Via JMG: INDIA: Supreme Court Hears Challenge To Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

In 2009 the Delhi High Court struck down laws that criminalized gay sex, a move that was celebrated by LGBT activists around the world. Anti-gay and religious groups immediately appealed that decision. This week the Indian Supreme Court began hearings.

Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umri, president of the hardline Indian Islamic group Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said in 2009: “The time has come for all religious leaders to unite on this issue and jointly protest the government’s proposed move to legalise gay rights. A consensus should be evolved for challenging the Delhi High Court order in the Supreme Court.” The case has now been brought and debate began at the Supreme Court yesterday with a petition by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyaya asked petitioners who had the authority to decide the “order of nature” that gay acts supposedly violate. They asked: “Test-tube babies, surrogate mothers – are they in the order of nature?”

RELATED: Anti-sodomy laws were imposed up India over 150 years ago when the British took control. Prior to that no such ban existed.

Labels: homosexuality, India, LGBT rights

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: ANCHORAGE: Christian Hate Groups To Battle Against Proposed LGBT Rights Bill

For 35 years, LGBT residents of Anchorage, Alaska have battled for employment and housing protections. Time after time Christian groups have beaten them back. Last week activists successfully placed a referendum on the November ballot which adds the words "sexual orientation and gender identity" to this long list: "race, color, sex, religion, national origin, marital status, age, physical disability, and mental disability." The result? Outrage, websites, and a vow to defeat LGBT rights yet again.

Labels: Alaska, Alaska Family Council, Anchorage, bigotry, LGBT rights, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Stonewall Democrats To Log Cabin: Don't Endorse Anti-Gay Candidates

The National Stonewall Democrats have launched a petition campaign asking the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing anti-LGBT candidates this year. Stonewall's executive director Jerame Davis writes:

In 2004, Log Cabin Republicans took a principled stand and refused to endorse George W. Bush for his support of a federal marriage amendment alone. These candidates have pledged to go farther than President Bush ever considered. Will Log Cabin Republicans follow its own precedent and refuse to endorse anti-equality politicians? Recent stories in the media suggest they may actually be willing to overlook the anti-LGBT pledges GOP candidates have taken against our community. Sign the petition and tell Log Cabin Republicans they should never endorse anti-LGBT candidates who pledge to deny us equality.

RELATED: The other allegedly gay Republican group, GOProud, has already issued a statement declaring that any of the four remaining GOP candidates would make a better president that Obama. GOProud staffers have been photographed brandishing a Romney banner.

Labels: 2012 elections, gay Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans, Stonewall Democrats

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 16, 2012

Developing Creative Awareness

It is essential that you cultivate the twin elements of concentration and inquiry in your meditation. Concentration will bring stability, stillness, and spaciousness; inquiry will bring alertness, vividness, brightness, and clarity. Combined, they will help you to develop creative awareness, an ability to bring a meditative mind to all aspects of your daily life.

- Martine Batchelor, "A Refuge into Being"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Faithful America and Bishop Gene Robinson Deliver 20k Signatures to MSNBC

Via Follower of the Buddha: All phenomena are illusory displays of the mind.

All phenomena are illusory displays of the mind.
The mind is no mind, as the nature of the mind is empty.
It is empty, yet it is unceasing and unimpeded, manifesting as everything whatsoever.
Through careful observation, may the root be cut through.
Appearances have no true existence,
seeing self-manifestation as objects is illusory.
Because of ignorance, self-awareness is mistaken as "I".
Because of dualistic fixation, beings wander in samsara.
 

Rangjung Dorje the 3dr Karmapa

 

Follower of the Buddha

 

Namo Buddhaya Namo Dharmaya Namo Sanghaya སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་རྣམས་ ལ། Sang-gye cho-dang tsog-kyi cho-nam-la I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha 諸佛正法眾中尊 བྱང་ཆུབ་བར་དུ་བདག་ནི་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། Jang-chub bar-du dag-ni kyab-su-chi Until I attain enlightenment. 直至菩提我歸依དག་གིས་སྦྱིན་སོགས་བགྱིས་པའི་བསོད་ན... 

 

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By: Follower of the Buddha

Via JMG: COLORADO: Civil Unions Bill Advances

Colorado's civil unions bill today cleared its first legislative hurdle as it passed 5-2 before the state Senate Judiciary Committee. A similar bill failed last year.

Hundreds of people packed a hearing room at the Capitol to plead with lawmakers to give them legal protections traditional couples enjoy. The issue has gained traction as more states have recently passed either civil union or gay marriage laws. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper urged lawmakers to pass civil unions during his State of the State speech last month, and more Republicans have expressed public support for the measure. The bill, passed on a 5-2 vote with one Republican senator joining Democrats, is expected to easily clear the full Senate. The real challenge will be in the Republican-controlled House.

One Colorado reacts via press release.

“We applaud today’s vote to ensure that all committed couples have the tools they need to provide for the ones they love. Especially in these difficult economic times, gay and lesbian couples need civil unions to take care of their families. “Today’s testimony reflects the widespread support for this legislation. Business executives and faith leaders, Republicans and Democrats, gay parents and straight allies all realize that passing civil unions is the right thing to do. “With their approval, the Senators on the Judiciary Committee affirmed that all families are worthy of dignity and respect.”

Labels: civil unions, Colorado, LGBT rights

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: CHINA: Survey Shows Huge Majority Of Young People Are Not Homophobic

The official news agency of the Chinese government reports that over 80% of young Chinese say they have no problem with gay people. Via Xinhau:

More than 80 percent of Chinese people born after the 1980s hold no discriminatory beliefs regarding homosexuality, according to a survey on marriage perspectives conducted by jiayuan.com, a major Chinese dating website. The survey results, which were published in the Monday edition of the Beijing News, indicate that 83 percent of respondents born between 1980 and 1989, as well as 82 percent of those born after 1990, do not disapprove of homosexuality. The online survey of 85,439 people, most of whom were between the ages of 20 and 50, also revealed that about 15 percent of female respondents would not marry a man who does not own an apartment and a car.

As we well know from our own freeping expeditions, online survey can often mean bupkis. What's most interesting here, I think, is the fact that the news was reported on by the Chinese government itself.

Labels: China, homophobia, LGBT culture

Reposted from Joe

The Wedding Dance Film

Via JMG: WASHINGTON: Activists Launch "Decline To Sign Referendum 74" Campaign

Within minutes of Gov. Gregoire's signing of Washington's marriage equality bill, hate groups filed the paperwork to begin collecting petitions to repeal the law. They haven't yet cleared the procedural hurdles to start accepting signatures, but gay activists have already launched their own decline to sign campaign.

IMPORTANT: Should our enemies gather enough signatures by the cutoff date of June 6th, the next step will be to educate the public that they should vote YES on Referendum 74, which asks if marriage equality should be KEPT. And NOT whether it should be repealed. This sort of counter-intuitive wording often appears on ballot measures, dammit.

Labels: activism, LGBT rights, Washington state

reposted from Joe