Revoked: Jun 15, 2022

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Via SFLGBT Sangha // 20th Anniversary Daylong Celebration

20th Anniversary Daylong Celebration

This is a reminder that the SFLGBT Sangha is celebrating our 20th Anniversary of Buddhist practice in Queer community on Saturday, June 18th from 10am-5pm at the SF Buddhist Center at 37 Bartlett Street in San Francisco or virtually via Zoom. We’d love to see you!

Please register here by Wednesday, June 15th at 11:59pm if you plan to join in-person so we can provide lunch.
If you would like to attend virtually, please find the Zoom meeting info below.

On the agenda for the day will include sitting and walking meditation, provided lunch (for in-person attendees), dharma talks and visits from former and founding teachers. To close out the day, we’ll have cake! We are accepting donations for the event but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

COVID Considerations: Evidence of vaccinations will be required for in-person attendees. We will be doing our best to social distance. Wearing a KN95 or N95 mask over mouth and nose will be mandatory except during lunch. (We will provide masks if you do not have one.) Please do a rapid-test prior to arriving.

Zoom meeting information:
https://zoom.us/j/844085275
Meeting ID: 844 085 275
Password: 948743

One tap mobile:
+16699009128, (San Francisco)
+ 844085275# US

Feel free to share the meeting ID, password, and link with anyone you know who may be interested in joining the daylong.

We hope you can join us!

Via LGBTQ Nation // Joe Biden issues executive order to fight conversion therapy & LGBTQ fostering discrimination

Joe Biden promised to work to get a law passed banning conversion therapy on the campaign trail. Now he's doing what he can on his own.

Via Daily Dharma: Let the Mind Settle

Our mind is analogous to a cup of muddy water. The longer you keep a cup of muddy water still, the more the mud settles down and the water will be seen clearly. Similarly, if you keep quiet without moving your body, your mind settles down and begins to experience the bliss of meditation.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, “Sitting Still”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from False Speech

False speech is unhealthy. Refraining from false speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning false speech, one dwells refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world. One does not in full awareness speak falsehood for one’s own ends or for another’s ends or for some trifling worldly end. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak falsely, but I shall abstain from false speech.” (MN 8)

When one knows covert speech to be true and correct but unbeneficial, one should try not to utter it. (MN 139)

Reflection

The main thing to look at when deciding if it is appropriate to speak or not is whether what you are saying is likely to be beneficial. Yes, it is important to speak the truth, but even when something is true it may not always be helpful to say it. By beneficial what is meant is, will it help a person move away from what is unhealthy and point them toward what is healthy? If so, then by all means speak up; if not, try to keep silent.

Daily Practice

Be careful what you whisper to others, making sure it is not a subtle form of false speech. Even if what you are saying is true, the fact that it is spoken in secret or covertly suggests there may be something about it unsuited to the light of day. Better to speak only what can be said openly whenever possible. Just ask yourself as you are about to speak: Is this helpful? Will this contribute in a beneficial way?

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Bodily Action
One week from today: Refraining from Malicious Speech

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 15, 2022 💌

Your anger and your inspiration are all inside you. They are just being who they are. Your reaction is your reaction. It is showing you your attachments and aversions.

- Ram Dass -

Via White Crane Institute // The Supreme Court ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects LGBT people from discrimination in employment,

Noteworthy

2020 -

The Supreme Court ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects LGBT people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court. The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LGBT workers.

The cases were the court’s first on LGBT rights since Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement and replacement by Kavanaugh. Kennedy was a voice for gay rights and the author of the landmark ruling in 2015 that made same-sex marriage legal throughout the United States. Kavanaugh generally is regarded as more conservative.

The Trump administration had changed course from the Obama administration, which supported LGBT workers in their discrimination claims under Title VII. During the Obama years, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had changed its longstanding interpretation of civil rights law to include discrimination against LGBT people. The law prohibits discrimination because of sex, but had no specific protection for sexual orientation or gender identity.

In recent years, some lower courts have held that discrimination against LGBT people is a subset of sex discrimination, and thus prohibited by the federal law. Efforts by Congress to change the law had failed.

The Supreme Court cases involved two gay men and a transgender woman who sued for employment discrimination after they lost their jobs.

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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

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Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org