Via JMG: Guest Post - Carl Siciliano

The holiday season frightens me. It is the time of year our homeless kids are most likely to attempt suicide. Kids who have been cast out of their homes suffer badly during a season that celebrates and idealizes family togetherness.

Yesterday I met with a group of kids at our drop-in center in Chelsea. They were all out in the cold at night, waiting for beds to open up in our shelters. One boy, who is 16 years old, told me how everything went bad for him when he was eleven. His father demanded to know if he was gay and when the boy was honest, his father refused to speak to him for three years. His mother tells him that he is a mistake and that she wishes she never had him. He has been running away repeatedly since then. There is nothing to celebrate at his home. I had a hard time sleeping last night, wondering what he had suffered.

What a sick, toxic force homophobia is in our society, destroying homes, making parents turn on their own children. Tens of thousands of teens in our country have been forced out of their homes. An LGBT teen is eight times more likely to suffer homelessness than a straight teen. The religious and political leaders who promote homophobia are causing terrible human suffering. They lie when they say they are promoting family values.

The waiting list for our shelter beds skyrocketed in the last year. More than half the kids coming to us for help are from out of state. Most are from the red states. Even though we recently opened a new 20-bed shelter, we now have a waiting list of over 200 kids. In New York City there are only 250 youth shelter beds for a population of 3,800 kids, 40% of whom are LGBT.

I am haunted by the perception that these kids are paying the price for our victories. I believe that when there is a lot of conflict about gay rights, parents who give credence to homophobic religious and political leaders take it out on their LGBT kids. It is no coincidence that our waiting list grew more than ever before in a year that saw the overturning of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the achievement of Marriage Equality in New York.

The fight for LGBT equality for adults is often a matter of changing laws. But for these kids, who have been made destitute by homophobia, it is a fight for resources. A gay teen may not be able to depend on their parent's love, but they should be able to depend on our community to protect them. We cannot allow them to be left out in the streets.We need to marshall our resources to provide for them, and demand that our tax dollars help to create a safety net for them.

At the Ali Forney Center we are doing our best to protect the kids. We now house 77 every night in eight different shelter and longer-term housing sites. We serve hundreds more daily in our two drop-in centers. We work especially hard during the holiday season to create a warm and joyful environment for the kids. We have Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts at all of our housing sites and drop-in centers. We bring together many people to help us with all the food and withassembling abundant presents for all the hundreds of kids. Honestly, making the kids feel as happy and loved as possible during this season can be a matter of life and death.

I am deeply grateful to the community of people surrounding JMG for your generosity to the Ali Forney Center. Over the past few years the appeals Joe has invited me to write have generated over $65K. On this Thanksgiving day, I give my thanks to all of you who have been so kind and caring.

I hope that you will consider continuing to support our work. Donations can be made online or can be mailed to:

Ali Forney Center
224 West 35th Street, Suite 1102
New York, NY 10001

Thank you!

Carl Siciliano
Executive Director
Ali Forney Center

NOTE FROM JOE: The Ali Forney Center rates highly per the Best Practices guidelines of Charity Navigator, which judges non-profits on how efficiently they handle their funding. Donations are tax-deductible.

Labels: Ali Forney Center, Carl Siciliano, good work, guest post, homelessness, JMG community, LGBT youth, NYC, Thanksgiving

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

 November 24, 2011

Each bite of food

When we are able to fully appreciate the basic activities of eating and drinking, we discover an ancient secret, the secret of how to become content and at ease. The Zen teachings talk about the exquisite taste of plain water. Have you ever been very, very thirsty? Maybe you were on a long hike, or sick, or working without a break in the summer heat. When you were finally able to drink, even plain water, you remember how wonderful it was. Actually, each sip of liquid and each bite of food can be that fresh and delicious, once we learn again just to be present.

– Jan Chozen Bays, "Mindful Eating"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: Peruvian mayor warns tap water can turn you gay

Gawker's write up is fabulous: 

Rumors of gay-making tap water have surfaced in Peru before: In 2000, a TV news report claimed that water from the town of Tabalosos — the source of Huarmey's water — had caused all 14,000 of its male residents to be gay. But wait! Before you book an Atlantis cruise to Huarmey, you should know the report was a complete myth. (Tabalosos only has four gay guys, and they've all slept with each other and are sick of running into one another on Peruvian Grindr.) 

Huarmey Mayor Jose Benitez wasn't aware of that, apparently, and used that report as the basis for his warning:

"Unfortunately strontium reduces male hormones and suddenly we'll be as Tabalosos, as other towns, where the percentages are increasing of homosexuality. Young people have low self-esteem by this stigma."

Via JMG: Concerned Women Are Concernstipated About Gay Marriage Ruining Europe

"While the social science research clearly and unequivocally shows that marriage is central to the welfare of individuals and the entire social order, unwarranted changes in family structure are profoundly reshaping our post-modern society and even our global economies. [snip] Ireland has the brightest fertility outlook, with total fertility measured at 2.1 (children per woman) and Greece, following at 1.5. Italy, Portugal, and Spain all have fertility rates of 1.4 children per woman, which is a growing concern in terms of exasperating the old-age dependency ratio. Throughout the years, what we have learned, to our sorrow, is that the consequences of the decline in marriage and breakdown of the family have not only negatively affected generations of individuals on a personal level, the decline of marriage has undermined social institutions and shaken the stability and economic viability of nations." - Janet Crouse, writing on the Concerned Women blog.

