Sunday, July 17, 2016

Via JMG: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Denies Support For Ex-Gay Torture Appears In GOP Platform (It Does)


 


 Reince


Yesterday RNC chairman Reince Priebus flatly denied that ex-gay torture is part of the 2016 GOP platform even though it was preliminarily approved last week thanks to Tony Perkins. From the Associated Press:
Priebus denied that language inserted into a draft of the party platform encourages “conversion therapy,” which religious conservatives believe can stop gay people from being gay. The new language, which has yet to be adopted by the full convention, reads, “We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy, for their minor children.”
Asked whether the Republican Party supports “conversion therapy,” Priebus charged, “It’s not in the platform.” GOP officials are eager to shift the focus of next week’s event away from divisive social issues. Such issues, while popular with conservatives who wield outsize influence in Republican primary contests, are less popular among the more moderate voters and independents who typically decide general elections.
Last week TIME Magazine reported:
An amendment offered by the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins in the subcommittee on healthcare, education, and crime offered support for the controversial practice of “conversion therapy” for children who identify as LGBT.
“We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy, for their minor children,” the amendment said. Perkins originally drafted a more explicit embrace of the practice, but amended the text after consultations with top RNC officials.
Last week CNN reported:
Perkins also won a bid to add the word “therapy” to the platform, making it read “we support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment or therapy for their minor children.” That was read as a move to allow conversion therapy, a controversial practice that attempts to convert youths away from being gay, that has been banned by some state and local governments.
Make the jump here to read the orginal and more at JMG
“It’s what it says, it’s whatever therapy that a parent wants to get for a minor child,” Perkins said when asked about the change. “There’s states that are trying to restrict what parents can do for loving their children. Parents have a better idea I think than legislators or government bureaucrats.”
From Snopes:
The cited language is ambiguous and does not expressly identify conversion by name, but many onlookers nonetheless believe there is no other reasonable interpretation of Perkins’ proposal. The draft faces at least two more tests before officially becoming part the party’s platform, and thus far its myriad issues remained unapproved.

Via JMG: Dan Savage Vs The “Lying, Delusional, Self-Hating Shitbags” That Are The Log Cabin Republicans

DanSavagePhotoByJoeJervis

February 11, 2016 2016 Election, Homocons

“Every four years gay Republicans slime out from under their rocks to remind us that the Democratic candidate wasn’t always perfect on LGBT issues. They then implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) pivot to this nonsensical argument: Since your guy/gal wasn’t always perfect on LGBT issues, the LGBT community should vote for the Republican who was terrible on LGBT issues then, is terrible on LGBT issues now, and who has pledged, if elected, to remain terrible on LGBT issues forever.
“Lying, delusional, self-hating shitbags can’t open their mouths without lying and attempting to delude.

“Every four years we’re subjected to the same insipid news stories about the efforts of the Log Cabin Republicans. Credulous reporters, some too young to realize what they’re being asked to re-regurgitate, tell us gay Republicans are hopeful! This could be the year! This could be the the year their nominee doesn’t return their checks! This could be the year their nominee doesn’t refuse to meet with them! This could be the year their nominee doesn’t deny the existence of their families! Gay Republicans are praised for trying to ‘change their party from within’ and then…

“Nothing changes. Their party never changes. All the GOP candidates for president take the same old bigoted positions. It never gets any better. But no one who writes up the efforts of Log Cabin Republicans to change their party ever thinks to examine the results. There’s never an accountability moment for the cocksucking wing of the ‘party of personal responsibility’.”Dan Savage, writing for The Stranger.

Read the original and more on JMG here

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor día- Flower of the day - 17/07/2016

“Por conta dos traumas de humilhação, exclusão e rejeição, a entidade humana desenvolve mecanismos de proteção. Esses mecanismos geram uma corrente negativa de energia que costumo simplesmente chamar de não. No mais profundo, os nãos são pactos de vingançacontra aqueles que nos machucaram. São uma forma de fazer justiça, mas uma forma estúpida, porque acabamos criando uma série de situações que geram sofrimento para nós mesmos. Nós achamos que, dessa forma vamos mudar o passado, porém o passado não muda; ele só pode ser compreendido e ressignificado através do autoconhecimento.”

