Carter Sickels

Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships & Identity Carter Sickels

Commendation Quotes: "Moving and heartfelt, "Untangling the Knot" is a validating reality check for every queer activist who has been pushed to the margins for challenging the tidy and normalized sound bites about marriage. Talented storytellers with remarkably diverse identities and perspectives are reclaiming the pressing issues that have been masked by mainstream marriage fever." Abigail Garner, author of "Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is""Biographical Note: Carter Sickels is the author of the novel "The Evening Hour," a finalist for the 2013 Oregon Book Award, the Lambda Literary Debut Fiction Award, and the Publishing Triangle Debut Fiction Award. He is the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award, a project grant from RACC, and an NEA Fellowship to the Hambidge Center for the Arts. His short stories and literary essays have appeared in a broad range of periodicals and anthologies, from "Appalachian Heritage" to "The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard." He s been awarded fellowships or scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers Conference, the Sewanee Writers Conference, the MacDowell Colony, and VCCA. He teaches in low-residency MFA programs at West Virginia Wesleyan University and Eastern Oregon University. He lives in Portland, Oregon."Description for Sales People: Marketing highlights: Includes personal essays by writers that represent a diverse range of the LGBTQ community. This anthology discusses the many issues faced by the LGBTQ community that are not addressed by the mainstream discourse surrounding marriage equality. Unlike many similar titles, this anthology raises the issue of how decades of oppression have lead the LGBTQ community to define relationships in a way entirely separate from mainstream culture, and the fact that marriage equality may redefine these structures in negative ways. As the movement for marriage equality continues to gain momentum, this discussion of overlooked LGBTQ rights and issues is timely. Comparable titles demonstrate that the market for this book is trending upward. This will be the first anthology to give light to the issues outside of the marriage equality movement, and seeks to expand the limited language used to discuss the rights of the LGBTQ community. Table of Contents: Introduction Carter Sickels We Are Not Like Everyone Else Ben Anderson-Nathe Explores the complexities of family forms and the failure of marriage as a construct to address these forms. Holding Hands in Pocatello Pamela Helberg Explains how marriage equality will not mean an end to internalized shame that results from external prejudice. Televised Emanuel Xavier A call to remember the Stonewall Revolution and the impoverished in the LGBT community, a group largely ignored within the marriage equality movement. We Were a Pretty Picture Ariel Gore Discusses the failure of marriage, family court, and other institutions to address global concerns within the queer community. Marriage Throws a Monkey Wrench Jeanne Cordova Acknowledges the current power of marriage in our society, but questions the legitimacy of that power, and explores her concerns that winning or losing the centralized issue of the right to marry will nullify the progress of the LGBTQ movement. Changing My Mind Francesca Royster Discusses the powerful effect that her parents' divorce had on her understanding of relationships and marriage, and how her acceptance of self and coming out led to a loving relationship and the adoption of her daughter. The Days of Emerald City Casey Plett Explores the difficulties of navigating identity and established relationships while transitioning. Erasure Trish Bendix Describes the refusal of her wife's relatives to acknowledge her as a part of their family. So Much More than Paperwork Chelsea A. Rice Deals with the difficulty of proving her partnership in a state that has no marriage equality or domestic partnerships while she struggles with bladder cancer. Sakura, Ayame and a Cotton Judogi Ryka Aoki Discusses how marriage equality will not heal the brokenness of those in the queer community who have been traumatized. The Boys Club Tucker Garcia The story of a moment when the author is confronted with the lack of acceptance he faces due to his identity. Allegiance Fabian Romero Explains their personal rejection of marriage in light of colonization, assimilation, exclusivity, and the more pressing social concerns of the LBTBQIA community. Six Point Win Penny Guisinger Highlights the ways in which marriage laws, though critical, do little to address the issues faced by LGBT individuals living in communities that are not accepting, regardless of the legal status of relationships. Be De Pride Minh Pham Candid writing about being part of the Vietnamese American community and gay. Wedding Bells Joseph DeFelippis Addresses the reality that many LGBT families are threatened rather than serviced by marriage equality laws by detailing several nontraditional family structures that will not only fail to be recognized by marriage equality, but face eradication. We Have Cancer Meg Stone The author reflects about the advancement of status and rights for those married under equality laws while working through the struggle as her partner fights cancer. A Diagram of My Family BR Sanders Discusses the inability of the term "marriage" to encompass non-binary family structures. Shaping