Saturday, November 26, 2011
Via JMG: First Gay Wedding For The Comics
For the mainstream comics, that is. Bleeding Cool has the backstory.Labels: comic books, gay weddings
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 26, 2011
Absolute Stillness
If you wish to cultivate absolute stillness and clarity of mind, right here and now, sit down and imagine yourself on a peaceful shore or by a tranquil lake. If the mind is a snow globe whirling with thoughts, images, memories, and inchoate feelings, then the winds of internal energy and self-seeking—analyzing, evaluating, pushing and pulling, based on likes and dislikes—are what keep it stirred up and the snowstorm in motion, obscuring the inner landscape. Let the snow globe of your heart and mind settle by relaxing, breathing deeply a few times, and releasing all the tension, preoccupations, and concerns you’ve been carrying—at least for the moment. Let the gentle tide of breath carry it all away like the ocean’s waves, like a waterfall washing your heart, mind, and spirit clean, pure, and bright. |
– Lama Surya Das, "Be Still"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Friday, November 25, 2011
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma November 25, 2011
Keeping a Good Heart
There is a saying that “the dharma has no owner; it belongs to whomever is most diligent.” Sometimes people say, “I don’t have time to devote myself to practice, I’m doing a lot of different things and I am obliged to do them.” But honestly, it’s not that one has to go to some other place and close the door and be quiet in order to practice. That’s not the only way. It’s definitely the case that we can practice at any given moment. We can always try a little more to be kind, to be compassionate and be careful about what we do and say and so forth. |
– Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Keeping a Good Heart"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Via JMG: Crazy Eyes: NBC Owes Me An Apology
Michele Bachmann isn't satisfied with an apology from Jimmy Fallon, she wants his network to apologize too. "I think the point is," she told Fox News's America's Newsroom, "if that had been Michelle Obama who had come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they could have fired the drummer, at least suspended him, none of that happened from NBC and this is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite but it’s also I think it’s sexism as well."Michele Bachmann wants your family destroyed, your partner ripped from your arms, and your gayness "fixed." In this case, I find it very fucking hard to care what anybody thinks is sexist.
Via JMG: CBS Deletes Letterman's "Ex-Gay" Cracks About Ladybird Bachmann From Web
Last night David Letterman made some cracks about Michele Bachmann which included jabs at Ladybird: "And if you're a homosexual, her husband will take care of ya. He's got a thing, a camp or a clinic or something. And if you're a homosexual and you feel you're in the need of some special treatment or counseling, he'll take care of you." Towleroad reports that Letterman's bit about Mr. Bachmann have been deleted from the web archive of the show. YouTube's still got it, for now.
(Via Enzo at Aksarbent)
Reposted from Joe
and
(Via Enzo at Aksarbent)
Reposted from Joe
and
Via JMG: Guest Post - Carl Siciliano
The holiday season frightens me. It is the time of year our homeless kids are most likely to attempt suicide. Kids who have been cast out of their homes suffer badly during a season that celebrates and idealizes family togetherness.Yesterday I met with a group of kids at our drop-in center in Chelsea. They were all out in the cold at night, waiting for beds to open up in our shelters. One boy, who is 16 years old, told me how everything went bad for him when he was eleven. His father demanded to know if he was gay and when the boy was honest, his father refused to speak to him for three years. His mother tells him that he is a mistake and that she wishes she never had him. He has been running away repeatedly since then. There is nothing to celebrate at his home. I had a hard time sleeping last night, wondering what he had suffered.
What a sick, toxic force homophobia is in our society, destroying homes, making parents turn on their own children. Tens of thousands of teens in our country have been forced out of their homes. An LGBT teen is eight times more likely to suffer homelessness than a straight teen. The religious and political leaders who promote homophobia are causing terrible human suffering. They lie when they say they are promoting family values.
The waiting list for our shelter beds skyrocketed in the last year. More than half the kids coming to us for help are from out of state. Most are from the red states. Even though we recently opened a new 20-bed shelter, we now have a waiting list of over 200 kids. In New York City there are only 250 youth shelter beds for a population of 3,800 kids, 40% of whom are LGBT.
I am haunted by the perception that these kids are paying the price for our victories. I believe that when there is a lot of conflict about gay rights, parents who give credence to homophobic religious and political leaders take it out on their LGBT kids. It is no coincidence that our waiting list grew more than ever before in a year that saw the overturning of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the achievement of Marriage Equality in New York.
The fight for LGBT equality for adults is often a matter of changing laws. But for these kids, who have been made destitute by homophobia, it is a fight for resources. A gay teen may not be able to depend on their parent's love, but they should be able to depend on our community to protect them. We cannot allow them to be left out in the streets.We need to marshall our resources to provide for them, and demand that our tax dollars help to create a safety net for them.
At the Ali Forney Center we are doing our best to protect the kids. We now house 77 every night in eight different shelter and longer-term housing sites. We serve hundreds more daily in our two drop-in centers. We work especially hard during the holiday season to create a warm and joyful environment for the kids. We have Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts at all of our housing sites and drop-in centers. We bring together many people to help us with all the food and withassembling abundant presents for all the hundreds of kids. Honestly, making the kids feel as happy and loved as possible during this season can be a matter of life and death.
I am deeply grateful to the community of people surrounding JMG for your generosity to the Ali Forney Center. Over the past few years the appeals Joe has invited me to write have generated over $65K. On this Thanksgiving day, I give my thanks to all of you who have been so kind and caring.
