Via JMG: Denmark To Legalize Gay Marriage

Denmark's government has announced plans to legalize same-sex marriage by the spring.

Denmark is the latest European nation to announce plans to introduce gay marriage, with same-sex couples to be allowed to marry on Church of Denmark premises. The Danish coalition Government’s church minister, Manu Sareen, told local newspaper Jyllands-Posten that gay men and women will soon be able to marry when legislation is introduced early next year. “I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I’ll be standing out there throwing rice,” he said.

In 1989 Denmark became to first nation to offer civil partnerships for gay couples.

Labels: Denmark, LGBT rights, marriage equality

reposted from Joe

Gus Johnston: The reality of homophobia in sport

Via JMG: Zimbabwe PM Calls For Gay Rights

In what's being described as a stunning reversal in policy, the prime minister of Zimbabwe is calling for gay rights to be guaranteed in his nation's new constitution, which is presently under review.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reversed his position on gay rights, saying he now wants them enshrined in a new constitution. He told the BBC that gay rights were a "human right" that conservative Zimbabweans should respect. Last year, Mr Tsvangirai joined President Robert Mugabe in opposing homosexuality. The fractious coalition formed by the two leaders has promised political reforms ahead of next year's elections. Zimbabwe is in the process of drafting a new constitution, which will be put to a referendum ahead of the elections. Homosexual acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe, as in most African countries where many people view homosexuality as un-Christian and un-African.

Observers expect President Mugabe to exploit this development in his campaign for reelection.

(Tipped by JMG reader Nicholas)

Labels: Africa, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: IRELAND: President Mary McAleese Named Most Gay-Friendly Politician

Great acceptance speech!



(Via JMG reader Vivian)

Labels: Ireland, LGBT rights

reposted from Joe

Facebook Foto of the Day:

Religion is Pants

Via JMG: Cain: I Support Federal Marriage Ban

Tea Party favorite Herman Cain says he's changed his mind and now supports a federal amendment banning same-sex marriage.

“I think marriage should be protected at the federal level also. I used to believe that it could be just handled by the states but there’s a movement going on to basically take the teeth out of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and that could cause an unraveling, so we do need some protection at the federal level because of that and so yes I would support legislation that would say that it’s between a man and a woman.”

Even Cain's endorsers at GOProud are unhappy.

Labels: 2012 elections, GOP, Tea Party, teabaggers

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Help! We're Being Oppressed!

JMG Quote Of The Day

"Child welfare? What child will be better off if there are fewer competent agencies recruiting loving homes for children? This is meanness, pure and simple, animated by an irrational hatred towards our great religious faith traditions. It is the result of the core ideas now driving the movement to redefine marriage: gay is like black, which makes our great traditional faith communities the moral and legal equivalent of racists. Surely America can do better than that. Religious liberty is not an affront to anyone's civil rights, it is one of our Constitution's core guarantees and our community's deeply shared values." - Former NOM chaircow Maggie Gallagher, writing on the website for the Manhattan Declaration.

NOTE: The Manhattan Declaration is a 2009 document that calls on all Christians to disobey any law granting rights to LGBT Americans.

Labels: bovine spongiform encephalopathy, gay adoption, hate groups, Illinois, Maggie Gallagher, Manhattan Declaration, NOM, Quote Of The Day

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma: Beyond Positive and Negative

Tricycle Daily Dharma October 23, 2011

Beyond Positive and Negative

Entering the awakened state of mind, even for a moment, is always preceded by an experience, however fleeting, of extreme contrast and conflict. Even on the highest and most subtle levels of attainment, negative and positive continue together side by side, until one makes the leap beyond them both.

– Francesca Freemantle, "The Luminous Gap in Bardo"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection