Thursday, May 16, 2024
Via White Crane Institute \\ On this date a Gay couple in Malawi were sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor in prison
2010 -
On this date a Gay couple in Malawi were sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor in prison. STEVEN MONJENZA, 26, and TIWONGE CHIMBALANGA, 20, conducted a traditional engagement ceremony in late December in Chirimba, near Blantyre. After news reports surfaced of the same-sex engagement, they were rounded up by Malawi's police and charged under colonial-era sodomy laws.
The arrest received some popular support in the conservative southern African nation, but sparked outrage among Malawian and international Gay Rights campaigners. The presiding judge refused bail for the men, who are being held in Chichiru Prison in Blantyre. "It is quite outrageous," said Peter Tatchell, the Gay rights activist from Britain who is supporting the pair. "In Malawi, people facing much more serious felony charges for serious crimes usually get bail." Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for the release of the young men. The Malawi Law Society said the case has been driven by prejudice and not jurisprudence.
Chimbalanga sent British human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell this defiant message from jail: "If people or the world cannot give me the chance and freedom to continue living with him as my lover, then I am better off to die here in prison. Freedom without him is useless and meaningless."
Subsequent to the sentencing, Malawian president, Bingu wa Mutharika, released the pair, citing humanitarian grounds, after international pressure and the eventual visit of UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon to the southern African country.
Peter Tatchel told media in Malawi that they were liasing with Steve and Tiwongwe about whether they want to seek asylum abroad. "If they want then we can help them stay in Britain,'' said Tatchel.
The asylum offer came after Malawi’s Minister of Gender and
Children Patricia Kaliati said if the couple continues to stay together
they will be re-arrested.
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via Tricycle \\ Three Teachings
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“Não há nada mais brilhante do que o sol (日) e a lua. Não há nada mais puro do que a flor de lótus (蓮). Mas, o Sūtra do Lótus é mais brilhante que o sol e a lua. É tão puro quanto a flor de lótus. Por isso é chamado de “Sūtra da Flor de Lótus do Dharma Maravilhoso” ou “Sūtra do Lótus”. Eu, Nichiren (日蓮), também gostaria de ser como o sol, a lua e a flor de lótus”. Shijō Kingo nyōbō gosho (四条金吾女房御書).
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from False Speech
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Via Daily Dharma: Entering Practice
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Science often leads me to the door of wonder, teaching me to see new things with my eyes. But practice is what trains me to enter, leaving behind my sight.
Rachael Petersen, “Zen Mind, Vegetal Mind”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Via \\ Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - May 15, 2024 💌
"If you were resting in your ‘I am,’ you would look and you would see only the perfection of it all. And you would see that what we did in the ’60s is what created Ronald Reagan in the ’80s. You would see the way polarities work; you’d see the way forces polarize… You’d just see it as law unfolding right before you."
- Ram Dass -
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Via White Crane Institute // The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK)
Noteworthy
1897 -
The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) was founded in Berlin on the 14th or 15th of May, 1897, to campaign for social recognition of homosexual and transgender men and women, and against their legal persecution. It was the first such organization in history. It produced the Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen (Yearbook for Intermediate Sexual Types). This, as well as reporting the committee's activities, carried articles of scientific, polemical and literary natures. It was publish regularly from 1899 to 1923 (sometimes even quarterly) and more sporadically until 1933.
The initial focus of the WhK was Paragraph 175 of the Imperial Penal Code, which criminalized "coitus-like" acts between males — the WhK assisted defendants in criminal trials, conducted public lectures, and gathered signatures on a petition for the repeal of the law. Signatories included Albert Einstein, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Leo Tolstoy. Petitions were submitted to parliament, in 1898, 1922 and 1925, but failed to gain the support of the parliament, and the law continued to criminalize all male-male sexual acts until 1969 and wasn't entirely removed until 1994. Original members of the WhK included physician Magnus Hirschfeld, publisher Max Spohr, lawyer Eduard Oberg and writer Max von Bülow. Adolf Brand, Benedict Friedländer, and Kurt Hiller also joined the organization.
In 1929, Hiller took over as chairman of the group from Hirschfeld. At its peak, the WhK had about 500 members and branches in approximately 25 cities in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. The committee was dissolved in 1933 when the Nazis destroyed the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin where the WhK was based.
1974 -
On this date the first federal Gay Rights bill is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Equality Act of 1974, would have amended the 1964 Civil Rights Act, by adding "sexual orientation, to the list of protected from discrimination. Gay people in the United States are STILL waiting for these protections even though most Americans still believe we are covered.
1981 -
The Reagan administration cancels the White House subscription to The Advocate.
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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