- A kiss to seal a banner year
When U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta walked off the USS Oak Hill this week after a tour of duty, she walked into the arms of her partner and gave her a kiss, becoming the first openly LGBT sailor to carry out the Navy's "first kiss" honor. "This is the first time we can actually show who we are," Gaeta said of her two-year relationship with Citlalic Snell, who also serves in the Navy. The celebration of that kiss, and numerous other examples this year, suggest there is much more support for LGBT equality than most realize, writes Dan Savage. The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) (12/21), The Stranger (Seattle)/SLOG (12/21)
A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Via Gay Poltics Report: A kiss to seal a banner year
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 22, 2011
Staying Present with Fear
Let’s say you begin to feel afraid, and out of habit you begin to speed up and get panicked. This thereby strengthens further habits that keep you stuck in a rut. What you find is if you just train in simply staying present even a few seconds with those uncomfortable feelings, like fear, that you can then develop the strength to stay present for a few minutes, and then 10 minutes, then more, and so on. If you can stay present with your own emotional distress in an open space that’s not clouded and keep letting the thoughts about it go, then you always know what will deescalate the heat of the situation. |
- Pema Chödrön, "Stepping into Groundlessness"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 21, 2011
Open Yourself to Vulnerability
We have to get to know and be honest about our particular strategies for dealing with vulnerability, and learn to use our practice to allow ourselves to experience more of that vulnerability rather than less of it. To open yourself up to need, longing, dependency, and reliance on others means opening yourself to the truth that none of us can do this on our own. We really do need each other, just as we need parents and teachers. We need all those people in our lives who make us feel so uncertain. Our practice is not about finally getting to a place where we are going to escape all that but about creating a container that allows us to be more and more human, to feel more and more. |
- Barry Magid, "No Gain"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Via AmericaBlogGay: Two big court cases coming up soon on Prop 8 and DOMA
After a year in which we saw a number of high-profile gay-rights victories, including the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage in New York, it’s hard to imagine that more big news is on the immediate horizon. But it is. Two highly significant court rulings in gay-rights cases pending in federal appellate courts are expected soon. Moreover, President Barack Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same sex-marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality.
In Perry v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to address a lower court decision striking down California’s voter-approved Proposition 8. If the court upholds the earlier ruling, it would restore same-sex marriage in California, making that right available to a total of almost twenty-five.
Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which is before the First Circuit, asks whether the Defense of Marriage Act should be declared unconstitutional. That law prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legally preformed in states which allow them.
Via AmericaBlogGay: Signorile on how the gay Netroots helped sink AT&T's merger with T-Mobile
There are many stories to be told about the collapse of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. One of them underscores, once again, the vitality of an advocacy press and bloggers who ask questions and hammer away at the truth in a way that much of the media simply does not. And while there were many involved in that effort, LGBT bloggers and gay media in particular were critical.
The merger blew up for a variety of reasons: AT&T's timing was horrible, with Occupy Wall Street focusing on corporate injustice as President Obama heads into a tough reelection; the promise of massive job creation just didn't add up; and the Justice Department was on a winning streak with antitrust cases.
But another reason attributed is the backfiring of AT&T's aggressive lobbying, getting nonprofit organizations and civil rights groups to support the merger -- in what looked like an exchange for cold, hard cash.
It was in early June when gay bloggers first got wind of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's endorsement of the merger.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Via JMG: Married After 64 Years
Here's the first paragraph from a great New York article, Reasons To (Heart) NY:
When the Columbia Library closed each night at ten, it was the custom of John Spofford Morgan, who was studying for a master’s in international affairs, to hop on the subway and head downtown to the New Verdi on West 72nd. Back then, there were two kinds of bars for gay men, he says: pickup joints and old-friends joints. The New Verdi was the latter, but it turned into the former when at around 10:30 on May 17, 1947, Louis Halsey walked in. “Love at first sight,” says Lou now. “Was it?” John wonders. “For me it was slower.” In any case, Lou and John spent the night together, just as they have spent most nights in the 64 years ensuing. Last month, they got married.(Via - Boy Culture)
Via JMG:HomoQuotable - Richard Socarides
"Barack Obama’s self-described 'evolution' on same sex marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality. [snip] Having the President publicly endorse marriage equality will be an important symbolic and substantive turning point. It would likely accelerate the pro-equality shift in public opinion, including in minority communities. It will make it easier for federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, to rule in favor of gay rights in the face of arguments that doing so is out of the mainstream of American political thought. And it might just help get President Obama reelected." - Former Clinton adviser Richard Socarides, writing for the New Yorker.
