ViaJMG: New York Times Compiles LGBT Bloggers' Responses To Ken Mehlman's Coming Out

New York Times op-ed editor Tobin Harshaw has compiled bloggers' reactions to Ken Mehlman's coming out, quoting Pam Spaulding, Melissa McEwan, and this here website thingy on the left, and the usual Quisling apologists on the right. Pam Spaulding nails it:

"While it’s nice that Ken has finally come out of the closet as an advocate, it’s really hard to forgive him for the damage he did to the community by working actively against it for pay for years. That he can coast on the gains for our community by supporting AFER’s stellar work on Prop 8 on the backs of many during his tenure at the RNC who bore the brunt of homophobia, those who died as a result of hate crimes, the activists who were assailed professionally is unbelievable. Yet here we are in 2010 watching it unfold. As a human being Mehlman owes the community a serious apology for fomenting homophobia for political gain.”

Labels: Gay Patriot, JMG, Ken Mehlman, Melissa McEwan, New York Times, Pam Spaulding, Quislings

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: CBS Poll: 75% Support Gays In Military

Scroll down the below just-released CBS poll for questions about DADT and same-sex marriage. Other topics on the poll: immigration, Obama, Palin, and the economy.
CBSNewsPoll Obama 082610

Labels: CBS, DADT, marriage equality, military, polls

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Peter, Paul & Mary To NOM: Stop Playing Our Song At Your Hate Rallies

The Courage Campaign reports that sixties folk music star Peter Yarrow is NOT happy that NOM has been playing Peter, Paul & Mary's cover of This Land Is Your Land at NOM's hate rallies. Yarrow has sent Brian Brown a cease and desist letter. I bet NOM doesn't even know that Woody Guthrie wrote This Land as an counterpoint to God Bless America.

Sadly, Mary Travers passed away last year.

Labels: bigotry, Brian Brown, folk music, NOM, religion

reposted from Joe

Quote of the Day:

While getting dressed one morning, I decided I'd been spending too much time on my computer: I caught myself checking the lower right corner of my makeup mirror to see what time it was.
-- Darlene Jacobs

Via JMG: Signorile Vs. Log Cabin Republicans

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"I have no beef with evangelical Christians who support full civil equality for gays and lesbians despite believing that gay sex is a sin. Heck, I'll personally mow the lawns of evangelical Christians who refrain from actively persecuting gays and lesbians. I've said that the gay rights movement shouldn't get into arguments about theology and that people have a right to their own beliefs. I frankly don't care if someone thinks I'm going to hell after death and I'm not going to argue with him for the same reason I'm not going to argue with someone who believes that I'm going to the lost continent of Atlantis after dinner.

"All gays and lesbians want from evangelical Christians is the same deal the Jews and the yoga instructors and the atheists and the divorced and the adulterers and the rich all get: full civil equality despite the going-to-hell business. (And isn't hell punishment enough? Do we have to be persecuted here on earth too? It's almost as if they don't trust God to persecute us after we die. Have a little faith, people!)" - Dan Savage.

Labels: Dan Savage, HomoQuotable, religion

reposted from  Joe

Via EQCA and Greg Louganis:

Dear Daniel, As a four-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion, I have proven that I never back away from a challenge. But many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians find every day to be a challenge as they struggle to be treated equally. That’s just not right. So I’m joining Equality California to do something about it. One month from today, together with 50 other swimmers, I’m tackling a 1.7 mile swim in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu. We share the same mission: raise critical visibility and funds for LGBT rights in California. Our goal is to raise $100,000. Be a champion and donate to the Swim for Equality now! Your gift will help inspire the swimmers as they compete—and will also enable Equality California to fight for LGBT Californians. Can I count on you to support all the swimmers by making a donation today in support of our efforts?   EQCA is on the front lines building a state of equality in California by organizing thousands of volunteers going door to door in communities across the state, gaining support for marriage equality by having one-on-one conversations. And EQCA is in Sacramento, lobbying for 16 bills that expand protections for LGBT Californians—to add to the 60 that they have all ready passed. You can be a champion and help achieve equality— make your donation to help all LGBT Californians cross the ultimate finish line—equality. What are you waiting for? Dive in! Yours, Greg Louganis	Swim for Equality Over 50 people will raise critical visibility and funds for LGBT equality by swimming 1.7 miles off the coast of Malibu on September 25. Their Goal: $100,000 Current Total: $35,118 Will you help them cross the finish line?