Bronx Queer Activism Charles Rice-Gonzalez Explores the early momentum of the marriage equality movement, and how many members of the LGBTQ community felt it was one small issue that did little to address the major, core issues that they faced in day-to-day lives of LGBTQ individuals. On Marriage Equality Jackson and Kristopher Schultz Discusses the paradox of needing the legal protection provided by domestic partnership or marriage and their personal rejection of the institution, as well as why they consider the LGBTQ community's focus on marriage misplaced. The Empire Builder A. M. O'Malley The author's story about her train ride from the Midwest to a new life with her girlfriend in Oregon underscores the means by which members of the LGBTQ community have long created families of their own absent societal expectations or legalities. Unequal Wedding Regina Sewell Addresses the difference between marriage equality and genuine, cultural equality, and states that marriage laws will not and do not mean an end to prejudice. In a Small Town Everett Maroon Addresses many issues, including LGBTQ youth homelessness and health care for the transgendered. Beyond Having Sailor Holladay Explains that marriage may not only be undesirable, but also beyond the reach of many LGBTQ individuals. The piece explores other domestic arrangements that may be more fulfilling and less exclusionary. When Outlaws Marry Judith Barrington Discusses her own marriage and her ambiguous feelings about the institution, as well as her fears that younger generations will fail to remember the cost of achieving marriage equality. Turbo Mel Wells Deals with the strain of growing up in a highly religious community that voiced condemnation of homosexuality and the search for true identity and an accepting community. "Commendation Quotes: "This book's mix of viewpoints demonstrates the complexity of the defining struggle of gay rights in our time, showing that gay marriage is not the monolith that political expedience often makes it seem. These writers speak with passion about love, law, loss, generational differences, and identity. This is an urgent and timely book. " Andrew Solomon, author of "Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity" and "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression""Commendation Quotes: "There is no denying the debate surrounding marriage equality and what it means for LGBTQ families is complex and layered with varying interpretations. "Untangling the Knot" shares with readers diverse voices and views of how marriage both helps and hinders the LGBTQ civil rights movement." Ryan K. Sallans, author of "Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Life and Love""Commendation Quotes: ""Untangling the Knot" is a valuable contribution not only to discussions of same-sex marriage but also to debates about priorities for the LGBTQ movement and indeed for all movements for social change. The collection is a joy to read and fruitful to contemplate." - Amy Hoffman, author of "Lies About My Family" and editor in chief of "Women s Review of Books""Review Quotes: "Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships and Identity" assembles pieces from diverse contributors, college professors and blue-collar workers, some established writers and some never before published. Edited by Carter Sickels ("The Evening Hour"), these extremely sharp essays offer a startling array of perspectives on the fight for same-sex marriage in the United States, rendering a deceptively simple concept--that the needs of the LGBTQ community range far beyond marriage--fully and feelingly. Published as the Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments about same-sex marriage on a nationwide level, Untangling the Knot is profoundly eye opening, even for readers well informed on the subject. Essays cover the reasons why marriage is important to some members of LGBTQ communities, addressing questions of medical decision-making, finances and insurance, child rearing, equality. Others protest what Ben Anderson-Nathe calls a "rhetoric of sameness": the argument for marriage rights based on the idea that queer families are just like straight ones. Jeanne Cordova illustrates why choosing a single issue is damning for a movement. Joseph Nicholas DeFilippis writes that the continuing assumption that marriage is the highest form of family does a disservice bigger than the queer community, affecting straight people as well. Several contributors argue against legal rights, benefits and protections being tied to marriage at all. Some suggest better uses for organizational resources: homelessness, health care, anti-discrimination, and aid to trans people, the poor and queer people of color. With Sickels's synthesizing introduction, these sympathetic, well-informed essays show that the fight for same-sex marriage is deeply complex and only one issue in the fight for inclusiveness and equality.--Julia Jenkins "Shelf Awareness " Review Citations: Shelf Awareness 03/03/2015 (EAN 9781932010756, Paperback) Contributor Bio:  Sickels, Carter Carter Sickels is the author of the novel "The Evening Hour". He is the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award, a project grant from RACC, and an NEA Fellowship to the Hambidge Center for the Arts. His short stories and literary essays have appeared in a broad range of periodicals and anthologies, from "Appalachian Heritage" to "The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard". He lives in Portland, Oregon