Via JMG: Prop 8: The Play

From last night:

Featuring an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon and others, "8" is a play written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and directed by acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner. It is a powerful account of the case filed by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER ) in the U.S. District Court in 2010 to overturn Proposition 8 [LINK], a constitutional amendment that eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Framed around the trial's historic closing arguments in June 2010, 8 provides an intimate look what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was on trial.

Labels: AFER, Brad Pitt, Dustin Lance Black, Hollywood, Jane Lynch, Proposition 8, Rob Reiner

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Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: GLAAD Is Pissed At Kirk Cameron

GLAAD unleashes via press release:

Kirk Cameron joins former TV stars Victoria Jackson and Chuck Norris in desperately trying to remain in the public eye by using anti-LGBT rhetoric. Last year, Jackson described a kiss between ‘Glee’ characters Kurt and Blaine as ‘sickening’ and Norris wrote on anti-LGBT site WorldNet Daily that the public education system has devolved into "progressive indoctrination camps” that train students to “forcefully defend issues like abortion and homosexuality, as well as become cultural advocates for political correctness, relativism, globalization, green agendas and tolerance for all.” Let’s remember that while these once relevant celebrities try to regain notoriety through advancing ignorance, Hollywood’s elite including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, and Martin Sheen are using their voices and popularity to move America closer to equality for everyone.

Petition here.

Labels: bigotry, GLAAD, religion, television

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 4, 2012

Letting Go of Fixation

Letting go of fixation is effectively a process of learning to be free, because every time we let go of something, we become free of it. Whatever we fixate upon limits us because fixation makes us dependent upon something other than ourselves. Each time we let go of something, we experience another level of freedom.

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

Via AmericaBlog gay:

A child scarred for life after "the talk" about Uncle Bob’s friend Pete

RedCognito:

I’ve been forced to explain homosexuality to my kids (aged 3 and 4) because their uncle is gay. This incredibly difficult and traumatic experience went as follows:

Child: Why does Uncle Bob go everywhere with Pete?
Me: Because they’re in love, just like Mummy and Daddy are.
Child: Oh. Can I have a biscuit?

We’re all scarred for life. Scarred, I tell you.

Gay Marriage & The Bible Explained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVOnqOrfNoU&feature=share

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 3, 2012

A Magician's Illusion

When people praise us and we glow with delight, it is because we think that being praised is beneficial. But that is like thinking that there is some substance to a rainbow or a dream. However much benefit appears to accrue from praise and acclaim, actually there's none at all. However convincing it seems, it is as unreal as a magician's illusion.

- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Bad Reputation"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: MAINE: Catholic Diocese Says It Won't Campaign Against Gay Marriage Bill

In a stunning turnaround, Maine's Catholic diocese says it will not campaign publicly against this November's vote on the same-sex marriage.

Bishop Richard Malone on Friday unveiled a "pastoral letter" he wrote explaining the church's position on marriage. The document will be discussed at Catholic churches and schools, through the diocese's magazine and on radio stations devoted to Catholic issues. Malone said the letter will be the heart of the church's response to gay-marriage supporters. The church in 2009 took up special collections and asked for contributions from other dioceses to fund a campaign against an effort to legalize gay marriage. The Legislature that year legalized same-sex marriage, but voters later overturned the law.

For the first time for any state, Maine's gay marriage item was placed on the ballot by gay activists themselves. (Tipped by JMG reader Matt)

Labels: Catholic Church, Maine, Richard Malone

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Billboard Of The Day

American Atheists say:

The “HR 535 – Year of the Bible Resolution” declared by the PA House of Representatives asked us to “study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures”. After considering the bill, we felt it necessary to highlight one of those teachings and share it with the public in the form of this billboard. It will be posted starting around March 5th for 28 days, and stay up throughout the month of March.

Labels: atheism, FTW, pennsylvania, religion

reposted from Joe

Via Bahai-Net

What came to my mind as I watched this was the time of witch burnings - it's the same thing, I thought, just as ignorant, just as hysterical, just as evil - and once again, it comes from "religious" feelings - better to be without religion altogether, if this is what it comes to. When will Baha'is understand that if you denounce homosexuality as an undesirable aberration, displeasing to God and needing correction, you are contributing to this kind of ignorant fear of gays? All the Baha'i platitudes about it being wrong to show prejudice or disdain toward gays are meaningless as long as they hold on to the denouncement of homosexuality as being abhorrent to God, while insisting they are not homophobic - you can't have it both ways, folks.

 http://www.gaybahai.net/discussion/post/1746062

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 2, 2012

Growing Through

Even on a small scale in daily life situations, such as when we feel bored or ill at ease, instead of trying to avoid these feelings by staying busy or buying another fancy gadget, we learn to look more clearly at our impulses, attitudes, and defenses. In this way dukkha guides and deepens our motivation to the point where we’ll say, 'Enough running, enough walls, I’ll grow through handling my blocks and lost places.'

