Friday, December 11, 2015

Via JMG: FLORIDA: Gay Festivus Pole Approved

FLpole
 
It will be a very gay Festivus at the Florida Capitol Building this year:
The Florida Department of Management Services on Thursday approved an application by Deerfield Beach political blogger Chaz Stevens to set up the display to honor the Festivus “holiday,” agency spokeswoman Natalee Singleton said. Stevens’ application for his 2015 “Rainbow gay edition” display — a 6-foot-6-inch pole built of empty beer cans and topped with a disco ball — allows him to put up the pole on Dec. 21 and for it to remain in the Capitol’s first-floor rotunda through Dec. 28. The only other end-of-year display approved for the Capitol is a menorah by the Chabad Lubavitch of the Panhandle-Tallahassee. The menorah is already in place.
A similar request has been filed in Arkansas. “And now…the Airing Of Grievances….”

Via LGBTq Nation: Zachary Quinto shows how LGBTQ discrimination weakens our society

Zachary Quinto

Zachary Quinto

Today is Human Rights Day, and to make the occasion, the United Nation’s Free & Equal campaign worked with actor Zachary Quinto to spread awareness about the real price of LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace. 

A new video narrated by Quinto demonstrates the tremendous toll discrimination takes on society when LGBTQ people don’t receive adequate protections — both at work and in their private lives.
According to the vid, almost two thirds of LGBTQ youth are bullied. A third of them decide to quit school because of it. 

Gay and lesbian teens are four times more likely to consider suicide than straight teenagers.
Trans teenagers are more than ten times more like to attempt killing themselves. 

According to Charles Radcliffe, Head of Global Issues at the UN Human Rights Office, and campaign direction of UN Free & Equal:
“In study after study, rates of poverty, homelessness, depression & suicide are found to be far higher in the LGBT community than among the general population.
“But it’s not only LGBT people who pay the price; we all do. Every trans kid thrown out of home or forced out of school is a loss for society.
“Every gay or lesbian worker denied work or driven to emigrate is a lost opportunity to build a more productive economy.
“Everyone who still thinks the effects LGBTI discrimination has on the economy are small and marginal should think again.”

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 11/12/2015

“Existem momentos da jornada evolutiva nos quais acreditamos estar nos movendo em direção a realidade espiritual, mas estamos presos, estagnados em algum ponto. Mas como saber se, de fato, estamos nos movendo e não nos enganando? Muito simples - olhando para os nossos relacionamentos. Observando se estamos conseguindo manter o coração aberto para o outro; se estamos conseguindo ir além do jogo de acusações; se estamos conseguindo ver a luz que está por trás da sombra do outro e se já estamos podendo escolher desviar dos buracos que até então havíamos caído.”

“Existen momentos en el camino evolutivo en los cuales creemos estar moviéndonos en dirección a la realidad espiritual, pero estamos presos, estancados en algún punto. ¿Pero cómo saber si, de hecho, estamos moviéndonos y no nos estamos engañando? Muy simple, mirando nuestras relaciones. Observando si estamos pudiendo mantener el corazón abierto al otro, si estamos pudiendo ir más allá del juego de acusaciones, si estamos pudiendo ver la luz que está por detrás de la sombra del otro y si ya estamos pudiendo elegir desviarnos de los pozos que hasta ahora veníamos cayendo” 

"There are moments in the evolutionary journey where we believe that we’re moving towards spiritual reality but, in fact, we are stuck on some point. How can we know if we are truly moving towards this reality and are not fooling ourselves? Quite simply, by looking at our relationships. We do so by observing whether we are managing to keep an open heart to one another and being able to go beyond the blame game. If we are able to see the light behind the other’s shadow and consciously choose to deviate from the holes that we had previously fallen into, then we are indeed evolving."

Today's Daily Dharma: Not Someone Else's Path

Not Someone Else's Path
It is essential at the beginning of practice to acknowledge that the path is personal and intimate. It is no good to examine it from a distance as if it were someone else’s. You must walk it for yourself.
—Robert Aitken Roshi, "The Teacher in Everything"
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