SFPD, "It gets better"

Via JMG: NEW YORK CITY: Gay Couples Wed Atop Empire State Building For First Time

The Empire State Building only permits wedding ceremonies on Valentine's Day. For the first time ever, two of today's four sky-high couples were gay. Shawn Klein and Phil Fung, pictured above, met 18 years ago at the famed Roxy nightclub. Hit the link for more photos and a video.

Labels: Empire State Building, gay weddings, LGBT History, NYC, Valentine's Day

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: UGANDA: Government Raids And Shuts Down Secret LGBT Rights Conference

Acting on the orders of Minister for Ethics & Integrity Simon Lokodo (left), the Ugandan government has raided and shut down a secretly organized conference on LGBT rights.

The two week conference organised by Freedom and Roam Uganda, an association that lobbies for the recognition of same sex relationships in Uganda ended prematurely when the minister ordered them to disperse. "I have closed this conference because it's illegal. We do not accept homosexuality in Uganda. So go back home," Minister Lokodo told the participants. Hotel staff had been asked by the organisers not to direct anyone to Elgon hall where the conference was taking place unless the person had been cleared. This would have required a phone call from the organisers. The Minister said the hotel’s management apologized for hosting the event.

Minister Lokodo ordered the arrest of the conference organizer, but according to the above-linked news story, she escaped. That conflicts with another account reported by Box Turtle Bulletin, which states that the organizer was apprehended, but later released. Lokodo is a former Catholic priest who was defrocked last August when he disobeyed Vatican orders to drop his pursuit of a political office.

IMPORTANT: Box Turtle Bulletin's Jim Burroway notes that contrary to Lokodo's statements to the press, Uganda's "kill the gays" bill is still very much on the table. The genesis of that bill came during visits to Uganda by American evangelicals such as Scott Lively.

Labels: Africa, Box Turtle Bulletin, LGBT rights, Uganda

reposted from Joe

Derrence and Ed - Their Story After Ed's Passing

Gregoire signs marriage equality bill.mp4

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 14, 2012

An Open Heart

As we become more inwardly free from our conditioning and our fears, the love and connection that are possible in relationships tend to flow through us more naturally. As our defenses are lowered, our heart opens, and there is a natural desire to give from the generosity of the heart. We discover that genuine happiness in relationships is not a product of having our expectations met or getting what we want but rather it is the consequence of freely giving in order to bring happiness to another.

- Ezra Bayda, "Giving Through Relationships"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: What’s next for California couples waiting to marry?

Both sides in the legal fight over the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 expect the matter to eventually be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. If the court decides to take the Prop 8 case, Justice Anthony Kennedy could be the swing vote in a close decision. Until then, a stay of the appellate court decision remains in place, meaning same-sex couples will not be able to marry in California for the time being, though attorneys will fight to lift the stay. “There's no reason that people ought to be deprived of their constitutional rights now that those rights have been affirmed by the court of appeals,” said David Boies, who’s arguing the case on the side of marriage equality supporters.

Via AmericaBlogGay: Washington state couples close to winning freedom to marry

A bipartisan vote in the Washington State House this week sent a marriage equality bill to the desk of Gov. Christine Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law Monday. The law could become effective in June unless opponents can gather the signatures necessary to force the issue onto a statewide ballot. The final House debate featured testimony from openly gay lawmakers including Rep. Jamie Pedersen, who told his colleagues "I would like our four children to understand...that their daddy and their papa have made that lifelong commitment to each other."

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 12, 2012

Inhabit Your Body As we inhabit our body with increasing sensitivity, we learn its unspoken language and patterns, which gives us tremendous freedom to make choices. The practice of cutting thoughts and dispersing negative repetitive patterns can be simplified by attending to the patterns in the body first, before they begin to be spun around in the mind. - Jill Satterfield, "Meditation in Motion" Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 10, 2012

No Magic Solutions

If there’s one lesson that runs through pretty much every Buddhist tradition, it’s this: there are no magic solutions. Our belief in magic solutions that may happen some day in the future keeps us from doing what we really need to do right here and right now.

- Brad Warner, "A Minty Fresh Mind"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection