Via JMG: Washington Marriage Bill Advances

Washington state's marriage equality bill advanced again today after surviving a close 8-7 vote in the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate version of the bill advanced last week. Washington United reacts via press release:

“We thank Chair Pedersen and the members of the Judiciary Committee who supported marriage equality today,” said Lacey All, Chair of Washington United for Marriage. “As the bill continues to progress in both chambers in Olympia, it is clear that momentum is on our side. The stories of love, honor, commitment and family that our legislators are hearing from their constituents continue to be the single most important factor that sets us apart from those who oppose this bill.”

The full Senate will debate and vote on the bill this Wednesday. House action should follow shortly after. Gov. Christine Gregoire has promised to sign the bill, but its implementation may be suspended pending the expected November challenge at the ballot.

Labels: LGBT rights, marriage equality, Washington state

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Simpler Circumcision

As part of a campaign to reduce HIV infections in Africa, groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are advocating the use of the above "simpler" circumcision method. The new procedure is intended to speed the rate of circumcisions in regions that have few doctors.

Circumcision is believe to protect heterosexual men because the foreskin has many Langerhans cells, which pick up viruses and “present” them to the immune system — which H.I.V. attacks. From the initial safety studies done so far, PrePex is clearly faster, less painful and more bloodless than any of its current rivals. And it relies on the simplest and least-threatening technology — a rubber band. The band compresses the foreskin against a plastic ring slipped inside it; the foreskin dies within hours for lack of blood and, after a week, falls off or can be clipped off “like a fingernail,” said Tzameret Fuerst, the company’s chief executive officer, who compared the process to the stump of an umbilical cord’s shriveling up and dropping off a few days after it is clamped. It is done with topical anesthetic cream, and there is usually no bleeding. And PrePex can be put in place and removed by nurses with about three days’ training.

Three separate studies have shown that circumcision can reduce HIV infection from vaginal sex by up to 60%. Another study was cut short when it became clear that circumcising men that are already infected provided no protection to women. In 2009 the CDC announced that it was considering recommending that American boys be circumcised at birth, but that policy was never formalized. No study has yet confirmed that circumcision provides any protection for gay men.

Labels: Africa, circumcision, HIV/AIDS, science

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: In Memory Of Slain Activist David Kato

No More Down Low reports on the anniversary of slain Ugandan activist David Kato, whose memorial vigil I attended and reported upon last year.

Labels: activism, Africa, murder, Uganda

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: LGBT Cancer Survey

Take the survey.

Labels: cancer, LGBT health, surveys

reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report:

• N.H. unlikely to repeal marriage law, Republicans say
  Republican New Hampshire lawmakers say a bill that would end marriage for same-sex couples in the state is unlikely to become law this year. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, has vowed to veto the bill if it reaches his desk, and it appears that enough legislators, including multiple Republicans, oppose the measure to prevent it from passing with a veto-proof margin. Recent polls indicate that New Hampshire voters are clearly against overturning the current law that allows gays and lesbians to marry. Concord Monitor (N.H.) (1/29)     

Via All Out: VITORIA!

No ano passado, organizações e ativistas em defesa dos direitos das mulheres e dos direitos humanos do Equador alertaram o mundo sobre uma situação horrível – centenas de clínicas ilegais que mantinham jovens mulheres em cativeiro para serem estupradas, torturadas, espancadas e deixadas sem comida pelos chamados “profissionais de saúde”. Para quê? Para curá-las da “doença” de serem lésbicas.

Mais de 250 mil pessoas do mundo inteiro se juntaram às campanhas de All Out, Change.org e CredoAction para angariar apoio às demandas de ativistas locais que pediam a investigação e o fechamento dessas “clínicas”, de uma vez por todas.

Agora a boa notícia: na semana passada, o governo do Equador anunciou o compromisso de investigar e fechar essas clínicas de práticas abusivas! E não é só isso: o presidente nomeou a ativista feminista e pelos direitos LGBT , também defensora da saúde pública, Carina Vance Mafla, como a nova Ministra da Saúde do Equador. É ela quem vai liderar a investigações sobre essas clínicas.

Você levaria alguns instantes para assinar esta carta de agradecimento ao presidente do Equador por seu comprometimento com a igualdade LGBT?


http://www.allout.org/pt/actions/ecuadorclinics/taf

Via Sonja van Kerkhoff: Links to what is in the news

Sean manages this page and adds what he finds in the news. These links will stay here and when I have time I’ll make cross links from the “About” page and other pages on this blog so this can be more useful as a resource and forum for discussion.

January 2012: Genetic or Not, Gay Won’t Go Away | Next new item title pasted in here

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 31, 2012

Attaining Freedom

Sometimes people get very rigid and tense trying to be good, disciplined, and ethical. Tension can also arise when we become more aware of the immense amount of destruction—seen and unseen, intentional and unintentional—that our mere physical existence causes. From a Buddhist point of view, however, this is what it means to be born in samsara, and this is why we need to attain freedom from samsara.

