Via JMG: WA Gov. Chris Gregoire: I Will Introduce Bill To Make Gay Marriage Happen

"It is now time for our gay and lesbian citizens to be treated equally and that means marriage." - Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire. Story developing, update here in minutes.

UPDATE: The Seattle Times has more.

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday said she'll put forward legislation to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The proposal will be introduced during the legislative session that starts Monday. If it's approved, Washington would become the seventh state to legalize gay marriage. "It's time, it's the right thing to do, and I will introduce a bill to do it," Gregoire said in a statement. "Our gay and lesbian families face the same hurdles as heterosexual families -- making ends meet, choosing what school to send their kids to, finding someone to grow old with, standing in front of friends and family and making a lifetime commitment," Gregoire said. "For all couples, a state marriage license is very important. It gives them the right to enter into a marriage contract in which their legal interests, and those of their children if any, are protected by well-established civil law."

Washington state currently has an "everything but the name" domestic partners law that was upheld in the bitterly contested Referendum 71 battle.

Labels: Christine Gregoire, marriage equality, Washington state

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ॐ Thich Nhat Hanh Quote Collective ॐ

 

Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes 8

If we can hold our anger, our sorrow, and our fear with the energy of mindfulness, we will be able to recognize the roots of our suffering. We will be able to recognize the suffering in the people we love as well. Mindfulness helps us to not be angry at our loved ones, because when we are mindful, we understand that our loved ones are suffering as well.

–Thich Nhat Hanh

By: ॐ Thich Nhat Hanh Quote Collective ॐ

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 4, 2012

Returning Home

The ultimate goal of the spiritual journey is to realize the union of your mind and ultimate reality. You discover eventually that not only are you in reality, but that you also embody that reality. Your ordinary body becomes the body of a buddha, your ordinary speech becomes the speech of a buddha, and your ordinary mind becomes the mind of a buddha. This is the great transition that you have to make, relinquishing your fixation on the separation of samsaric beings and buddhas. When we can talk about them as ultimately the same, when this actual transformation occurs within an individual, it is a truly great occurrence. It is remarkable because an ordinary, confused being still retains that preexisting continuity between an ordinary being and an enlightened being, in the sense that what you become is what you have always been. At the end of the journey, you are simply returning home.

- Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: Norway Paper: Santorum The Homohater

Rex Wockner tips us to the headline from Norway's Dagbladet.

Labels: journalism, Norway, Rick Santorum

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JMG Quote Of The Day - Kate Kendell

"In the repellent race to the bottom (no pun intended) it should be no surprise that Santorum did so well in the Iowa caucuses. Mitt Romney is in a major stall, and in a field of class clowns Rick Santorum stands out as particularly cartoonish. [snip] Santorum's win is not a referendum on who he is as a man (inhumane and ignorant), or who he is as a candidate (pandering and mean). It is simply the gasping statement of a thankfully dying breed of Americans -- those who fear, loathe or hate anyone different from themselves, who mistrust or reject the idea that government can and should be a force for good, and who detest even the slightest exposure to information or ideas that challenge their world view." - Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center For Lesbian Rights, via press release.

Labels: 2012 elections, Iowa, Kate Kendell, NCLR, Quote Of The Day, Rick Santorum

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JMG HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"Political reporters? When Elizabeth Santorum says, 'I have gay friends and they support my dad because they agree with him about family issues,' i.e. her dad's opposition to gay people having a families of their own, your immediate response should be a request for the names and phone numbers of some of these gay friends. Because that claim requires checking out before you put it in print or pixels. Reassure Elizabeth you'll quote her friends anonymously to protect them from potty-mouthed gay bloggers, they can talk to you on background or whatever, but tell her that you're going to need to verify the existence of these gay friends.

"Because you're a journalist, not a stenographer. You'll either catch Elizabeth Santorum in a revealing lie—what does it tell us about this moment in the struggle for LGBT equality that even homophobes like Elizabeth and her dad perceive a political risk in being perceived as homophobic?—or you'll land a fascinating interview." - Dan Savage, saying that the media should stop accepting homophobes' claims of having gay friends.

Labels: Dan Savage, HomoQuotable, Rick Santorum

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Via JMG: Urban Dictionary's Word Of The Day

(Tipped by JMG reader Some Teacher)

Labels: language, Santorum, Urban Dictionary

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Watch 'Glee' Star Darren Criss Perform 'Teenage Dream' Live

Via ॐ Thich Nhat Hanh Quote Collective ॐ

Let us walk together and let us generate the energy of peace and happiness and joy. Let us transform this place and this time into the kingdom of God, into the pure land of the Buddha. This is possible. The collective energy of mindfulness will be generated and penetrate into every one of us for our transformation and healing.

