“Gods don’t kill people. People with gods kill people.”
– Kate Clinton
Subscribe to Kate’s newsletter for a quarterly dose of erudite activism: Outspoken Activist and Organization Of The Month, and an update on progressive books and blogs Kate recommends.
Share your witty activism stories in the HA (Humor Activism) Corner!
Kate’s Articles, Essays, & Editorials
- Finding Peace in My Head – The Progressive – 12/1/17
- Masterpiece Cakeshop Theater- The Washington Blade 11/30/17
- Halloween? I Can Take It or Leave It- The Washington Blade- 10/27/17
- A Life in the Family – The Progressive – 9/1/17
- Our national needle is stuck in chaos – The Washington Blade- 8/31/17
- The Great American Eclipse- The Washington Blade- 7/28/17
- Bi-Monthly – The Progressive- 6/26/17
- Chris Hayes’s Book for the Times- The Progressive- 6/1/17
- Knock Knock. Who’s there? I hope you are – The Washington Blade- 5/25/17
- Day #100- The Washington Blade- 4/27/17
- America Held Hostage- The Washington Blade- 3/30/2017
- Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Warned- The Washington Blade- 2-24-2017
- Resisterhood is Powerful- The Washington Blade- 1/26/2017
- Coping with Post-Trump Stress Disorder- The Washington Blade- 11/23/16
- The lesbian plot to elect Hillary- The Washington Blade- 10/27/16
- Medicare and Me- The Progressive- 2/1/16
- Suffering from Election Stress Disorder- The Washington Blade- 9/28/16
- Ptown Swoons for Hillary and Cher- The Washington Blade- 8/28/16
- Postcards from Provincetown- The Washington Blade – 7/27/16
- Watch, Wince, Spin, Repeat- The Washington Blade- 6/23/16
- Good old days of political disagreement- The Washington Blade- 5/27/16
- Beyond Bathrooms- The Progressive- 5/1/16
- What caused lesbian extinction?- The Washington Blade- 4/30/16
- FOR THE LOVE OF MERCY- The Progressive- 4/1/16
- This election has jumped the shark- The Washington Blade- 3/28/16
- ‘Inside Out’ is my Oscar pick this year- The Washington Blade- 2/28/16
- There’s a lot to scream about these days- The Washington Blade- 1/28/16
- Dictionary publisher’s non-word of the year- The Washington Blade- 12/21/15
- Medicare and Me- The Progressive- December 2015
- An awkward Thanksgiving for Bush family – The Washington Blade- 11/15
- Enough about Hillary’s emails, please!- Washington Blade 10/15
- WHAT’S FOR DINNER IN SILICON VALLEY- The Progressive- 7/1-8/31/15
- Trevor Noah Show Arc- The Progressive- 5/1-6/30/15
- Gay Days- The Washington Blade- 9/2015
- Ready for this effing summer to end- The Washington Blade- 8/2015
- Wedding bells breaking up that old gang of mine – The Washington Blade- 7/2015
- Racism, homophobia and the World Cup- The Washington Blade- 6/2015
- My Perennial Dilemma- The New York Times- 6/2015
- Time to break straight, white male hold on late-night TV – The Washington Blade – 5/2015
- Our 2016 Game of Thrones Election – The Washington Blade- 4/2015
- 2016 race needs a Sincerity Detector – The Washington Blade- 3/2015
- Post Traumatic Snow Disorder- The Progressive- 2/2015
- Despite progress, plenty of politicos still hate our guts- The Washington Blade- 2/25/15
- Trans movement is next generation of code breakers – The Washington Blade- 1-29-15
- Trolling for comic material in 2015’s headlines – The Washington Blade- 1/8/15
- TV’s hit shows could use a dose of lesbian – The Washington Blade- 11-28-14
- Is This Pope Catholic?- The Washington Blade- 11/5/14
- In cancer fight, less pink and more punk – The Washington Blade- 9/30/14
- The Power Of Adult Allies- The Washington Blade- 8/27/14
- Comedy's Crass Ceiling- The Progressive- 4/1/14
- I Didn't Inhale- The Progressive- 6/1/14
- What's In Your Wallet- The Washington Blade- 3/28/14
- Pussy Riot Wins The Gold For Bravery- The Washington Blade- 2/24/14
- TITLE LXIX- The Washington Blade- 1/28/14
- The Shit-Fit Bit – The Washington Blade- 7/28/14
- Racism, homophobia and the World Cup- The Washington Blade- 6/24/14
- Nostalgic for the lesbians of 1975-85- The Washington Blade- 5/29/14
- Finding Community in Monthly Book Group- The Washington Blade- 4/30/14
- Kathleen Sebelius' LGBT legacy- Huffington Post- 4/14 – Sean Cahill, PH. D.
