JMG Editorial Of The Day

From the editors of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Same-sex attraction, far from being unnatural, has been around since the dawn of time, and in recent decades mainstream America has come to accept it as something other than deviant. The American Psychiatric Association has considered homosexuality a normal sexual variation, not a mental disorder, since 1973. The Supreme Court in 2003 made same-sex sexual activity legal in every state, and then last June the court took that step of saying same-sex couples have a due-process right to marry. Younger people by and large take a more libertarian view of same-sex relationships, and that is what has fueled the nation’s shift since Utah passed its ban in 2004.
There are 32 states with laws still in effect banning gay marriage, but only one state has passed such a law since 2006. Since that time seven state legislatures have passed laws to allow same-sex marriage, and three more states did so through popular vote. Court decisions have struck down the laws in another seven states, including Utah. One of those states is California, where state officials stopped defending their same-sex marriage ban when it became obvious where the future lies. Utah’s ban passed with 66 percent of voters approving it, but it’s a legitimate question whether it would pass today if another election were held. Even the LDS Church has gone from actively participating in the marriage wars to simply explaining its own beliefs and practices.
The tide has turned. It’s time for Utah to turn with it.

(Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Labels: marriage equality, Salt Lake City, Utah

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: The Friendly Atheist Reviews Linda Harvey

Last week Linda Harvey screamed that Amazon didn't pull her book because it advocates the torture and brainwashing of LGBT children, SHE pulled it herself because of nasty reviews spurred by evil gay bloggers.  The Friendly Atheist has read Harvey's book and today posted a review. An excerpt:

Harvey says that “hundreds” of organizations in the U.S. can help gay people work through their feelings and turn straight, and that plenty of “converted homosexuals” will tell you that it really works. Never mind that the most prominent ex-gay organization Exodus International shut its doors and its president said homosexuality is unchangeable — Harvey says he’s not a good representative of the ex-gay movement because “there seems to be a lot of confusion going on in his life.” If you insist…
Later, she defends parents who kick their gay children out of their homes. She suggests that children whose parents don’t try to shield them from homosexuality will commit suicide. She says that it’s the responsibility of churches to try to warn people about homosexuality. She suggests that gay teenagers are the victims of broken homes or sexual abuse. She waxes poetic on Sodom and Gomorrah. And finally, she says that God is the answer to a troubled life of homosexuality.

Hit the link and read the full review.

 

Labels: Amazon, assholery, bigotry, brainwashing, crackpots, evil, ex-gay, hate groups, LGBT youth, Linda Harvey, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 6, 2014

The Four Reminders

We all know that we’re going to die, but we don’t know it in our guts. If we did, we would practice as if our hair were on fire. One way to swallow the bitter truth of mortality and impermanence—and get it into our guts—is to chew on the four reminders.

- Andrew Holecek, “The Supreme Contemplation”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 7, 2014
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