JMG HomoQuotable: Peter Tatchell

"Cardinal [Keith] O'Brien condemned homosexuality as a grave sin and was a long-time opponent of gay equality. He supported homophobic discrimination in law, including the current ban on same-sex marriage. In the light of these allegations, his stance looks hypocritical. He appears to have preached one thing in public while doing something different in private. Several other prominent opponents of equal marriage are guilty of double standards and vulnerable to similar exposure. They include anti-gay clergy and politicians.

"It is estimated that around 40% of Catholic priests in Britain are gay, which makes the church's opposition to gay equality so two-faced and absurd. A significant proportion of all Cardinals worldwide is thought to be gay. Recent revelations in Italy have alleged the existence of a gay mafia within the Vatican, including senior Cardinals and other Vatican officials, and their participation in gay bars, clubs, saunas, chat rooms and male prostitution services. The Vatican is shamelessly championing homophobia and the denial of legal equality to gay people, while hosting a hotbed of secret, guilt-ridden clerical homosexuality." - British activist Peter Tatchell, in a statement posted on his website.

Labels: Catholic Church, HomoQuotable, Peter Tatchell, Vatican

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Pat Robertson Expands His Anti-Gay Rights Campaign To Brazil

Pat Robertson's "legal" group, the American Center for Law & Justice, has long extended its scaly tentacles into other nations such as Russia and Kenya, where they work to inflame anti-gay sentiments.  Now the ACLJ has set up an office in Brazil.  Buzzfeed reports:

The head of the new Brazil office, Filipe Coelho, is a scion of one of Brazil's leading evangelical families, and aims to stop hate crime legislation from becoming law, opposes marriage rights for same-sex couples and speaks strongly about the dangers of employment protections for LGBT people. Same-sex marriage is also legal in some Brazilian jurisdictions. This includes São Paulo state, which has a population of more than 40 million people, roughly the same size as Argentina. But Brazil also has an evangelical movement that most closely parallels the United States. It accounts for about 20 percent of the population and it has serious muscle in election campaigns and the country's legislature.

The ACLJ is headed by Jay Sekulow, who first came to fame for convincing the Supreme Court that Jews For Jesus had the right to harass people at airports.  And his ACLJ gig has earned him tens of millions.

Since 1998, the two charities have paid out more than $33 million to members of Sekulow's family and businesses they own or co-own, according to the charities' federal tax returns. One of the charities is controlled by the Sekulow family — tax documents show that all four of CASE's board members are Sekulows and another is an officer — an arrangement criticized by a nonprofit watchdog group.

Tax-exempt hate, now in Brazil. Praise Jesus.

Labels: ACLJ, Brazil, hate groups, LGBT rights, Pat Robertson, religion, scams

posted by Joe

Via JMG: Edith Windsor Files DOMA Brief

 

Edith Windsor today filed a Supreme Court brief in the DOMA case that bears her name. Chris Geidner has the details:

Specifically, Windsor argues laws like DOMA that classify people based on their sexual orientation should be subjected to "heightened scrutiny" by courts, which demands the government to provide an "important" reason for the law in question. A similar argument was made by the Obama administration in a filing last Friday. In discussing the standards that courts use when determining whether heightened scrutiny should apply, Windsor argues that gays and lesbians have faced a history of discrimination, and that their being gay does not affect their ability to contribute to society. Additionally, she argues that sexual orientation is not, generally speaking, fluid, and that the group "lacks political power" because of prejudice.

Read the full brief here.

Labels: DOMA, Edith Windsor, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Who would have thought that all things are the manifestation of the Essence of Mind! - The Sutra of Hui Neng More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 26, 2013

Unmasking the Self

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, not knowing what is next and not concerned with what was or what may be next, a new mind is operating that is not connected with the conditioned past and yet perceives and understands the whole mechanism of conditioning. It is the unmasking of the self that is nothing but masks—images, memories of past experiences, fears, hopes, and the ceaseless demand to be something or become somebody.

- Toni Packer, "Unmasking the Self"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 27th, 2013
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