Via JMG: Football!

Labels: Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Super Bowl

Reposted from Joe Jervis

We Shall Overcome - In Moscow, with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles

Via JMG: Coalition Of Human Rights Groups: Sochi's Top Corporate Sponsors Must Speak Out

 

A coalition of 40 human rights groups have issued a joint letter to the top ten corporate sponsors of the Sochi Olympics which demands that they denounce Russia's abuses against LGBT people. Via press release:

Corporate sponsors of the Sochi Winter Olympics should act now to urge Russia to halt the rising tide of discrimination, harassment and threats against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, 40 of the world’s leading human rights and LGBT groups said today, in an unusual joint open letter. The letter to all of the leading sponsors of the Sochi Olympics asks them to use their leverage as underwriters of the 2014 Winter Games in a variety of concrete ways.
The groups urged sponsors to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda” law, which violates the Olympic Charter’s principle of non-discrimination, and to ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to undertake systemic reforms to monitor and prevent human rights abuses in future host countries. “Time is running out for the sponsors to take a clear stand in defense of Olympic values,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “These companies are sponsoring an Oympics marred by ugly discrimination and serious rights abuses. They should speak out forcefully for equality and human rights.”
The joint letter is addressed to the 10 TOP Sponsors of the Sochi Games (members of “The Olympic Partner” (TOP) Program)--Atos, Coca Cola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, and Visa. The Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights Watch and several other groups have engaged with the sponsors for nearly a year to urge them to act on abuses.

Among the groups in the coalition: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Human Rights Campaign, Athlete Ally, GLAAD, Family Equality Council, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Including in the requests for action, the letter asks that Sochi's top corporate sponsors address LGBT rights in their Olympic advertising. 

Labels: advertising, Amnesty International, Athlete Ally, Coca-Cola, General Electric, GLAAD, HRC, Human Rights Watch, LGBT rights, McDonald's, NCLR, Russia, Samsung, Sochi Olympics, Visa

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 2, 2014

Unconditional Freedom

The Buddha taught that freedom is going beyond conditions. For me, the people who have been through the harshest conditions—and survived—have the greatest potential to transform the madness of their lives. See, that madness made them who they are. So if they can take that madness, claim it, and stand on top of its incredible energy, they can transform it into power.

- Vinny Ferraro, "The Heartful Dodger"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 3, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 1, 2014

Reason for Faith

For ordinary people, faith is the cause that opens the door to wisdom. For many convert Buddhists in the West, the central place of faith in Nichiren Buddhism, as well as in Pure Land, might seem strange and even un-Buddhist. But this has little to do with how the religion has traditionally been practiced and much to do with how Buddhism has been interpreted for the modern West.

- Jacqueline Stone, “The Final Word: An Interview with Jacqueline Stone”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 2, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

LIVE AND LET LOVE - Russian National Anthem

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 31, 2014

Right Understanding

According to Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths, all life is dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness; suffering is caused by desire; desire can be dissolved; and the means to achieve this is the Noble Eightfold Path. Furthermore it's essential to note that the first step on the Path is right understanding. In order to attain liberation from suffering, we need to understand the nature of that suffering. We need to have knowledge of the world—including ourselves—as it really is.

- Jeffery Zaleski, "The Science of Compassion"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 1, 2014
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Via JMG: Christian Hate Group Cheers Uganda: Homosexuality Is Worse Than Murder

Brian Tashman writes at Right Wing Watch:

Paul Cameron’s Family Research Institute is upset that Marvin Olasky of the Religious Right-aligned WORLD magazine dared to criticize Uganda’s draconian anti-gay bill, which recently passed parliament but has been blocked by the president, at least for now. In a response on its website, Cameron’s group took issue with Olasky’s claim that the bill is “harsh and unlikely to be effective,” saying that harsh measures are needed to curb homosexuality…just like murder.

From the Family Research Institute:

Homophobia? This propaganda word does not belong in Christian discourse. Dislike of homosexuality, general avoidance of those who practice it, and trying to keep our kids safe from gay predators are hardly ‘problems’ for Christians — it is ‘who we are supposed to be.’ To be sure, we will find ourselves out of tune with Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s “If I go up to heaven and find a homophobic God, I will tell him I prefer the other place.” Similarly, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of President Obama, Hollywood, David Cameron, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the EU, the media, etc. If God calls something wrong but our elite say it’s precious, our marching orders are clear. Laws against murder are harsh and unlikely to be effective (in completely stopping murder). But such laws educate as to what is ‘correct’ and serve as a disincentive to commit murder. Just because we cannot specify how many lives were saved by a particular law hardly means the law was ineffective. Surely the fact that people still commit murder, rape, or theft would not cause Dr. Olasky to label them as “ineffective” and not worth having.

