Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Via Daily Kos: This One Picture Will REALLY Piss Off Florida Winguts


First gay couple in Florida to legally wed.   A Sheriff's deputy (in uniform) to a former Marine.

On this blessed day, allow me to be the first to say:  In your fat FACE Pam Bondi!

 photo rUSp2EU_zps693ea459.jpg
Congratulations are in order:
Detective David Currie, 50, and his now-husband Aaron Woodard, 33, tied the knot shortly after midnight on Tuesday, when the state legalized gay marriage. And after requesting permission from his superiors, Currie walked down the registry aisle with full support of the Broward County Sheriff's to wed in uniform.
Does this disgust you, wingnut?  Don't you support our cops/troops??  Why do you hate police officers??
  Kudos to Scott Israel, Broward County Sheriff, for saying it was a "great thing" that the detective was proud enough of his agency to want to marry in his uniform.  

We have finally turned a corner in this state.  We went from rampant homophobia (perfectly encapsulated by former governor Jeb Bush's rant comparing gays to pedophiles and drunk drivers) to now seeing statewide support for marriage equality.

Marco Rubio and other backwards politicians are pushing Florida AG PamBo to continue to fight this already lost battle to the US Supreme Court, even though they recently shredded her last minute plea for an injunction.  PamBo tried to argue that marriage was meant only for couples who planned to breed and provide "enduring family relationships".

This coming from a childless, twice-divorced adulterer who currently has a "living in sin" arrangement with her boyfriend.  
Oh, and the happy couple shown here?  They are foster-parent certified and plan to raise children!  (Gay adoption has been legal in Florida since 2010, when then-AG Bill McCollum's leading "expert" he paid to fight it turned out to have a proclivity for hiring male hookers.)

I wish David and Aaron the best in their new lives together and the love they will bring to their children who deserve it and badly need it.

You see, Pam Bondi, THIS is what a real marriage looks like.  Maybe try it sometime before you bash it?

Make the jump here to read the original on Kos

Via JMG: UNSHOCKING: Study Shows "Ex-Gay" Mormons Have Very High Divorce Rate



 
Via the Salt Lake Tribune:
The LDS couples profiled on TLC’s "My Husband Is Not Gay" may find these statistics sobering: Marriages like theirs — same-sex attracted husbands and straight wives — are two to three times more likely to end in divorce than others. That finding and others come from a newly released in-depth survey of 1,612 self-selected LGBT/same-sex attracted Mormons and former Mormons, thought by researchers to be the largest study ever conducted with this population. Rather than tapping a random sample, John Dehlin, a doctoral student at Utah State University, and Bill Bradshaw, a retired Brigham Young University professor, with help from Renee Galliher, also of USU, solicited responses via various websites, including pro-Mormon outlets such as North Star International and those more critical such as Dehlin’s own "Mormon Stories" podcast. The study found that between 51 percent and 69 percent of mixed-orientation Mormon marriages end in divorce, well above the roughly 25 percent of LDS couples who split up.
Mind-blowing, huh?


posted by Joe Jervis

Via Huffington: How to Respond When Someone Asks You to Stop Flaunting Your Homosexuality Online

SURPRISE INTERNET


"Why does everything with you have to be so gay?" the chat box bleeped in the lower right corner of my screen. It was someone I once knew from my conservative hometown, a place I've scarcely shown my face in two decades.
Social media has returned people to our lives that ought not be there. With our fancy phones, the past is lurking right there in your pocket. Everyone with whom you've ever crossed paths is somewhere behind a screen liking a picture of your salad or making passive aggressive hashtag judgements on your posts.

Of course these naysayers can blocked, but that often happens after you realize that you assembled the worst online party of all time. Your parents. Your old youth pastor. Drag queens. Porn stars.

Clarence. (He may not be named Clarence in your world, but you know who I'm talking about. That friend.) So, like many of us, I went through a great Facebook purge. A Duck Dynasty meme?

Unfriend. A pro-Sarah Palin reference? Delete. A cross-stiched, Bible verse jpeg about men lying with men? Actually, that's amazing and I want it on a T-shirt.

I then realized these people need my voice in their lives. Homophobic views thrive in the absence of actual homosexuals. And worse yet, I'll end up as the person they are referring to when they say, "I have tons of gay friends, but..."

So, I've been allowing some reconnections with my fundamentalist Christian past.

"I mean, I don't care about your sexuality, but does everything you talk about have to be gay?" this old friend typed. In all fairness, I do let it rip on Twitter and Facebook. I've always been somewhat of a button pusher; on my conservative friends' feeds, I probably seem a sort of "Richard Simmons After Dark," if you will.

This "stop flaunting it" sentiment really gets my big gay goat. Being gay isn't some weird hobby. It's not a penis fetish. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan.) It's who I am. My sexuality runs a thread through every part of my being, just as it does for all people both gay and straight.

Every straight-person-post about date night, engagements and babies is a display of heterosexuality. That weird selfie of the two of them peck kissing at Applebee's? Blatant display of straightness. A "Which Romantic Comedy Are You" quiz? They got The Notebook. I got Showgirls. My point is, we are all expressing our sexuality non-stop in sometimes bold, but more often subtle, ways.

