Sunday, June 24, 2012
Via Himalaya Crafts FB:
“I have three precious things
which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is
frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself
before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be
liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a
leader among men.” ― Lao Tzu
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 24, 2012
Searching for Self
When we question ego-mind directly, it is exposed for what it is: the absence of everything we believe it to be.
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- Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche, "Searching for Self"
Via JMG: Anniversary
It was June 27th, 1969.The day that the fags, dykes, and queens of New York City finally said "Enough!" For some historical perspective, I'm once again posting the story that the New York Daily News ran about the Stonewall Riots. Note how the story drips with condescension and ridicule. We've come a long, long way in 43 years and we've still got some distance to cover, but today we should all offer up a shout, a snap, and a moment of thanks to the people who started us down this road.
HOMO NEST RAIDED - QUEEN BEES ARE STINGING MAD
-by Jerry Lisker, New York Daily News, July 6th 1969
She sat there with her legs crossed, the lashes of her mascara-coated eyes beating like the wings of a hummingbird. She was angry. She was so upset she hadn't bothered to shave. A day old stubble was beginning to push through the pancake makeup. She was a he. A queen of Christopher Street.
Last weekend the queens had turned commandos and stood bra strap to bra strap against an invasion of the helmeted Tactical Patrol Force. The elite police squad had shut down one of their private gay clubs, the Stonewall Inn at 57 Christopher St., in the heart of a three-block homosexual community in Greenwich Village. Queen Power reared its bleached blonde head in revolt. New York City experienced its first homosexual riot. "We may have lost the battle, sweets, but the war is far from over," lisped an unofficial lady-in-waiting from the court of the Queens.
"We've had all we can take from the Gestapo," the spokesman, or spokeswoman, continued. "We're putting our foot down once and for all." The foot wore a spiked heel. According to reports, the Stonewall Inn, a two-story structure with a sand painted brick and opaque glass facade, was a mecca for the homosexual element in the village who wanted nothing but a private little place where they could congregate, drink, dance and do whatever little girls do when they get together.
The thick glass shut out the outside world of the street. Inside, the Stonewall bathed in wild, bright psychedelic lights, while the patrons writhed to the sounds of a juke box on a square dance floor surrounded by booths and tables. The bar did a good business and the waiters, or waitresses, were always kept busy, as they snaked their way around the dancing customers to the booths and tables. For nearly two years, peace and tranquility reigned supreme for the Alice in Wonderland clientele.
The Raid Last Friday
Last Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. It was a raid. They had a warrant. After two years, police said they had been informed that liquor was being served on the premises. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. It was the law.
All hell broke loose when the police entered the Stonewall. The girls instinctively reached for each other. Others stood frozen, locked in an embrace of fear.
Only a handful of police were on hand for the initial landing in the homosexual beachhead. They ushered the patrons out onto Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square. A crowd had formed in front of the Stonewall and the customers were greeted with cheers of encouragement from the gallery.
The whole proceeding took on the aura of a homosexual Academy Awards Night. The Queens pranced out to the street blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. A beauty of a specimen named Stella wailed uncontrollably while being led to the sidewalk in front of the Stonewall by a cop. She later confessed that she didn't protest the manhandling by the officer, it was just that her hair was in curlers and she was afraid her new beau might be in the crowd and spot her. She didn't want him to see her this way, she wept.
Queen Power
The crowd began to get out of hand, eye witnesses said. Then, without warning, Queen Power exploded with all the fury of a gay atomic bomb. Queens, princesses and ladies-in-waiting began hurling anything they could get their polished, manicured fingernails on. Bobby pins, compacts, curlers, lipstick tubes and other femme fatale missiles were flying in the direction of the cops. The war was on. The lilies of the valley had become carnivorous jungle plants.
Urged on by cries of "C'mon girls, lets go get'em," the defenders of Stonewall launched an attack. The cops called for assistance. To the rescue came the Tactical Patrol Force.
Flushed with the excitement of battle, a fellow called Gloria pranced around like Wonder Woman, while several Florence Nightingales administered first aid to the fallen warriors. There were some assorted scratches and bruises, but nothing serious was suffered by the honeys turned Madwoman of Chaillot.
Official reports listed four injured policemen with 13 arrests. The War of the Roses lasted about 2 hours from about midnight to 2 a.m. There was a return bout Wednesday night.
Two veterans recently recalled the battle and issued a warning to the cops. "If they close up all the gay joints in this area, there is going to be all out war."
Bruce and Nan
Both said they were refugees from Indiana and had come to New York where they could live together happily ever after. They were in their early 20's. They preferred to be called by their married names, Bruce and Nan.
"I don't like your paper," Nan lisped matter-of-factly. "It's anti-fag and pro-cop."