Via Truthout: Women's Equality Day

Jennifer Aniston vs. Bill O'Reilly

Gloria Feldt, Truthout: "Jennifer Aniston sparked a classic Bill O'Reilly firestorm when she said a woman doesn't need a man to have children and a perfectly fine life, thank you very much. Defending not her personal situation but the character she plays in 'The Switch,' her hit movie about a single woman who chose to be impregnated by a sperm donor, Aniston opined, 'Women are realizing ... they don't have to settle with a man just to have a child.'"

Read Article


Ellen Goodman | The Equal Rites Awards - Again

Ellen Goodman, Op-Ed: "And so we rise to celebrate Aug. 26, the 90th anniversary of the day American women finally won the right to vote. It took nine decades to get a third woman on the Supreme Court. But in politics, alas, we have gone from radical women chaining themselves to the White House fence to conservative women serving tea. Or at least the tea party."

Read Article 

Don't Be A Dick

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Geoff Kors

"One of the things I sincerely hope Ken Mehlman has done or will do is to explain to George W. Bush how denying LGBT people equality causes real harm and how the GOP's anti-equality platform and campaigns lead to teen suicides and hate crimes. I hope he explains how bigotry impacted him and that he has asked George W Bush to join his wife Laura in supporting marriage equality. If he can convince Bush to publicly change his position that would be powerful.

"And I hope he shares with the public how the GOP used animus towards gay people to pass anti-marriage state constitutional amendments, as that will bolster the federal Prop 8 case. What he does to undo the damage he caused can be a part of his legacy and working with AFER to help overturn Prop 8 is a good start. We all have to hope he goes all out and proves he is a talented political strategist -- this time on the side of equality." - Equality California head Geoff Kors, speaking to reporter Rex Wockner.

Labels: coming out, Dubya, Equality California, Geoff Kors, Proposition 8, Quote Of The Day

reposted from Joe

Via Wildmind: The Metta Prayer

The Metta Prayer

The Buddha gave a beautiful teaching on the development of lovingkindness called the Metta Sutta (also known as the Karaniya Metta Sutta). I’ve adapted the words of the sutta to formulate them as an aspiration that can be repeated in a prayer-like way.
In order that I may be skilled in discerning what is good, in order that I may understand the path to peace,
Let me be able, upright, and straightforward, of good speech, gentle, and free from pride;
Let me be contented, easily satisfied, having few duties, living simply, of controlled senses, prudent, without pride and without attachment to nation, race, or other groups.
Let me not do the slightest thing for which the wise might rebuke me. Instead let me think:

May all beings be well and safe, may they be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be, whether moving or standing still, without exception, whether large, great, middling, or small, whether tiny or substantial,
Whether seen or unseen, whether living near or far,
Born or unborn; may all beings be happy.
Let none deceive or despise another anywhere. Let none wish harm to another, in anger or in hate.”

Just as a mother would guard her child, her only child, with her own life, even so let me cultivate a boundless mind for all beings in the world.
Let me cultivate a boundless love for all beings in the world, above, below, and across, unhindered, without ill will or enmity.
Standing, walking, seated, or lying down, free from torpor, let me as far as possible fix my attention on this recollection. This, they say, is the divine life right here.

Translated and adapted by Bodhipaksa from the Pali Metta Sutta.

Metta Sutra....

this stuff makes me feel much better...

Quote of the day

‎"You are queer, you lucky fool, and that makes you one of life's buccaneers, free from the clutter of two thousand years of Judeo-Christian sermonizing. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start hoisting your sails. You haven't a moment to lose."