I was taking a stroll with a seemingly progressive friend here in Nashville. There was a lesbian couple nearby holding hands -- a sight that's becoming fairly common in larger southern cities. My friend made an out-of-character comment that they were trying to "make a statement." I suggested they quite possibly might just be holding hands. Many straight people -- even allies -- are used to gays being shamed into discretion. If we behave with the same emotional freedom as they it could initially come off to them as an inappropriate display.

It might seem like flaunting, but it's simply humans acting like humans.

I'm tired of being an ambassador. I'm tired of being the understanding one, but it's the position I'm in. It's the position you are in. So next time it's suggested you tone it down, give our straight brothers and sisters an understanding pardon, then turn it up. They will never relax if we cater to uncomfortable sensibilities. As for me, my social media feed will continue to flame and sparkle, and if you don't like it, there's my backdoor. And I mean that in the gayest way possible.


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Iranian in Yemen Accused of Promoting Bahá'í Faith

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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189848

Iranian in Yemen Accused of Promoting Bahá'í Faith - For Israel

Iranian man charged with spreading pacifistic, universalist religion to benefit its world headquarters in Haifa.

An Iranian living in Yemen has been charged with promoting the Bahá'í Faith and trying to convert residents of the Muslim country for Israel's benefit, state news agency Saba reported Monday.

The man, arrested last year in Mukalla, southeast Yemen, had tried between 1991 and 2014 to "lure some Yemenis into abandoning Islam to follow this alleged faith", according to the charge sheet, quoted by Saba.

He was named as Hamid Mirza Kamali Sarustani, 51, and had allegedly used a false identity to conduct private businesses in Yemen.

"He worked with a foreign country, Israel, through its (Baha'i) Universal House of Justice that serves its interests, to proselytize Bahaism in Yemen," the prosecution said. The Universal House of Justice is the faith's supreme governing body, which is based in the Mediterranean city of Haifa, in northern Israel.

The prosecution said Sarustani used money to lure impoverished Yemenis into conversions and distributed Bahá'í material through the Internet and at gatherings.

His case has been referred to a special penal court in Sanaa, Saba said.

The Bahá'í faith, which believes in equality among religions and between men and women, faces persecution in several Middle Eastern countries. Bahá'ís consider Baha'ú'lláh, an Iranian born in 1817, to be the latest prophet sent by God, a major divergence from Islamic orthodoxy. 

Around 250 Baha'is live in Yemen, where they are allowed to practice their faith freely, a Baha'i organization told AFP

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Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 13/01/2015

“A sua inclinação para a Verdade precisa ser renovada a cada instante, o que requer um tanto de força de vontade desenvolvida. Porém, muitas vezes você já desenvolveu força de vontade, mas ela está sendo utilizada para satisfazer vícios, alimentar emoções negativas ou satisfazer caprichos do ego. A energia é a mesma, mas está sendo utilizada pela natureza inferior. Nesse caso é preciso inverter a direção do fluxo da energia, ou seja, é preciso redirecionar os vetores da vontade. Para isso eu sugiro a prática de algum tipo de austeridade, que pode variar de acordo com a história de cada um. Mas, independentemente do seu caso específico, eu recomendo para todos a prática diária do silêncio, nem que seja por períodos curtos de tempo.”

“Tu inclinación hacia la Verdad necesita ser renovada a cada instante, lo que requiere un tanto de fuerza de voluntad ya desarrollada. Sin embargo, muchas veces ya desarrollaste fuerza de voluntad, pero ella está siendo utilizada para satisfacer vicios, alimentar emociones negativas o satisfacer caprichos del ego. La energía es la misma, pero está siendo utilizada por la naturaleza inferior. En ese caso, es necesario invertir la dirección del flujo de la energía, o sea, es necesario re-direccionar los vectores de la voluntad. Para eso sugiero la práctica de algún tipo de austeridad, que puede variar de acuerdo con la historia de cada uno. Pero independientemente de tu caso específico, recomiendo para todos la práctica diaria del silencio, aunque sea por períodos cortos de tiempo.”

“Our commitment to the truth must be constantly renewed at every instance, which requires having developed a certain level of willpower. Oftentimes we have already developed willpower, but it’s being used to satisfy addictions, fuel negative emotions, or satisfy the ego’s whims. The energy is the same, but it is being used by our lower self. In this case, the direction of the energy flow must be inverted, meaning we must redirect the vectors of our willpower. To do so, I suggest you practice some kind of austerity, which can vary based on each person’s story. Regardless of your specific case, I recommend that everyone engage in the daily practice of silence, even if it’s only for short periods of time.”   

Via Daily Dharma


A Simple Thing | January 13, 2015

It's a simple thing, the feeling of a job well done. There's a workman-like quality that depends, I'm sure, on the same sensibility that makes the tea ceremony work, that kind of ritual of doing some simple task over and over again. It's not a big thing, but it's strong and important.

- Jerry Garcia, "Jerry Garcia"