Labels: Concerned Women Of America, Europe, hate groups

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: PEW REPORTS: Anti-Gay Religious Groups Spending Big Despite Economy

Virulently anti-gay Christian groups figure prominently in the Pew Forum's ranking of spending for religious advocacy. Roll Call notes that NOM more than doubled its spending the year after the passage of Prop 8.

Keep in mind that all of the above groups maintain separate arms for "political advocacy" and other spending. For example, the total 2010 expenditure for Focus On The Family alone was $138,000,000. That's about two times the combined annual budgets of the ten largest LGBT rights groups.

Labels: Focus On The Family, hate groups, NOM

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlogGay: UC Davis pepper-spray cop accused of previously slurring gay cop

AP:

But an alleged anti-gay slur by Pike also figured in a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit a former police officer filed against the department, which ended in a $240,000 settlement in 2008. Officer Calvin Chang's 2003 discrimination complaint against the university's police chief and the UC Board of Regents alleged he was systematically marginalized as the result of anti-gay and racist attitudes on the force, and he specifically claimed Pike described him using a profane anti-gay epithet.

Via Gay Politics Report:

Validity of Prop 8's ruling will be decided by federal appeals court

The issues of whether a federal judge was correct in overturning California's Proposition 8 marriage ban and whether he was fit to decide the case despite being gay will be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Combining the decisions could streamline the case for a potential hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. In June, a federal court rejected an attempt by marriage rights opponents to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to throw out Proposition 8. Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot 

Via JMG: Major League Baseball Adds "Sexual Orientation" To Union Agreement

More good news in the world of sports.

Major League Baseball, which saw Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in 1947, today will announce incremental progress in another civil rights issue. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement adds “sexual orientation” to its section on discrimination, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement told the Daily News. Article XV, Section A of the MLB’s expiring Basic Agreement, in effect from 2006-2011, states: “The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” In the new agreement, which will be made public this afternoon, the words “sexual orientation” will be added to the equivalent section.

RELATED: You may recall that the San Francisco Giants, upon the urging of local activist Sean Chapin, became the first pro sports team to create an "It Gets Better" video. Several other pro baseball teams have since followed suit. I don't think it's far-fetched to give Chapin some credit for today's news.

Labels: baseball, employment, Sean Chapin, sports

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NORTH CAROLINA: Baptist Church Votes "No Marriages Until Gays Can Marry Too"

With the backing of their openly lesbian pastor, a Baptist church in Raleigh, North Carolina has voted to prohibit her from signing marriage certificates until gay couples can marry too.

The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law - and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution - discriminates against same-sex couples "by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples." "As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination," the church's statement says. The vote was unanimous and brought tears to the eyes of some of the 100 or so members who stood to vote in favor of the "statement on marriage ceremonies."

Labels: marriage equality, North Carolina, religion

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlog Gay: New Spanish leader opposes gay marriage law

OnTopMag:

The 56-year-old Rajoy has previously said he believes the law is unconstitutional and that he would “change” it even if the nation's highest court ruled it constitutional.

“I will listen to the court, but I don't like the fact that there is gay marriage and I don't think it is constitutional,” he told daily El Pais. “What I don't like is the word 'marriage.'”

July 15, 2010 (English-language subtitles)

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

 November 22, 2011

 

You Lack Nothing // Você Falta Nada

You lack nothing. You lack nothing, therefore you practice. Therefore you must realize and manifest this no-lack, this realized life, this awakened life that you are. Manifest the wisdom compassion functioning that you are. To paraphrase Dogen Zenji, if you want to be such a person, as you are such you must do such. You must do this person that you are, then you will be this person that you are.

– Elihu Genmyo Smith, "No Need to Do Zazen, Therefore Must Do Zazen"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: 21 Years In Prison For Brandon McInerney

Teenage murderer Brandon McInerny has been sentenced to 21 years in prison in a plea agreement for the shooting of openly gay classmate Larry King.

Brandon McInerney, who was 14 when he pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot Larry King twice in the head in 2008, has already served nearly four years in jail and would be released by the time he is 38, under terms of the deal. "Larry had a complicated life, but he did not deserve to be murdered," the youth's father,Greg King, said after a court hearing Monday afternoon. McInerney’s first trial ended with jurors split between convicting him of voluntary manslaughter and first-degree murder. Several of the jurors have since spoken in favor of a plea bargain, in order to avoid a second trial. Prosecutors, in initially deciding to try McInerney a second time, had already dropped a key allegation that the shooting was motivated by a hatred of homosexuals, an accusation that several jurors in the original trial said they did not believe.