And then we get this:

Homosexuality violates God’s first commandment to ‘be fruitful,’ and is at the very heart of Biblical denunciation of rebellion against God (see Deut 32 and Romans 1). Homosexual lust led to the painful incineration of 26 brave Ugandan Christian boys and young men. It cannot be ignored without substantial intellectual and moral peril. Arguably Christianity’s greatest preacher, John Chrysostom, called it the worst sin, worse even than murder. While every sin in Scripture is not to be carried into public law, if this sin is not, what would Olasky nominate and how would he justify it?

Paul Cameron, lest you forget, is the lunatic whose deranged claim that average gay man dies at age 42 is regularly parroted by anti-gay hate groups.

Labels: Africa, batshittery, Christian Love, disgusting, Family Research Institute, hate groups, Paul Cameron, religion, Right Wing Watch, Uganda

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: UK: It's Raining Men Re-Enters Pop Chart

Earlier this month a member of Britain's far-right UKIP party declared that God was flooding the country in anger over the legalization of same-sex marriage. That prompted a Facebook campaign to push It's Raining Men to #1 on the singles chart more than 30 years after its release. The Guardian reports that might happen:

Three decades after its original release, It's Raining Men sits at No 21 on the midweek singles chart, now less than 40 copies from entering No 20, according to the Official Charts Company. This is a meteoric rise for a campaign launched just over a week ago, and around 15,000 supporters have registered on the crusade's Facebook page. Yesterday, Jeremy Joseph, owner of the London nightclub G-A-Y, pledged a £1,000 donation to the Elton John Aids Foundation if the song cracks the end-of-week Top 20. This month's It's Raining Men campaign has the full support of Martha Wash, the sole surviving member of the original Weather Girls, who has been promoting the cause on Twitter. While Geri Halliwell's version of the song debuted at No 1 in 2001, the disco original only ever reached No 2.

(Tipped by JMG reader Wayne)

 

Labels: Britain, disco, LGBT History, marriage equality, Martha Wash, pop music, religion, UKIP

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Equality has lots of GOP friends

Equality has lots of GOP friends

A coalition of Republicans has formed agroup that will support asame-sex marriage referendum

Several prominent Republican figures came together Wednesday to announce the formation of a new group supporting the gay-marriage initiative that appears headed for the Oregon ballot in November.

The new group, Freedom Oregon, includes several Republicans — including former Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer and former Secretary of State Norma Paulus — who came from a once-dominant wing of the state GOP. But there are also several figures, such as Stimson Lumber CEO Andrew Miller, who have been prominent backers of conservative Republicans.

Political consultant Elaine Franklin, the wife of former Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., and his former chief of staff, helped organize the group.

This group is “clearly fighting against the national brand” of the Republican Party being opposed to same-sex marriage, Franklin said. “But Oregon Republicans have done this before.”

Franklin is now a non-affiliated voter, having left the party in 2002 in a dispute over the abortion issue. She said that she hopes the new group helps bring more support for the gay-marriage measure from both Republicans and independents.

The group will hold a kickoff event at the Cerulean Wine Bar in Portland on Feb. 20 that will feature Jason Collins, the openly gay NBA veteran who sat in first lady Michelle Obama’s box during the State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Other members of the new Oregon group include two Republican state representatives, Rep. Vicki Berger of Salem and Rep. Jim Thompson of Dallas, former New Zealand Ambassador Bill McCormick, former state Treasurer Bill Rutherford, and political consultant Doug Badger, who ran the Bush-Cheney campaign in Oregon in 2004. Packwood is also a member of the group.

This is not the first effort by prominent Oregon Republicans in support of the measure.

Portland political consultant Dan Lavey, a top aide to former Sen. Gordon Smith, and his wife, GOP fundraising consultant Lori Hardwick, formed a group to drum up support in the business community for the initiative.

The group leading the initiative campaign, Oregon United for Marriage, last week said it has gathered more than 127,000 signatures. The group needs 116,284 valid signatures to qualify and appears likely to do so well before the July deadline.

In addition, a federal judge is hearing aconsolidated lawsuit filed by two sets of same-sex couples attacking the state’s gay-marriage ban. If that case continues on a fast track, it’s possible that gay marriage could come to Oregon well before the issue would go before voters in the Nov. 4 general election.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane has scheduled an April 23 hearing on whether he should issue a summary judgment in the case, which involves the constitutionality of Ballot Measure 36, the 2004 initiative approved by voters that placed a ban on same-sex marriage in the state Constitution.

View original at:

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/Tablet/Oregonian/SharedArticle.aspx?href=ORE%2F2014%2F01%2F30&id=Ar00101