  --  Armistead Maupin

Kitty Clinton

Over Time, a Gay Marriage Groundswell

Gay marriage is not going away as a highly emotional, contested issue. Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage, has seen to that, as it winds its way through the federal courts.

Multimedia

Graphic

Support for Same-Sex Marriage

Graphic

Support for Same-Sex Marriage, State by State

Related

• Times Topic: Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships

But perhaps the public has reached a turning point.
A CNN poll this month found that a narrow majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage — the first poll to find majority support. Other poll results did not go that far, but still, on average, showed that support for gay marriage had risen to 45 percent or more (with the rest either opposed or undecided).
That’s a big change from 1996, when Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act. At that time, only 25 percent of Americans said that gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry, according to an average of national polls.

make the jump here to read the full story

Via JMG: USMC Commandant: Religious Soldiers May Be Granted Separate Housing From Gays

USMC Commandant James Conway says that homo-fearing religious Marines may be granted separate barracks should DADT be repealed.

Conway suggested that if the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law is repealed, the Marines may consider allowing Marines not to share quarters with homosexuals. Conway said the Marines may make such housing arrangements "voluntary" to accommodate any "moral concerns." He said many Marines are "very religious" and because of their moral concerns "don’t want to room" with homosexuals. But Conway stressed that if the law is repealed, the Marines would take the lead in implementing it. "We cannot be seen as dragging our feet. We've got two wars to fight. We'll implement it and move on," said Conway.

The last time this came up, the Pentagon claimed that they had only been considering adding shower curtains in barracks bathrooms.

Labels: DADT, dumbassery, military, USMC

reposted from Joe

Classic John Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Parent Company Trap
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

via Courage Campaign California

Dear Daniel --

Honestly, I'm offended by Meg Whitman.

Ninety years ago this August, women won the right to vote when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was finally ratified in 1920.

I take that right seriously. Meg Whitman doesn't.

Whitman wants to be governor of California. But she has rarely voted in three decades. Shouldn't our next governor show more respect for our right to vote -- and for the struggles that earned women the right to vote?

That's why the Courage Campaign is joining the California Nurses Association to send a message to Meg Whitman about the voting rights she took for granted. On Thursday, August 26, nurses and activists from across California will travel to Sacramento for a rally celebrating women's right to vote. Many will take a train to Sacramento, honoring the suffragist movement and their success, and dressing in costumes from the suffragist era.

Even if you can't join the rally, you can still help us send a message to Meg. Click here to watch our video about how Meg Whitman has taken the 19th Amendment for granted. Then sign up to Vote-By-Mail -- the most reliable method of voting in every election. Show that you'll stand up for voting rights, even if Meg Whitman won't:

Suffragists fought for decades to win the right to vote. They faced sexism, violence, and other obstacles in their effort to secure equal rights.

Ninety years later, full equality still eludes us. Many women are denied the right to marry the person they love. Others lack health care services, education, and jobs.

Meg Whitman supports Prop 8. She pledges to cut public funding for health care and education. She's already promised mass layoffs if she becomes governor, just as she did at eBay. And she can't even be bothered to exercise that most basic of rights -- the right to vote.

That's why the Courage Campaign and the California Nurses Association created this video to hold Meg Whitman accountable for her deplorable voting record. Please watch our video and then apply to Vote-By-Mail -- it's the most effective way to stand up for voting rights today:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/VoteByMail

Thank you for showing Meg Whitman that you take women's rights seriously.

Sarah Callahan
Chief Operating Officer, Courage Campaign   

Courage Campaign California is a part of the Courage Campaign's multi-issue online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots supporters to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. Supported by thousands of small donations from our diverse community, Courage Campaign California holds politicians accountable to progressive values, works for fundamental reform to our state's broken government, and trains and organizes activists to change their communities.

To power this campaign today, please chip in what you can:

Via JMG: Gay And Palestinian

The BBC's Weekend World program takes a look at the plight of gay Palestinians, some of whom escape torture and imprisonment by fleeing into Israel, only to face deportation back to their side of the fence should they be discovered.

Labels: gay youth, Israel, LGBT rights, Palestine

reposted from Joe