Labels: Brandon McInerney, Lawrence King, murder

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: SPAIN: Anti-Gay Party Wins Control Of Parliament, Gay Marriage Imperiled

Led by anti-gay asshat Mariano Rajoy, Spain's deeply conservative Popular Party scored a landslide victory in yesterday's national elections. Rajoy has vowed to repeal same-sex marriage rights once he's in power.

The Socialist Party, which has governed Spain since 2004, has admitted defeat. Mr Rajoy, who is expected to tackle the country's debts amid slow growth and high unemployment, said he was aware of the "magnitude of the task ahead". He told supporters there would be "no miracle" to restore Spain to financial health, and that the country must unite to win back respect in Europe. "Forty-six million Spaniards are going to wage a battle against the crisis," said the 56-year-old PP leader. The PP won about 44% of the votes and the Socialists 29% in Sunday's election, according to near-complete official results. The PP is expected to take about 186 of the 350 seats in the lower house. As the results were announced, jubilant, flag-waving supporters danced outside party headquarters in central Madrid.

Analysts say the Socialists primarily lost power due to discontent over the continuing debt crisis and not because of "morality issues" promoted by the Popular Party.

MAP KEY: Blue is Popular Party, red is Socialist, yellow/green are regional parties.

Labels: LGBT rights, marriage equality, Spain

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

 November 20, 2011

The Truth of the Breath

Everything that is true about anything is true about breath: it's impermanent; it arises and it passes away. Yet if you didn't breathe, you would become uncomfortable; so then you would take in a big inhalation and feel comfortable again. But if you hold onto the breath, it's no longer comfortable, so you have to breathe out again. All the time shifting, shifting. Uncomfortableness is continually arising. We see that everything keeps changing.

– Sylvia Boorstein, "Body as Body"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

 November 19, 2011

Sound Meditation

One specific method for practicing mindfulness of body sensations is to focus your attention on sounds. Sounds, like everything else, arise and pass away. Just by listening, you can experience the insight of impermanence, an understanding the Buddha taught as crucial for the development of wisdom.

– Sylvia Boorstein, "Sound Meditation"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

 November 18, 2011

Make Friends with Fear

Genuine spiritual practice offers a way to face both our inner and outer worlds and to bring these two related realms into living, loving dialogue. Making friends with our fear—tasting it, chewing it, becoming intimately familiar with it—opens a doorway. We can develop an inner strength and confidence not based on the ups and downs of our contemporary world with its 24/7 rhythm of getting and spending. In the midst of outer and inner famine, violence, intolerance, and cowardice, the Natural Bravery approach invites you to walk the path of courage along with our spiritual ancestors, the brave women and men throughout history who have manifested fearlessness in everyday life.

– Gaylon Ferguson, "Natural Bravery"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via American Foundation for Equal Rights: Our federal lawsuit for marriage equality is back on the fast track!

Now that the California Supreme Court has finally issued its advisory opinion that the Prop. 8 Proponents have standing to appeal, we can expect a speedy ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
We are on the cusp of achieving what we have been fighting for. For countless couples like our plaintiffs, Kris Perry & Sandy Steir and Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, marriage equality cannot come quickly enough.

Help us win the freedom to marry for couples like Kris & Sandy and Paul & Jeff. Make a donation today so we can continue our fight for full federal marriage equality.

The Ninth Circuit’s impending ruling is important for a host of reasons:

First, we are confident that the Court will affirm our historic District Court victory. The anti-marriage Proponents of Prop. 8 failed to present a shred of credible evidence to justify discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans. Marriage is a fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, plain and simple.

Second, a Ninth Circuit victory can set an enormous precedent. The District Court decision that affirmed the right to marry for gay and lesbian Americans has had tremendous impact on public opinion. Since we filed the Perry case, seven national polls now show that a majority of Americans support marriage equality. That support will only grow as our case progresses and Americans are able to see the truth: when you look at the facts no American should ever be denied the fundamental freedom to marry.

Third, the potential reach of our case is greatly amplified. The Ninth Circuit is the largest appeals court in the nation, stretching the entire west coast and as far east as Montana and Arizona. This is an essential and critical step to bring our case before the U.S. Supreme Court and achieve our ultimate goal: full federal marriage equality.

The stakes have never been higher. Your support has never been more important. Please make a tax-deductible donation right now so that we can continue our work to win the freedom to marry for every American.

Every step of the way, AFER's stellar bi-partisan legal team—led by Ted Olson and David Boies, along with experts in sociology, psychology and history, as well as thought and political leaders—is defending the right to marry both inside and outside the courtroom.

The anti-marriage activists that passed Prop. 8 have used up every trick in their book to delay, conceal, and distract from the truth. Now they need to confront the fact that they have no case.

With your support, we will not stop until we win full federal marriage equality—nothing less.

Sincerely,

Chad H. GriffinBoard President American Foundation for Equal Rights

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

 November 17, 2011

Full Awareness of the Moment

As you sit or walk in meditation, you ask constantly, “What is this?” Repeating this question develops concentration because it returns you to the full awareness of the moment. As soon as you become aware of being distracted by past events, anxieties about the present, or future dreams, you ask “What is this?” This way, the power of questioning dissolves distraction.

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