- 22 Senate Democrats back marriage equality in party platform
- A campaign to add support for marriage equality to the Democratic Party platform has gained the support of 22 members of the U.S. Senate, according to the Washington Blade. “Two people who want to enter into a loving committed relationship should be afforded the same legally recognized rights and benefits I enjoy with my wife,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said in a statement. While the campaign has gained other high-profile supporters, it’s unclear whether the issue will make it into the party platform, which has traditionally opposed anti-LGBT initiatives while stopping short of offering outright support for LGBT causes such as marriage equality. Washington Blade (3/2), The Charlotte Observer (N.C.)
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Via Gay Politics Report:
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma March 6, 2012
We Are Not Alone
Sometimes when I’m asked to describe the Buddhist teachings, I say this: Everything is connected; nothing lasts; you are not alone. This is really just a restatement of the traditional Three Marks of Existence: non-self, impermanence, and suffering. The fact that we all suffer means we are all in the same boat, and that’s what allows us to feel compassion. |
- Lewis Richmond, "The Authentic Life"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Monday, March 5, 2012
Tell Congress Dump DOMA
A rapidly growing number of Americans now live in states that grant the basic rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. But DOMA prevents the federal government from recognizing any of these relationships!
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma March 5, 2012
Everyday Practice
If we are intelligent enough to understand the instructions and if we have the perseverance, then we can remind ourselves about how to really practice at any given moment during the day. The skilled practitioner is someone who goes to work and then while working also develops spiritual qualities. |
- Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Keeping a Good Heart"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Via AmericaBlogGay: Robin McGehee on "8, The Play": It was fun (but we shouldn't have to be doing this)
Note from Joe: Robin McGehee is a great friend of AMERICAblog's. We're big fans. She's the amazing activist who helped organized the National Equality March on Washington back in 2009, then founded GetEQUAL. Last night, she was in the audience for AFER's production of "8, The Play." Robin's activism started with Prop. 8, so she sent us her take on last night's event (along with some photos.)
If you missed the live broadcast, watch it here. It's worth it -- and remember, the haters don't want people to know what happened at the trial. The play begins at 29:51.
____________________________________
From Robin:
If you would have asked me a week ago if I was going to the American Federal for Equal Right's showing of "8" in Los Angeles - I would have replied, "I wish!" I am a full-time mom and professor at the College of the Sequoias in a small town called, Visalia, California. Although I am deeply devoted and in love with what AFER has done for the marriage equality fight in California, and globally for that matter, there is no way I could afford to get in.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Via JMG: Rick Santorum: If Elected I Will Nullify All Existing Same-Sex Marriages Nationwide
Rick Santorum says that if elected he was ensure that all existing same-sex marriages will be nullified. That's not too surprising actually, but that's a step further than we've heard from the other GOP tools. There are 18,000 married gay and lesbian couples in California and at least 131,000 nationwide according to the 2010 census, conducted before New York state legalized same-sex marriage in July. Rick Santorum says he'll try to unmarry all of them if he's elected president. Once the U.S. Constitution is amended to prohibit same-gender marriages, "their marriage would be invalid," the former Pennsylvania senator said Dec. 30 in an NBC News interview. "We can't have 50 different marriage laws in this country," he said. "You have to have one marriage law."Romney also wants a federal constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but has said he would allow existing marriages to remain legal. The Family Research Council yesterday voiced their support for Santorum's plan to rip apart gay families.
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.
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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.
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
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Via AmericaBlog gay:
A child scarred for life after "the talk" about Uncle Bob’s friend Pete
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?We’re all scarred for life. Scarred, I tell you.
Me: Because they’re in love, just like Mummy and Daddy are.
Child: Oh. Can I have a biscuit?
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
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)
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.
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
http://www.gaybahai.net/discussion/post/1746062
Friday, March 2, 2012
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
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.”
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