Thursday, February 16, 2012
Via Follower of the Buddha: All phenomena are illusory displays of the mind.
Namo Buddhaya Namo Dharmaya Namo Sanghaya སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་
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.”
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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.
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.
Via JMG: Gay Death Penalty For Liberia?
Warren Throckmorton reports that a death penalty for homosexuality has been proposed in the Liberian legislature. Former Liberian first lady Jewel Howard Taylor has introduced a bill making homosexuality liable to a death sentence, amid a raging debate over gay rights in the country, a lawmaker said Wednesday. The bill submitted by former president Charles Taylor’s ex-wife, now a senator, also seeks to amend laws to prohibit gay marriage. “No two persons of the same sex shall have sexual relations.Jewel Howard Taylor's ex-husband, the former president of Liberia, is presently incarcerated in The Hague, where he awaits trial for crimes against humanity. Among the charges is an accusation that Taylor forced his soldiers to cannibalize his enemies. The United Nations has ordered Jewel Howard Taylor banned from traveling outside of Liberia.A violation of this prohibition will be considered a first degree felony,” reads the proposed amendment to marriage laws. First degree punishment can range from 10 years to life imprisonment to the death sentence, on the discretion of the judge. Voluntary sodomy is already a criminal offence in the west African country and can result in up to three years imprisonment.
Via Kweerspirit: A Progressive Voice
I Am A Values Voter
I am a faithful voter.
And, as it turns out, I have values.
I value equality.
I value civility.
I value religious pluralism.
I value "liberty and justice for ALL."
I value mutual affection (regardless of the genders expressing that affection).
I value civil liberties.
I value peace.
I value opportunity for all people.
I value diversity.
I value health, and I believe all people should have full access to health care.
Those who beat the drums of war, and those who confuse homophobia for family values, and those who point fingers and shout insults and make threats rather than engaging in respectful dialogue, and those who equate capitalism with democracy, and those who are willing to sacrifice civil liberties for a false sense of security clearly have values, and they are demonstrating what they value. But let's not be fooled into believing that those are the ONLY values to be had.
Liberal values are values none the less.
I, an unapologetic liberal, have values.
And I am a values voter.
Not everyone will share my values. But not everyone who uses the rhetoric of values speaks for all values, and certainly not for mine.
found at: http://kweerspirit.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-am-values-voter.html
Via JMG: Pelosi Endorses Dem Marriage Plank
Big news from Freedom To Marry:
"Freedom to Marry is proud to have Leader Pelosi joining our call to put the Democratic Party squarely on record in support of the freedom to marry as part of the national platform. A strong majority of Democrats and Independents support the freedom to marry, and standing up for all families is not just the right thing to do morally, it's also right to do politically. I hope more people will quickly join Leader Pelosi by signing Freedom to Marry's Democrats: Say I Do petition so together we can get the party, and the country, where the majority of Americans already are."Chris Geidner got the scoop at Metro Weekly. He notes:
The former House speaker's support for the move comes in response to Freedom to Marry's announcement on Feb. 13 that it was launching a campaign to ask the Democrats, as the group put it, to "Say I Do" to including such a marriage equality plank in the party's platform. The platform, a detailed statement of the party's positions that will be finalized at the Democratic National Convention this September, has never included language in support of the right of same-sex couples to marry. And the leader of the party, President Obama, opposed marriage equality in the 2008 campaign. He said in December 2010 that his position on marriage equality was "evolving" but that he still "struggle[s]" with it. His press secretary, Jay Carney, said this past week of Obama's position, "You know his position, where it stands now, on the issue of same-sex marriage, so I really don't have much to add on that."
Labels: 2012 elections, Democratic convention, Democrats, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Nancy Pelosi
JMG HomoQuotable - Armistead Maupin
"I’m outraged that there are currently major candidates for President of the United States who are using homophobia to rally their base. I’m pissed off at my Republican family back in North Carolina, several of whom came to my wedding, but who went right back and are voting for homophobes and acting like it doesn’t matter. It does matter and it’s time for the queers in this country to start saying so to their families. I think we’ve all cut them too much slack for far too long." - Armistead Maupin, speaking to Britain's Pink News.
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