"I'll bet you didn't see what they did to the Stonewall. Did the pigs tell you that they smashed everything in sight? Did you ask them why they stole money out of the cash register and then smashed it with a sledge hammer? Did you ask them why it took them two years to discover that the Stonewall didn't have a liquor license."
Bruce nodded in agreement and reached over for Nan's trembling hands.
"Calm down, doll," he said. "Your face is getting all flushed."
Nan wiped her face with a tissue.
"This would have to happen right before the wedding. The reception was going to be held at the Stonewall, too," Nan said, tossing her ashen-tinted hair over her shoulder.
"What wedding?," the bystander asked.
Nan frowned with a how-could-anybody-be-so-stupid look. "Eric and Jack's wedding, of course. They're finally tying the knot. I thought they'd never get together."
Meet Shirley
"We'll have to find another place, that's all there is to it," Bruce sighed. "But every time we start a place, the cops break it up sooner or later."
"They let us operate just as long as the payoff is regular," Nan said bitterly. "I believe they closed up the Stonewall because there was some trouble with the payoff to the cops. I think that's the real reason. It's a shame. It was such a lovely place. We never bothered anybody. Why couldn't they leave us alone?"
Shirley Evans, a neighbor with two children, agrees that the Stonewall was not a rowdy place and the persons who frequented the club were never troublesome. She lives at 45 Christopher St.
"Up until the night of the police raid there was never any trouble there," she said. "The homosexuals minded their own business and never bothered a soul. There were never any fights or hollering, or anything like that. They just wanted to be left alone. I don't know what they did inside, but that's their business. I was never in there myself. It was just awful when the police came. It was like a swarm of hornets attacking a bunch of butterflies."
A reporter visited the now closed Stonewall and it indeed looked like a cyclone had struck the premises.
Police said there were over 200 people in the Stonewall when they entered with a warrant. The crowd outside was estimated at 500 to 1,000. According to police, the Stonewall had been under observation for some time. Being a private club, plain clothesmen were refused entrance to the inside when they periodically tried to check the place. "They had the tightest security in the Village," a First Division officer said, "We could never get near the place without a warrant."
Police Talk
The men of the First Division were unable to find any humor in the situation, despite the comical overtones of the raid.
"They were throwing more than lace hankies," one inspector said. "I was almost decapitated by a slab of thick glass. It was thrown like a discus and just missed my throat by inches. The beer can didn't miss, though, "it hit me right above the temple."
Police also believe the club was operated by Mafia connected owners. The police did confiscate the Stonewall's cash register as proceeds from an illegal operation. The receipts were counted and are on file at the division headquarters. The warrant was served and the establishment closed on the grounds it was an illegal membership club with no license, and no license to serve liquor.
The police are sure of one thing. They haven't heard the last from the Girls of Christopher Street.
They sure fucking haven't. Now get your ass up and get down to the parade.
Labels: gay Pride, journalism, LGBT culture, LGBT History, LGBT rights, NYC, Stonewall Rebellion, West Village
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 23, 2012
Creating Better Karma
Your
thoughts, your words, and your deeds all create karma. And so through
practice, you learn how to create better karma, and then everything
about your life changes.
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- Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin, "A Right to the Dharma"
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 21, 2012
This is Buddha Life
Buddha
is revealed through mountains, valleys, trees, and grasses, through a
multitude of phenomena. The heart that can be revered in whatever form
we see, in whatever direction we look, this is the true heart of
Buddhism, this is Buddha life.
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- Soko Morinaga Roshi, "One Chance, One Encounter"
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Via JMG: QUEBEC: Province Launches First-Ever Registry Of Homophobic Acts
In what is being touted as a world-first, the province of Quebec has launched an official registry
to track acts of homophobia. With funding from the Quebec Justice
Department, the campaign is being administered by Montreal's gay
helpline, Gai Écoute. Gai Écoute’s anonymous and confidential Registre des actes homophobes will document complaints ranging from name-calling in schools to psychological harassment at work and physical assaults against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. The registry will not be used as a tool for a new homophobia police, McCutcheon said. “We will refer people (who fill out the registry’s forms) to existing resources, like youth protection officials, the human rights commission and the police,” he said. “We do not plan to intervene directly.” Based on the number and type of calls Gai Écoute gets, McCutcheon said he expects there might be hundreds of complaint-worthy cases for the registry. “We notice it especially in calls from outside of Montreal, in smaller communities. Sometimes it’s a student who got mocked at school or a teenager with parents threatening to throw the young person out."After two years, Gai Écoute will analyze its data and make recommendations to the provincial government. Quebec's anti-gay groups are, predictably, screaming.