I hope that you will consider continuing to support our work. Donations can be made online or can be mailed to:
Ali Forney Center
224 West 35th Street, Suite 1102
New York, NY 10001
Thank you!
Carl Siciliano
Executive Director
Ali Forney Center
NOTE FROM JOE: The Ali Forney Center rates highly per the Best Practices guidelines of Charity Navigator, which judges non-profits on how efficiently they handle their funding. Donations are tax-deductible.Labels: Ali Forney Center, Carl Siciliano, good work, guest post, homelessness, JMG community, LGBT youth, NYC, Thanksgiving
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
November 24, 2011
Each bite of food
When we are able to fully appreciate the basic activities of eating and drinking, we discover an ancient secret, the secret of how to become content and at ease. The Zen teachings talk about the exquisite taste of plain water. Have you ever been very, very thirsty? Maybe you were on a long hike, or sick, or working without a break in the summer heat. When you were finally able to drink, even plain water, you remember how wonderful it was. Actually, each sip of liquid and each bite of food can be that fresh and delicious, once we learn again just to be present. |
– Jan Chozen Bays, "Mindful Eating"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Via AmericaBlogGay: Peruvian mayor warns tap water can turn you gay
Rumors of gay-making tap water have surfaced in
Huarmey Mayor Jose Benitez wasn't aware of that, apparently, and used that report as the basis for his warning:
"Unfortunately strontium reduces male hormones and suddenly we'll be as Tabalosos, as other towns, where the percentages are increasing of homosexuality. Young people have low self-esteem by this stigma."
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Via JMG: Concerned Women Are Concernstipated About Gay Marriage Ruining Europe
"While the social science research clearly and unequivocally shows that marriage is central to the welfare of individuals and the entire social order, unwarranted changes in family structure are profoundly reshaping our post-modern society and even our global economies. [snip] Ireland has the brightest fertility outlook, with total fertility measured at 2.1 (children per woman) and Greece, following at 1.5. Italy, Portugal, and Spain all have fertility rates of 1.4 children per woman, which is a growing concern in terms of exasperating the old-age dependency ratio. Throughout the years, what we have learned, to our sorrow, is that the consequences of the decline in marriage and breakdown of the family have not only negatively affected generations of individuals on a personal level, the decline of marriage has undermined social institutions and shaken the stability and economic viability of nations." - Janet Crouse, writing on the Concerned Women blog.Via JMG: PEW REPORTS: Anti-Gay Religious Groups Spending Big Despite Economy
Virulently anti-gay Christian groups figure prominently in the Pew Forum's ranking of spending for religious advocacy. Roll Call notes that NOM more than doubled its spending the year after the passage of Prop 8. Keep in mind that all of the above groups maintain separate arms for "political advocacy" and other spending. For example, the total 2010 expenditure for Focus On The Family alone was $138,000,000. That's about two times the combined annual budgets of the ten largest LGBT rights groups.
Via AmericaBlogGay: UC Davis pepper-spray cop accused of previously slurring gay cop
AP:
But an alleged anti-gay slur by Pike also figured in a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit a former police officer filed against the department, which ended in a $240,000 settlement in 2008. Officer Calvin Chang's 2003 discrimination complaint against the university's police chief and the UC Board of Regents alleged he was systematically marginalized as the result of anti-gay and racist attitudes on the force, and he specifically claimed Pike described him using a profane anti-gay epithet.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Via Gay Politics Report:
Validity of Prop 8's ruling will be decided by federal appeals court
The issues of whether a federal judge was correct in overturning California's Proposition 8 marriage ban and whether he was fit to decide the case despite being gay will be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Combining the decisions could streamline the case for a potential hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. In June, a federal court rejected an attempt by marriage rights opponents to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to throw out Proposition 8. Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot
The issues of whether a federal judge was correct in overturning California's Proposition 8 marriage ban and whether he was fit to decide the case despite being gay will be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Combining the decisions could streamline the case for a potential hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. In June, a federal court rejected an attempt by marriage rights opponents to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to throw out Proposition 8. Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot
Via JMG: Major League Baseball Adds "Sexual Orientation" To Union Agreement
More good news in the world of sports.Major League Baseball, which saw Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in 1947, today will announce incremental progress in another civil rights issue. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement adds “sexual orientation” to its section on discrimination, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement told the Daily News. Article XV, Section A of the MLB’s expiring Basic Agreement, in effect from 2006-2011, states: “The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” In the new agreement, which will be made public this afternoon, the words “sexual orientation” will be added to the equivalent section.RELATED: You may recall that the San Francisco Giants, upon the urging of local activist Sean Chapin, became the first pro sports team to create an "It Gets Better" video. Several other pro baseball teams have since followed suit. I don't think it's far-fetched to give Chapin some credit for today's news.
Via JMG: NORTH CAROLINA: Baptist Church Votes "No Marriages Until Gays Can Marry Too"
With the backing of their openly lesbian pastor, a Baptist church in Raleigh, North Carolina has voted to prohibit her from signing marriage certificates until gay couples can marry too. The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law - and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution - discriminates against same-sex couples "by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples." "As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination," the church's statement says. The vote was unanimous and brought tears to the eyes of some of the 100 or so members who stood to vote in favor of the "statement on marriage ceremonies."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)