 2013

For those who may have missed this the first time around:

[I will be limiting comments on this thread to those that are positive and supportive]

We rarely do this, but this is one such time. If you have other comments, there are other threads on which to make them.

Dan

August 14th, 2013

I wish Thomas Peters all the benefits that prayer has to offer!

TampaZeke

August 14th, 2013

Lindoro, I think the comment I responded to with “Why can’t we do both” was deleted so my comment might be misinterpreted or misunderstood. I was saying why can’t we have compassion, and give well wishes for recovery, for the victim of a gay bashing AND a person who has declared war on the gay community? Wishing that someone recovers from a tragic accident is entirely different from endorsing their agenda.

Lindoro, I don’t wish Mr. Peters well because I think he would do the same for me. I wish him well because I place our common humanity ahead of our philosophical differences. I hope that someday he may be able to do the same and become an ally rather than an enemy. Stranger things have happened and they often happen after such traumatic events. Even Paul had his “road to Damascus” experience according to the Christians’ holy book. I don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the metaphor.

typical

August 15th, 2013

Timothy, are there any updates? I feel horrible about this…really so sad for a vital young man to be cut down like this…

Timothy Kincaid

August 16th, 2013

typical,

It appears that surgery went well and he’s being weaned off of the respirator. Now he’s in the long hard slog of physical therapy to regain movement and muscle control.

Hyhybt

August 19th, 2013

^Thanks for the update.

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