--Thich Nhat Hanh--

Via Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center:

 

Wall Photos

 

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

JMG Tweet Of The Day

After an Iowa restauranteur launched a new menu item dubbed "Santorum Salad," you knew it would be about ten minutes before the dish had a Twitter account. Only ten or so tweets so far, but most of them are gold, Jerry, gold!

Labels: Rick Santorum, Santorum, tweet of the day

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Via JMG: Cindy & Meghan McCain Pose For NOH8

Andrew Belonsky reports that the pair previously posed separately, but have just rejoined the NOH8 campaign for a mother/daughter shot. Nice timing too, caucus-wise.

Labels: Cindy McCain, Meghan McCain, NOH8

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Via JMG: Today's Big Lie From The Christian Right

"In the few states where marriage has been redefined to include same-sex couples, various churches and ministries have already been threatened with the loss of their tax exempt status if they refused to perform ceremonies for same sex couples." - Bishop Harry Jackson, writing for Town Hall.

Jackson is repeating the same ridiculous lie put out last month by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who claimed (also without any proof) that Catholic churches were being threatened with lawsuits for not performing same-sex weddings. They really don't care, obviously, that WE know they are lying. Their audience takes them at their word and that's all that matters. Praise! Glory! Donate!

Labels: bigotry, Harry Jackson Jr., liars, religion

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Via Gay Politics Report: Santorum favors dissolving marriages of same-sex couples

• Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican running for president who has performed well in recent polls in Iowa, said in an interview last weekend that he favors ending the marriages of gay and lesbian couples who legally wed under current state laws. Santorum explained that their marriages would be "invalid" under his proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "What exactly happens to the kids in many of those families ... and why would it be a good thing for them and for society if they experienced the government forcibly tearing their parents' marriages apart?" Michelangelo Signorile writes. MSNBC (1/3), The Huffington Post (1/1), GoPride.com (1/1)     

Via Gay Politics Report: Should Obama engage opponents on marriage issue?

• President Barack Obama this year is unlikely to change his official position on marriage because he’s reluctant to energize voters who are deeply opposed to gays and lesbians legally marrying, say political observers. One marriage equality advocate insists the president would gain from officially supporting marriage equality, but others say Obama's smart to allow the his cabinet members to make sweeping policy statements and note that Obama’s progress on LGBT issues is already substantial. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)

É hora de ser solidário!

Via AmericaBlogGay: The top 10 gay reasons to vote Republican in 2012

It's not entirely clear what the source of this is. It's from "Boston Spirit Magazine," but at the same time is on the Boston Globe Web site. Odd. Ah, it seems to be a gay blog on the Globe site. Anyway, I'm surprised reason 6 made its way past the Globe's editors.

JMG Editorial Of The Day

From ESPN Magazine:

Just as some argue that gay players can't gain the respect of their teammates, there were those who felt that white players would never believe in their black teammates. We hear that gay players' sexuality would be a distraction in the locker room, just as black players supposedly weren't intelligent, disciplined and committed enough to satisfy whites. The objection that fans would savage an openly gay player is no different from the belief that whites did not want to sit in the same section as blacks (or live next door to them). For every concern that fundamentalists would not accept a gay player, so too was it believed that Southerners would never play alongside black players.

Read the full article. (Tipped by JMG reader Michael)

Labels: coming out, gay athletes, sports

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Via JMG: Civil Unions Begin For Hawaii & Delaware

With the new year comes the enactment of civil unions for the residents of Hawaii and Delaware. Hawaii News Now tells of the first couples to take part there:

For Donna Gedge and Monica Montgomery, there was a lot of anticipation as they awaited the stroke of midnight -- and the law to take effect. "It's very high," said Montgomery. "We've been waiting a long time and now the night is finally here so it's really exciting." "I'm nervous," said Gedge. When asked how long she and Montgomery had been together, she replied, "We've been together for 33 years, so it's been a very long time." Lydia Pontin and Bonnie Limatoc-DePonte said they were ecstatic and happy, but also knew they were part of a historic occasion. "We are not doing this to hurt anybody. We are just doing this because we love each other," Pontin said. Limatoc-DePonte immediately added, "And we want to be able to live like everybody else and be able to have a life and have it together and enjoy. We are not trying to step on anybody's toes or anything."

(Via - Andrew Belonsky)

RELATED: Five states now have civil unions: Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Delaware.

Labels: civil unions, Delaware, Hawaii, LGBT rights

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