- Red, White and Pink- 2/1/14
- Thankful for my gal’s health on Thanksgivukkah- The Washington Blade- 11/23/13
- Putin Protests Too Much-Progressive- 11/1/13
- Even after two weeks, I still feel shut down- The Washington Blade- 10/23/13
- The Pope’s kinder, gentler Catholic Church- The Washington Blade- 9/25/13
- Lesbian Limbo – Progressive – 6/13
- The Class of Edie Windsor – The Washington Blade – 7/22/13
- What will become of the ex-ex-gays? – The Washington Blade – 6/24/13
- Republican zombies just won’t die – The Washington Blade – 5/20/13
- Early disappointments from new pope – The Washington Blade – 4/22/13
- Heightened Scrutiny – The Washington Blade – 3/25/13
- Vote for a Quinn-t-essential lesbian- The Washington Blade- 9/5/13
- Pins and Needles-The Progressive-5/13
- War at 10 Years: Read it and weep- 3/20/13
- What I Learned From My Dad- The Progressive- 2/13
- A LOVELY CHRISTMAS GIFT- The Progressive 12/12-1/13
- The End Of Science- The Progressive-10/1/12
- The Gender Games -The Progressive – 6/12/12
- THE ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION (ED) SHOW – 3/12
- The People Are Too Big To Fail from Penny Rosenwasser, CA Activist – 11/11
- Men Behaving Badly-The Progressive-9/1/11
- The LGBT Party-The Progressive-7/1/11
- Coming to Our Census-The Progressive- 5/1/2011
- The Chief- The Progressive 3/14/2011
- The Glee Party- The Progressive- 2/12/11
- The Job of Laughter – The Progressive- 11/5/10
- Kagan’s L Test- The Progressive 5/21/10
- Calumny’s Culmination- The Progressive 3/24/10
- UP IN THE AIR- The Progressive- 3/20/10
- E-nough Already – The Progressive, 12/14/2009
- Unmarried States – The Progressive, 7/14/2009
- Good Omens – The Progressive, 4/20/2009
- Economy in Detox – The Progressive, 1/30/2009
- The New Mortal Sins – The Progressive, 6/10/2008
- The Unconflicted White Man – The Progressive, 3/13/2008
- Bush as Belichick – The Progressive, 1/17/2008
- Women of my year: They called us Senator, Madame Speaker, and nappy-headed ho. – The Advocate, 12/21/2007
- 2007 Holiday Books – The Progressive, 12/14/2007
- Rudimentary – Women’s Review of Books, 11/14/2007
- Hypocrites Galore – The Progressive, 9/24/2007
- Friends of Bill and Dorothy – The Advocate, 8/16/2007
- B is for Benchmark – The Progressive, 7/19/2007
- Just Rehab Those Slurs Away! – The Advocate, 3/27/2007
- The Body Politic – The Progressive, 3/02/2007
- Happy Returns – The Progressive, 1/19/2007
- Desperate House Wiles – The Advocate, 12/20/2006
- Holiday Books 2006 – The Progressive, 12/20/2006
- The U.N. Goes to Junior High – The Progressive, 11/20/2006
- Not Full Citizens – The Progressive, 10/23/2006
- Peace of My Mind – The Advocate, 10/23/2006
- The Last Time I Saw Eric – The Advocate, 9/20/2006
- King of My Heart – The Advocate, 7/18/2006
- He-Who – The Progressive, 6/29/2006
- Three Chances? – The Advocate, 4/29/2006
- MashUps and Me – The Advocate, 3/30/2006
- Reading Between the Holy Lines – The Progressive, 3/14/2006
- An American Impressionist – The Advocate, 2/28/2006
- Hikikomori – The Progressive, 2/28/2006
- Why You’ll Never Hear, “Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Katey!” – Women’s Review of Books, 2/28/2006
- Women of the Year – The Progressive, 12/30/2005
- The Passion of the Penguins – The Progressive, 10/30/2005
- Intelligent Design for Dummies – The Advocate, 10/30/2005
- We’re Back in Kansas, Toto – The Progressive, 8/30/2005
- I Want My Gay TV – The Progressive, 7/30/2005
- The Sistine Shusher – The Advocate, 7/30/2005
- Feeling Potlucky – The Advocate, 6/30/2005
- Why Not Hillary? – The Progressive, 3/30/2005