“Debido a los traumas de humillación, exclusión y rechazo, la entidad humana desarrolla mecanismos de protección. Estos mecanismos generan una corriente negativa de energía que suelo llamarde no. En lo más profundo, los noes son pactos de venganza en contra de aquellos que nos lastimaron. Son una forma de hacer justicia, pero una forma estúpida, porque terminamos creando una serie de situaciones que generan sufrimiento a nosotros mismos. Creemos que de esta formavamos a cambiar el pasado, pero el pasado no cambia; solo puede ser comprendido y resignificado a través del auto-conocimiento.”

“Due to traumas of humiliation, exclusion, and rejection, the human entity develops self-defense mechanisms. These mechanisms create a negative energetic current that we often refer to as the ‘no’ current. At the core, these ‘no’s’ are pacts of revenge against those who have hurt us. They are a foolish way of getting even because these pacts of revenge wind up creating a series of situations that lead us to suffering. We believe that by taking revenge we can change the past. However, the past doesn’t change. It can only be understood and given new meaning through our own self-knowledge.”

Via ॐ Blue Buddha Quote Collective / FB:


Via Ram Dass:

July 17, 2016

I think in relationships, you create an environment with your own work on yourself, which you offer to another human being to use to grow in the way they need to grow. Parents are environments for their children, lovers are an environment for their partners.

You keep working – you become the soil – moist and soft and receptive so the person can grow the way they need to grow, because how do you know how they should grow?


Via Mary Stroube / FB: TRUMP – PENCE Will Eliminate Legal and Social Gains for LGBT Citizens

Today I heard a news commentator say that Trump has a “more moderate” view towards gay rights. Perhaps in relation to Mike Pence, that is true, but Trump is no friend to the LBBT community, nor is the Republican Party. I share this so you have accurate information.

The Republication party has concluded its platform with two extreme anti-gay planks: 

1) Marriage should only be between a man and a woman and encouraging overturning the Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage


2) Based on the lead by the Family Research Council, "conversion" or "reparative therapy," which purports to "cure" homosexual inclinations through analysis and, frequently, prayer has been endorsed. With that, parents are given the right to decide the proper treatment for their children in this regard. These concepts have been consistently discredited, and typically criticized. by established mental health professions


Trump has claimed that he knows many gays and lesbians and “likes the gays and lesbians.” Of course he has said the same about just about every other group, for example, “the poorly educated” and disabled. And there’s his one African American man at a recent rally. While he may like gays and lesbians, he has always opposed same-sex marriage. Briefly in 2013 he said civil unions would be acceptable, but he then retreated to opposition to any same sex unions.


In an interview with Chris Wallace this year, Trump said he would appoint people to the Supreme Court who would overturn the court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Although it would be an unusual circumstance that would even allow the issue to be reconsidered, it is Trumps beliefs that are concern.


Mike Pence’s record is much more extremely anti-gay/lesbian. Pence believes that the prominence of gay couples signals inevitable societal collapse. He actively opposes same-sex marriage. He also opposes legislation that prohibits workplace discrimination against LGBT people saying it wages war against freedom and religion in the workplace.” He also objected to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”


I’m not an one-issue voter, and the Republicans have given me a lot to not like, not the least of which is the tenuous mental health of their Presidential candidate, but I’m not going to vote against myself or risk returning to unacceptable, outmoded and even dangerous beliefs. I’m voting for Hillary.

Via Daily Dharma / July 17, 2016: At Peace in Quiet, Empty Space

The quiet, empty space of zazen reveals the mind’s addiction to imagining the future and reminiscing about the past.

—Les Kaye, "The Time is Now"