- Khandro Rinpoche, "Complete Abandon"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: Romney campaign showcases endorsement of pastor who claims gay marriage helped cause 9/11

The Romney campaign released a letter of support from Florida "social conservatives" (that's the new nice word for the religious right), including a pastor, Dr. Roberto Miranda of the COPAHNI Fellowship of Hispanic Pastors of New England, who has suggested that 9/11 happened because of gay marriage being legalized in Massachusetts. Here's the letter on Romney's campaign site.

And here's the pastor:

Is it exaggerated to see prophetic significance in the fact that on September 11, 2001 Boston served as the point of departure for the deadly forces that spread so much destruction and havoc in this nation and all over the world? What took place at the material level is now being carried out at the moral and spiritual level, as the virus of homosexuality and gay marriage begins to spread dramatically all over this nation and perhaps the world.

Really, Mitt? Now, the Romney campaign problem welcomes the controversy because it's their anti-gay beard to deflect attention from the fact that Romney once claimed he was better on gay issues than Ted Kennedy.
    

Via cdn.unicornbooty.com:

Frank Schaeffer calls Fundamentalist Christians Village Idiots

Via JMG: Cynthia Nixon Clarifies

"My recent comments in The New York Times were about me and my personal story of being gay. I believe we all have different ways we came to the gay community and we can't and shouldn't be pigeon-holed into one cultural narrative which can be uninclusive and disempowering. However, to the extent that anyone wishes to interpret my words in a strictly legal context I would like to clarify: While I don't often use the word, the technically precise term for my orientation is bisexual. I believe bisexuality is not a choice, it is a fact. What I have 'chosen' is to be in a gay relationship." - Cynthia Nixon, speaking to the Advocate.

 

Read Nixon's full statement.

Labels: bisexuality, Cynthia Nixon, sexuality

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: The 2 Bears - Work

One of these guys is Joe Goddard from Hot Chip, one of the few bands I've really liked in the last couple of years. The 2 Bears album was released today on iTunes UK. The physical CD comes out next week, apparently also in the UK only.




(Tipped by JMG reader Aaron)

Labels: bears, Britain, dance music, pop music

Reposted from Joe

Via Follower of the Buddha:

Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center

Rely on the Teachings, not just the Teacher.
Rely on the Meaning, not just the words.
Rely on the Real Meaning, not just the interpretation.
Rely on the Experience, not just the idea.
The Buddha

Follower of the Buddha

Rely on the Teachings, not just the Teacher.
Rely on the Meaning, not just the w...ords.
Rely on the Real Meaning, not just the interpretation.
Rely on the Experience, not just the idea.
 

Namo Buddhaya Namo Dharmaya Namo Sanghaya སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་རྣམས་ལ། Sang-gye cho-dang tsog-kyi cho-nam-la
I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha 諸佛正法眾中尊 བྱང་ཆུབ་བར་དུ་བདག་ནི་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། Jang-chub bar-du dag-ni kyab-su-chi
Until I attain enlightenment. 直至菩提我歸依དག་གིས་སྦྱིན་སོགས་བགྱིས་པའི་བསོད་ན...མས་ཀྱིས། Dag-gi jin-sog gyi-pe so-nam-kyi 
By the merit I have accumulated from practising generosity and the other perfections 我以所行施等善འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་སངས་རྒྱས་འགྲྲུབ་པར་ཤོག །། Dro-la pan-chir sang-gye drub-par-shog 
May I attain enlightenment, for the benefit of all migrators. 為利眾生願成佛  

By: Follower of the Buddha

Enough Said:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 30, 2012

Winds of Emotion

Awareness is the basis, or what you might call the “support,” of the mind. It is steady and unchanging, like the pole to which the flag of ordinary consciousness is attached. When we recognize and become grounded in awareness of awareness, the “wind” of emotion may still blow. But instead of being carried away by the wind, we turn our attention inward, watching the shifts and changes with the intention of becoming familiar with that aspect of consciousness that recognizes "Oh, this is what I’m feeling, this is what I’m thinking." As we do so, a bit of space opens up within us.

- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "The Aim of Attention"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

JMG Quote Of The Day - Frank Bruni

"[T]he born-this-way approach carries an unintended implication that the behavior of gays and lesbians needs biological grounding to evade condemnation. Why should it? Our laws safeguard religious freedom, and that’s not because there’s a Presbyterian, Buddhist or Mormon gene. There’s only a tradition and theology that you elect or decline to follow. But this country has deemed worshiping in a way that feels consonant with who you are to be essential to a person’s humanity. So it’s protected. Our laws also safeguard the right to bear arms: not exactly a biological imperative. Among adults, the right to love whom you’re moved to love — and to express it through sex and maybe, yes, marriage — is surely as vital to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a Glock. And it’s a lot less likely to cause injury, if that’s a deciding factor: how a person’s actions affect the community around him or her." - New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, on Cynthia Nixon's controversial comments.

Labels: Cynthia Nixon, LGBT rights, Quote Of The Day

reposted from Joe

Via Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented // The Christian Left:

Paula - A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. ....Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.

 

By: Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented

The Dalai Lama Interview- Capitalism. Socialism.