Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The mind is something more radiant than anything else can be, but because counterfeits--passing defilements--come and obscure it, it loses its radiance, like the sun when obscured by clouds. Don't go thinking that the sun goes after the clouds. Instead, the clouds come drifting along and obscure the sun. - Ajaan Mun, "Heart Released" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 24, 2013

The Possibility of Transformation

Only because of emptiness can things change and flow. Emptiness is not a vacuum, a black hole, but the possibility of endless transformations. There is no more grasping, or self-created barriers and limitations. The Buddha-nature can shine through and express itself fully.

- Martine Batchelor, “The Ten Oxherding Pictures”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 25th, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Via Loja Sobre Budismo / FB:

Jay-Z's Stunningly Down-To-Earth Take On Gay Marriage

Via Bay Area Reporter : NJ High School Senior Comes Out as Gay to His Entire Class, Gets Standing Ovation:

Towleroad today featured a great story. Read the story below. See the VIDEO at the the end of the story.

Our reader Scott sent us this clip of Jacob Rudolph, a high school senior in Parsippany, New Jersey, who came out to his entire class at their awards ceremony (Class Clown, Most Likely to Succeed, etc.).

Says Jacob in the clip, as he accepted the award for Best Actor (my transcript):

"Sure I've been in a few plays and musicals, but more importantly, I've been acting every single day of my life. You see, I've been acting as someone I'm not. Most of you see me every day. You see me acting the part of 'straight' Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT. Unlike millions of other LGBT teens who have had to act every day to avoid verbal harassment and physical violence, I'm not going to do it anymore. It's time to end the hate in our society and accept the people for who they are regardless of their sex, race, orientation, or whatever else may be holding back love and friendship. So take me leave me or move me out of the way. Because I am what I am, and that's how I'm going to act from now on."

Writes Scott: "As I am a gay friend of his dad's, he sought out my advice before taking the plunge, but the decision was all his. The best part of the video is when he gets a standing ovation after he comes out. This is an amazingly courageous kid and I hope he gets the props he deserves."

VIDEO: http://youtu.be/-c4_anB-Vvk

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The problem isn't materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity to experience happiness at a deeper level which, when achieved, can overwhelm unhappy experiences. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 23, 2013

What Connects Us All

To be able to suffer with is good news because it means you can share power with, share joy with, exchange love with. Let your pain tell you that you are not alone. What we thought might have been sealing us off can become connective tissue.

- Joanna Macy, “Schooling Our Intention”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 24th, 2013
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Via Luminous and Healthy / FB: The Precious Jewel Within...

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.

The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Please give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

Via JMG: Prop 8 Backers File First SCOTUS Brief

 

Today the legal team representing Protect Marriage, the backers of Proposition 8, filed their first brief at the Supreme Court. Chris Geidner has the story at Buzzfeed:

Arguing that the case brought by same-sex couples seeking to marry was unlike past gay rights cases where the court struck down anti-gay restrictions and also unlike Loving v. Virginia, in which the court struck down bans on interracial marriage, the proponents of Proposition 8 argue that there is no historic reason "for invalidating marriage as it has existed in California for virtually all of its history, as it was universally understood throughout this Nation (and the world) until just the last decade, and as it continues to be defined in the overwhelming majority of States and Nations."

Geidner clips this passage from the brief:

Our Constitution does not mandate the traditional gendered definition of marriage, but neither does our Constitution condemn it. This Court, accordingly, should allow the public debate regarding marriage to continue through the democratic process, both in California and throughout the Nation.

Arguments in the case are scheduled to begin on March 26th.
Among the numerous articles listed in the "authorities" portion of the Protect Marriage brief are two essays by homocon writer and marriage equality supporter Jonathan Rauch.  From a December 2012 article penned by Rauch for The New Republic:

I tell my gay friends: imagine if the Supreme Court had ordered gay marriage this past June, at the end of its 2011-2012 term. November’s game-changing electoral victories would never have happened. Gay marriage advocates would be forever stereotyped as political losers who won by running to mommy. Our opponents would mock and denigrate our marriages as court-created, legalistic fictions. The country would never have shown how much it has changed.  If we have come that far in five years, imagine where we might be in five more. Imagine, then, the opportunities to extend and consolidate support that we will lose if the Supreme Court steps in now. Strange but true: a favorable Supreme Court intervention next year would make us weaker, not stronger.

Labels: Alliance Defense Fund, California, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Protect Marriage, religion, SCOTUS

posted by Joe

JMG HomoQuotable - Frank Bruni

"Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall. The alliteration of that litany made it seem obvious and inevitable, a bit of poetry just there for the taking. Just waiting to happen. But it has waited a long time. And President Obama’s use of it in his speech on Monday — his grouping of those three places and moments in one grand and musical sentence — was bold and beautiful and something to hear. It spoke volumes about the progress that gay Americans have made over the four years between his first inauguration and this one, his second. It also spoke volumes about the progress that continues to elude us. [snip]

 "Despite our strides, gay and lesbian couples even now can marry only in nine states and the District of Columbia. The federal government doesn’t recognize those weddings, meaning that in terms of taxes, military benefits and matters of immigration, it treats gays and lesbians differently than it treats other Americans. It relegates us to an inferior class. The Supreme Court could soon change, or validate, that. There are relevant cases before it. For his part Obama could show less deference to states’ rights, be more insistent about what’s just and necessary coast-to-coast, and push for federal protections against employment discrimination when it comes to L.G.B.T. Americans. His actions over the next four years could fall wholly in line with Monday’s trailblazing words. My hope is real, and grateful, and patient." - Frank Bruni, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: Frank Bruni, HomoQuotable, Inauguration Day

Reposted from Joe