- Ajahn Sucitto, "From Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: 21 Senate Dems Want Marriage Plank

At this writing 21 Senate Democrats have signed on to a call for a marriage equality plank in this year's Democratic Convention. Chris Johnson reports:

The Washington Blade received statements from the offices of 21 Democratic senators — including Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — expressing support for including a marriage equality plank in the Democratic Party platform. The Blade solicited statements from all 53 Democratic senators and will update this article as more senators respond. The senators follow the lead of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who on Tuesday became the first U.S. senator this year to get behind the idea of including same-sex marriage in the Democratic Party platform. Shaheen, who’s also a co-chair of President Obama’s national campaign committee, said she backs a plank in support of marriage equality proposed by the LGBT organization Freedom to Marry.

Here's the language of Freedom To Marry's proposed plank.

The Democratic Party supports the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibility, and protection under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.”

Labels: Democratic convention, Democrats, Senate

reposted from Joe

Grandparents For Marriage Equality

Via JMG: CALIFORNIA: Support For Same-Sex Marriage Soars In Latest Poll

The Sacramento Bee reports:

The new Field survey shows support has leapt markedly in the three and a half years since California voters approved Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent. The poll showed increases in support virtually across the board – among voters under 64, non-white voters, Catholics, Republicans and nonpartisans. Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said the move to a 25-point gap goes beyond the gradual increase in support that has been expected as young voters age and "replace" older voters in the electorate. "This is now showing that opinions are changing irrespective of generational replacement," DiCamillo said. "This is real change."

I wonder if Equality California is kicking themselves right now.

Labels: California, Field Poll, marriage equality, polls

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NOM's Traitor Wrote A Book

Labels: books, hate groups, NOM

Reposted from Joe

JMG Quote Of The Day - George Clooney

"I think it’s funny, but the last thing you’ll ever see me do is jump up and down, saying, 'These are lies!' That would be unfair and unkind to my good friends in the gay community. I’m not going to let anyone make it seem like being gay is a bad thing. My private life is private, and I’m very happy in it. Who does it hurt if someone thinks I’m gay? I’ll be long dead and there will still be people who say I was gay. I don’t give a shit." - George Clooney, speaking to the Advocate.

Labels: acting, Advocate, Hollywood, Quote Of The Day

reposted from Joe

JMG Quote Of The Day - Sgt. Brandon Morgan

"I used to be a very, very fanatical Christian, not that there’s anything wrong with being a Christian, but my beliefs, my core beliefs, definitely have changed as I’ve grown up because of the way I live, the way I am. I joined the Marine Corps because I felt I wanted to be the voice of God in the Marine Corps. I’m pretty sure people very close to me like my mother, my father, and my sister always knew that there was something different about me. I was always at the church, and had those values, had that idea that homosexuality was wrong according to the Christian faith. Eventually, nature comes out." - Sgt. Brandon Morgan, speaking to the Daily Beast.

RELATED: On the day that the story broke on JMG, those of us on this side of things traded a couple of slightly worrying items Morgan had apparently posted online some years ago. The wording was certainly mild compared to what we see here every day, but still there was some momentary concern that the entire "gay Marine in love" story might be some strange hoax. But as we see in the quote above, Morgan was just working through the youthful denial that so many of us faced.

Labels: DADT, military, Quote Of The Day, USMC

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 1, 2012

Trusting in Yourself

The Buddha is saying, 'You are this.' He doesn’t say, 'I have something extra that I am going to give you.' Trust in yourself, trust in who you are. Sit down, breathe, be listening right now, hearing right now. Be intimate. But you have to do it for yourself.

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

Via Facebook:

Via Marriage Equality USA: Catholic school fires gay teacher planning wedding

Via Marriage Equality USA:

The Supreme Court has ruled that religiously affiliated organizations like this school have the legal right to discriminate against anyone they choose, so I'm not arguing with the school's actual //legal// rights to fire the music teacher. I believe, however, that the firing was highly //immoral//. And why was it ok for him to keep his job when he was living with another man, but not ok after he talked about getting married. And I wonder if the school has fired any teachers who have been divorced, or who use contraception. I suspect with near 100% certainty the answer is no.

 

Catholic school fires gay teacher planning wedding

www.stltoday.com

 

NORMANDY • A popular music teacher at St. Ann Catholic School in north St. Louis County recently was fired after church officials learned that he planned to marry his male partner of 20 years in New York, one of a handful of states where same-sex marriage is legal.