- Weird Science – The Advocate, 3/30/2005
- The Freedom to Mary Cheney – 1/30/2005
- Darling, We’re Still Divine – The Advocate, 12/30/2004
- Extreme Makeover – The Progressive, 11/30/2004
- Whoopi Caution – The Progressive, 9/30/2004
- Let’s Hear It For the Boys – 9/28/2004
- Call Me the Irreverend – The Advocate, 6/30/2004
- Miss Marriage Suggests – The Advocate, 6/20/2004
- Wedded to the Republicans – The Progressive, 5/30/2004
- What the L? – The Progressive, 2/28/2004
- Mad Vow Disease, Part II – The Progressive, 12/30/2003
- Bless You, Father – The Advocate, 12/30/2003
- Men Behaving Badly – The Progressive, 11/30/2003
- It’s Not the Heat, it’s the Vapidity – The Advocate, 9/30/2003
- Cuture War Bride – The Progressive, 7/30/2003
- Chick Chick Hooray! – The Advocate, 6/30/2003
- Weapons of Mass Distraction – The Progressive, 6/30/2003
- As Long As It Takes – The Progressive, 5/30/2003
- Emergency Preparedness – The Advocate, 5/30/2003
- Up to Code – The Progressive, 1/30/2003
- Flying Fickle Finger of Fate – The Advocate, 12/30/2002
- Regimen Change – The Progressive, 11/30/2002
- Lesbians Love Liberty – The Advocate, 9/30/2002
- Hormoneland Security – The Progressive, 8/30/2002
- Veiled Threats – The Progressive, 7/30/2002
- A Pain in the Apse – The Advocate, 6/30/2002
- Juggernaut George – The Progressive, 5/30/2002
- Doing a W-Take – The Advocate, 4/30/2002
- All the President’s Women – The Progressive, 3/30/2002
- The Gay Crawl – The Advocate, 3/30/2002
- The Dust Bin of History – The Progressive, 12/30/2001
- Holiday 2001 Books – The Progressive, 12/30/2001
- The Firefighter Next Door – The Progressive, 11/30/2001
- Lay Off Bush – The Advocate, 11/30/2001
- Really Six Feet Under – The Advocate, 9/30/2001
- How I Spent My Summer Tax Rebate Check – The Progressive, 8/30/2001
- Pride?! You’re Kidding. – The Advocate, 6/30/2001
- The Big Dirt Nap Lottery – The Progressive, 6/30/2001
- Surrender, Lauras – The Progressive, 4/30/2001
- Scary Monsters – 3/30/2001
- The Charm Offensive – The Progressive, 3/30/2001
- The Rush to Crown George Duh – The Progressive, 3/30/2001
- Being John Ashcroft – The Advocate, 3/30/2001
- Let’s Go To the Skepticam – 9/30/2000
- Gay Vague – The Advocate, 9/30/2000
- My Passage to India – 7/30/2000
- The Broad in Broadband – 6/30/2000
- It’s Not the Heat… – 5/30/2000
- Available for NYC mayor… – 5/30/2000
- Doing Kosovo – 4/30/2000
- Listomania – 4/30/2000
- Alternative Family Week – 3/30/2000
- My Comic Mom – 2/28/2000
- My Christmas List – 11/30/1999
- The Kennys – 11/30/1999
Joanne Costanza
August 6, 2012 @ 5:31 am
Hi Kate,
We need some consciousness raising about the women’s “uniforms” at the olympics.
Sexualized for women, reasonable covering for men.
The children/girls/young women on the gymnastics team are being exploited in order to get more viewers and have the advertisers make more money.
How many families would have their 14 yr olds wear a high cut leotard and perform their often spread leg routines in their living room for their friends? They wouldn’t allow it … but we’ve been conditioned slowly to accept more and more exposure for our women athletes.
I think that the rules for the uniforms have a maximum coverage limit rather than a minimum coverage limit !
It’s not just the the gymnasts … it’s also track and field … and of course beach volleyball.
If you’ll notice, the men wear pants!
You could make it funny and enlightening too.
Thank you for staying so clearly aware of the politics of exploitation for so many years and never selling-out. And thank you for being sooooo funny!
The appreciation extends to Urvashi too! Both of you are the best.