Georges Buscemi, President of the Montreal-based pro-life and pro-family group Campagne Quebec Vie, told LifeSiteNews he saw the registry as a “means to instill a climate of oppression and fear to anyone who disagrees with any of the opinions of the homosexualist movement in Quebec.” “Anyone who might believe that a homosexual act is unacceptable at a moral level” is being sent a warning “that they will end up on a list,” he said. “A list to be used for a future purpose which in my opinion is to punish.” Buscemi gave examples of possible reprisals being the loss of charitable status for churches or teaching positions for professors. “It’s the beginning of a soft persecution,” he said. “It is really about inciting a climate of fear using the media, especially with the presence of the police. Any criticism will be interpreted as homophobia and eventually down the road there will be consequences.”
Via AmericaBlog Gay:
Temporary relief for same-sex couples facing deportation
Via
Chris Geidner: Over the past month, the Board of Immigration Appeals,
which is a part of the Department of Justice, has taken action in
several cases involving same-sex binational couples that has the result
of delaying the cases for now and potentially setting up the foreign
partner of the couples to be granted a marriage-based green card should
the Supreme Court declare Section 3 of the...
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 20, 2012
Transforming Pain Into Joy
Fundamental
darkness, or ignorance, causes us to experience the cycles of birth and
death as suffering. When we call forth and base ourselves on the
magnificent enlightened life that exists within each of us without
exception, however, even the most fundamental, inescapable sufferings of
life and death need not be experienced as pain. Rather, they can be
transformed into a life embodying the virtues of eternity, joy, true
self, and purity.
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Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 19, 2012
Feathers in the Wind
Instead
of focusing on some thoughts and feelings and pushing away others, just
look at them as feathers flying in the wind. The wind is your
awareness, your inborn openness and clarity.
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- Tsoknyi Rinpoche, "Feathers are Harmless"
Read the article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through June 21, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Read the article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through June 21, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Monday, June 18, 2012
Via JMG: UGANDA: Police Raid LGBT Meeting
Ugandan
police today raided an international LGBT rights meeting and questioned
the attendees. In addition to local activists, the meeting was attended
by representatives of Canada, Kenya, and Rwanda. The event was
organized by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project.
(Website)The police forced their way into some of the activists' hotel rooms, the group said. The training workshop was intended to bolster the local gay community's abilities to report rights abuses. Activists condemned the police action and said it represented a growing trend. "This ludicrous and senseless harassment of human rights activists has no basis in law whatsoever and has to stop," Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International's deputy director for Africa, said. "We are seeing a worrying pattern emerging whereby the Ugandan authorities engage in arbitrary activities deliberately designed to intimidate and threaten legitimate human rights work," Ms Kagari said.RELATED: In February Uganda's Minister of Ethics had police raid and shut down a secretly organized LGBT rights meeting. The event's organizer narrowly escaped arrest.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 18, 2012
Divine People
People
are mysterious, unfathomable—like divinities: natural objects for
reverence. But our habits of thought turn the people around us into
objects, the means for our self-protection.
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- Lama John Makransky, "Family Practice"
Read the article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through June 20, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Read the article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through June 20, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Via JMG: Dad Of Prop 8 Plaintiff Pens Essay
The New York Times has published a Father's Day essay by Dominick Zarrillo, the dad of one the men challenging Prop 8 in Perry v Brown.
None of us could believe something like that would pass in California. When it did, I wondered if Jeff and Paul would move from the place they loved and had called home for so long. They didn’t, though. Nor did they accept the new law and try to blend in as I told Jeff to do all those years ago. Instead, they did something that’s made me as proud as I’ve ever been: they fought back. Jeff and Paul and two women challenged the law in court, and in a landmark decision two years later, they won: Proposition 8 was declared unconstitutional by a judge in San Francisco. The proponents of Proposition 8 appealed, and Jeff and Paul won that, too.Read the full essay.
The United States Court of Appeals recently declined to take up the case before a larger panel, which opened the door for it to head to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Jeff and Paul still can’t legally marry. As this Father’s Day approached, all I could think about was how much I want my son to experience the joys of being a father, how much I want him to marry the person he loves and to raise a family. For now, he is still waiting, and fighting. I see how much the struggle costs him, how discouraging it is that despite his strength and patience and faith in the system, the ultimate decision rests in the hands of those who have yet to act.
One day soon, though, the powers that be are going to do the right thing. I’m his father, and it’s Father’s Day, so let me believe it. One day soon they’re going to let my brave, beautiful boy walk the same path we all get to take home.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma June 17, 2012
Father's Day Metta
The
Buddha encouraged us to think of the good things done for us by our
parents, by our teachers, friends, whomever; and to do this
intentionally, to cultivate it, rather than just letting it happen
accidentally.
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- Ajahn Sumedho, "The Gift of Gratitude"
Read the article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through June 19, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Read the article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through June 19, 2012
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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