Via JMG: YouTube Names Zach Wahls As Most-Watched Political Clip Of 2011
YouTube says: "Surpassing the President and various presidential hopefuls in views, the #1 video on our list comes from a young man in Iowa speaking candidly to his government. Zach Wahls’ 3 minute speech defending gay marriage has been viewed more than 18 million times."
YouTube's 2011 Political Top Ten:
1. Zach Wahls speaks about family
2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
3. Strong [Rick Perry ad]
4. President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
5. Brother, can you spare a trillion? Government gone wild!
6. Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
7. Rick Perry - Proven Leadership
8. Jon Stewart Goes Head-to-Head Bill O'Reilly
9. Now is the time for action! [Herman Cain ad]
10. President Barack Obama's First Ad of 2012 [NRSC Ad]
Reposted from Joe
YouTube's 2011 Political Top Ten:
1. Zach Wahls speaks about family
2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
3. Strong [Rick Perry ad]
4. President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
5. Brother, can you spare a trillion? Government gone wild!
6. Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
7. Rick Perry - Proven Leadership
8. Jon Stewart Goes Head-to-Head Bill O'Reilly
9. Now is the time for action! [Herman Cain ad]
10. President Barack Obama's First Ad of 2012 [NRSC Ad]
Reposted from Joe
Via JMG: "Ex-Gays" In Caribbean Newspapers
Igor Volsky reports that the above full-page Exodus International ad appeared this week in newspapers in Trinidad and Jamaica. Embiggen for bullshittery.
Labels: "ex-gay", bigotry, brainwashing, con men, Jamaica, liars, religion, scam artists, still totally gay
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 20, 2011
Meditation Needs Context
The practice of mindfulness-awareness meditation does not take place in a vacuum. It happens within a certain context and point of view. In the Buddhist tradition, meditation is often presented in the context of view, meditation, and action. Each of these three is essential, as a system of checks and balances. If we do not understand the view, the practice of meditation can be more of a trap than means of freeing ourselves from deception. Rather than loosening our ego-clinging, it could further perpetuate our ignorance and grasping. Rather than connecting us to our world, it could draw us away from it. Meditation in and of itself is no magical cure-all. Proper understanding and proper motivation are important. The view informs the practice. |
- Judy Lief, "Is Meditation Enough?"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Via Gay Poltics Report: Obama will make his case to LGBT voters
The re-election campaign of President Barack Obama is set to remind LGBT voters of significant accomplishments achieved during his administration, including the legislative victory ending the military’s ban on gay and lesbian troops, a record number of openly LGBT presidential appointees and a new emphasis on LGBT rights in U.S. diplomacy abroad. But some argue that the president's promise to be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT equality will remain unfulfilled until he embraces marriage for same-sex couples.
Politico (Washington, D.C.) (12/19)
Politico (Washington, D.C.) (12/19)
Monday, December 19, 2011
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma December 19, 2011
Meditation is never one thing
Meditation is never one thing; you’ll experience moments of peace, moments of sadness, moments of joy, moments of anger, moments of sleepiness. The terrain changes constantly, but we tend to solidify it around the negative: “This painful experience is going to last the rest of my life.” The tendency to fixate on the negative is something we can approach mindfully; we can notice it, name it, observe it, test it, and dispel it, using the skills we learn in practice. |
- Sharon Salzberg, "Sticking with It"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Me Respeita!
Este filme foi realizado na disciplina de Documentário, do curso de Jornalismo, na Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, durante o 2º semestre de 2011.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Via JMG: California LGBT Rights Group Approved To Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures
California LGBT rights group Love Honor Cherish has been approved to begin gathering signatures to place a repeal of Prop 8 on the 2012 ballot. They now have until May 14 to collect 807,615 voter signatures.
Love Honor Cherish submitted the proposed initiative in October after Equality California, the state's largest gay rights group, said it was not prepared to lead a campaign to overturn Proposition 8. In 2008, the measure's supporters and opponents spent $83 million campaigning for and against the amendment, making it the most expensive political race on a social issue in the nation's history.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco has been reviewing a lower court's decision from last year that struck down Proposition 8 as a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian Californians. Watson said that if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds that ruling and lifts its injunction barring same-sex couples from marrying, the repeal initiative would no longer be needed.
But if neither the 9th Circuit nor the U.S. Supreme Court reinstate marriage rights for same-sex couples early next year and instead seek to keep the ban in place while the case works its way through the legal system, Love Honor Cherish would move forward with trying to qualify the repeal measure and campaign for its passage, Watson said. .
Saturday, December 17, 2011
U.S. judge mulls overturning federal marriage law
A U.S. judge appeared sympathetic to a lesbian federal employee's bid to strike down a law denying health-insurance benefits to her spouse, in the first hearing since the Obama administration decided to quit defending the statute.
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