Via John Ibbitson at The Globe and Mail: Justin Trudeau to apologize for historic persecution of gay Canadians

As early as this autumn, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will apologize on behalf of all Canadians to those who were imprisoned, fired from their jobs or otherwise persecuted in the past because of their sexuality.

That apology is a key element in a broad range of reforms that will collectively represent one of the greatest advances for sexual minorities in Canada’s history.

John Ibbitson explains The Globe's focus on Everett Klippert's pardon (The Globe and Mail)

“This is a long-awaited moment and a very emotional moment, to be honest,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale, a national organization that advocates for the rights of sexual minorities. 

“For the government to recognize the damage that it caused, the harm that it caused, to thousands and thousands of Canadians is a historic moment for our communities.”

The Globe and Mail has learned of the planned reforms from numerous sources within and outside the government.

In essence, the Liberals have decided to act on most or all of the recommendations of The Just Society, a report submitted to the government in June by Egale. The title refers to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s program for rights protection and social reform.

Those recommendations include:

• Apologizing to people who were convicted of gross indecency for committing homosexual acts in the years before 1969, when same-sex acts between consensual adults were decriminalized. Those convictions will be pardoned, expunged or in some other fashion stricken from the records of those convicted;
• Apologizing to those who were dismissed from the public service, discharged from the military or otherwise discriminated against in government work because they were homosexual. It was only in the 1990s that the federal government ceased efforts to identify and expel homosexuals in the military;
• Eliminating the difference in the age of consent for sexual acts. The current age of consent is 16, but it is 18 for anal intercourse, which discriminates against and stigmatizes young homosexuals.
• Examining whether and how to compensate those who suffered past discrimination because of who they were or whom they loved. This could involve individual compensation and/or funding for programs or services;
• Requiring all police officers or others who work in the justice system to receive human-rights training, with an emphasis on the historic wrong of treating members of sexual minorities as criminals and on the current bias that all too often still exists;
• Providing similar training to Customs officials, who still are more likely to ban homosexual materials from crossing the border, while permitting their heterosexual equivalents;
• Implementing procedures to protect the dignity of transgender or intersex persons in prisons or jails;
• Eliminating laws, such as keeping a bawdy house, that can be used to criminally charge those who visit a bathhouse or who practise group sex.

Make the jump here to read the full article here

 

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día- Flower of the day - 12/08/2016

“O que podemos considerar como êxito para o ser humano é a capacidade de identificar suas contradições ou insanidades, pois esse é o início da sanidade. A identificação da doença é o início da cura. Mas, entre a identificação e a cura da doença, existe um caminho e, às vezes, é um longo caminho. Às vezes, são necessários muitos procedimentos; às vezes é necessário mudar hábitos e reeducar muita coisa na sua vida. Esse é um processo atemporal, porque a cura depende de muitos fatores. Então, não se preocupe com o tempo, apenas trabalhe para identificar suas contradições.”

“Lo que podemos considerar como éxito para el ser humano es la capacidad de identificar sus contradicciones o insanidades, porque ese es el inicio de la sanidad. La identificación de la enfermedad es el inicio de la cura. Pero entre la identificación y la cura de la enfermedad existe un camino y, a veces, es un largo camino. A veces, son necesarios muchos procedimientos; a veces es necesario cambiar hábitos y reeducar muchas cosas en tu vida. Este es un proceso atemporal, porque la cura depende de muchos factores. Entonces, no te preocupes con el tiempo, solo trabaja en identificar tus contradicciones.”

“What we can consider a success for human beings is our capacity to identify our contradictions and our insanity. This marks the beginning of sanity. The identification of the disease heralds the beginning of the healing process. However, between the diagnosis and the cure, there is a path we must travel, often a very long one. Sometimes we must undergo many procedures. It may be necessary to change our habits or to re-educate ourselves about various things in life. We don’t know how long this process will take because healing depends on many factors. So, we do not need to be concerned about time. We simply work to be able to identify our contradictions.”

Via Daily Dharma / August 12, 2016: Dream Before You Wake

In the beginning, our illusions are important. In some ways, those illusions bring us to practice. Hopefully, in the process of practicing, we wake up to how things really are. But it’s not bad to have some dreams at the beginning.

—Natalie Goldberg, "Beyond Betrayal"