Via JMG: LGBT Sports Group Calls On Athletes To Hold Hands At Sochi Olympics

Noting that all demonstrations involving pins, flags, and other items are strictly banned by the IOC, yesterday an international LGBT sports group launched the "Same-Sex Hand-Holding Initiative."

The campaign is simple: Pride House International is calling on everyone present in Sochi – athletes, staff, media, officials, spectators, sponsors, vendors, and fans – to take every opportunity to hold hands with a person of the same sex. “There are extreme restrictions on the uniforms and other items worn by athletes at any Olympic Games. Flags, badges, or pins are not allowed without IOC approval, a near-impossibility, and wearing something as seemingly innocuous as pink socks or shoelaces is very difficult for athletes to do, and complex to organise for other participants and spectators,” said the Federation of Gay Games’ Les Johnson. “But everyone can hold hands with their neighbour. Indeed, raising your rivals’ hands in camaraderie is an image we see on every podium at every sporting event.”

Pride House cautions that any hand-holding should be done with as many witnesses as possible.

Labels: activism, IOC, LGBT rights, Russia

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: MOSCOW: Swedish Athlete Competes With Fingernails Painted In Rainbow Colors, Draws Condemnation From Russian Pole Vaulting World Champion

At the World Track & Field championships in Moscow, Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro competed today with her fingernails painted in rainbow hues in a gesture of solidarity for the LGBT community, drawing condemnation from Russia pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.

“If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people,” Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion, said in English. “We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys. “Everything must be fine. It comes from history. We never had any problems, these problems in Russia, and we don’t want to have any in the future. It’s unrespectful to our country. It’s unrespectful to our citizens because we are Russians. Maybe we are different from European people and other people from different lands,” Isinbayeva told reporters. “We have our home and everyone has to respect (it). When we arrive to different countries, we try to follow their rules.”

American runner Nick Symmonds, who yesterday dedicated his silver medal to his gay friends at home, slammed Isinbayeva.

“I want to say to Yelena, ‘You understand a very large portion of your citizens here are gay and lesbian people. They are standard people, too. They were created this way. For you to tell them that they’re not normal and standard, that’s what we’re taking an issue with.’ That’s why we have to continue to demonstrate and to speak out against the ignorance that she’s showing.”

Isinbayeva has set 28 world records and won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. According to the Washington Post, she was part of the team that won Russia the right to host the 2014 Games. Cheering on Isinbayeva's bigotry is NOM's Damian Goddard.

Labels: bigotry, Damian Goddard, Moscow, NOM, religion, Russia, Sochi Olympics, sports, straight allies

WWE Stars Support Darren Young

In case you missed this morning's news, WWE star Darren Young has come out. The WWE has issued a statement to GLAAD: "WWE is proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality, and we will continue to support him as a WWE Superstar. Today, in fact, Darren will be participating in one of our Be A Star anti-bullying rallies in Los Angeles to teach children how to create positive environments for everyone regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation."

UPDATE: WWE superstar John Cena applauds:  "Good for him. That's fantastic. I know Darren personally. Darren's a great guy. That's a very bold move for him. And congratulations for him for actually finally doing it. It's all about being professional, and Darren Young is a consummate professional. For us, it's entertainment, and if you're entertaining you shouldn't be judged by race, creed, color or sexuality ... as long as you're entertaining."

Labels: coming out, Darren Young, sports, wrestling

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Frank Bruni On Hand-Holding

"After all the education that we Americans have had and all the relished progress we’ve made, being gay does mean feeling constrained in situations where most people aren’t, scared in circumstances that wouldn’t frighten others in the least, self-conscious when you shouldn’t have to be. Like when you’re holding someone’s hand. It’s the sweetest, most innocent and most natural of gestures: to interlock your fingers with those of a person for whom you’re feeling a sudden rush of affection. A person you maybe love. And yet when my partner takes my hand in public in New York City, I look at the sidewalk ahead. I note how many pedestrians are coming our way, and how quickly, and whether they’re male or female, young or old, observant or distracted. And I sometimes take my hand back, wishing I were braver, wishing our world didn’t ask me to be." - Frank Bruni, in a New York Times essay which refers to yesterday's gay-bashing in Chelsea.

Labels: Frank Bruni, gay bashing, gay PDA, NYC

Reposted from Joe

C.O.G. Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Troian Bellisario Movie HD

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 15, 2013

The Self in Self-Help

Most human beings spend their lives battling with opposing inner forces: what they think they should do versus what they are doing; how they feel about themselves versus how they are; whether they think they’re right and worthy or wrong and unworthy. The separate self is just the conglomeration of these opposing forces. When the self drops away, inner division drops away with it.

- Adyashanti, “The Taboo of Enlightenment”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through August 16, 2013
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