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.
Dems try to tamp down platform discussion Democratic political operatives in Washington, D.C., have begun a push to lower the volume on discussions about adding support for marriage equality to the party platform, according to this article. Some top Democrats reportedly remain unconvinced that it's politically wise to add language to the party platform fully supporting marriage rights for same-sex couples. A campaign to add such language, which was launched by the group Freedom to Marry, is backed by several high-profile Democrats. The Huffington Post (3/15)
Group looks to help lawmakers evolve on marriage: Third Way, a centrist Democratic group, has distributed a memo advising members of Congress on how to embrace marriage rights for same-sex couples. "We hope this will be helpful as more and more politicians feel the urge to 'evolve' from supporting civil unions to allowing committed gay couples to marry," said Lanae Erickson, the group's deputy director of social policy and politics. The Huffington Post (3/15)
When we have anger in us, we suffer. When we have discrimination in us, we suffer. When we have the complex of superiority, we suffer. When we have the complex of inferiority, we suffer also. So when we are capable of transforming these negative things in us, we are free and happiness is possible.
~Thich Nhat Hanh
"The DNC folks -- their political shop -- have been calling people and really pressuring them," said Paul Yandura, a political and fundraising strategist at the firm Scott+Yandura who led gay and lesbian outreach on both Bill Clinton and Al Gore's presidential campaigns. "Look, I'm not going to claim that they're pressuring them not to be for it, but this 'let's wait' thing is always what happens in politics -- let's wait so they can find a way to slow this down and maybe get a good reason not to do it."
"But that doesn't mean that activists and other people have to wait and see," Yandura added. "I think that we have to keep up the pressure."
Melanie Roussell, a spokesperson for the DNC, did not directly refute Yandura's assertion. Instead, she emphasized the party's commitment to equality and inclusion, with respect to both LGBT Americans and the platform process.
"The President and the Party are committed to crafting a platform that reflects our values and a belief that this is a nation in which everyone deserves a fair shot and hard work is rewarded," she wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. “The time will come to consider the content of the platform but not a single platform committee member has been chosen and the process has yet to begin."
Several Democratic sources working with the committee have acknowledged that conversations were already underway about how to placate the pro-same-sex marriage majority inside the party without alienating culturally conservative Democrats in states like Ohio and North Carolina, where the convention is being held.
The usual apologists are giving the usual excuses. The DNC's LGBT caucus isn't even on board yet. Pathetic. Read the full article by Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel. They did some very good reporting on this one.
This could all be solved if the President would just evolve already. Instead, it's clear we can expect more political kabuki as the DNC and OFA try to avoid doing what everyone knows should be done.
And, in case the DNC forgot, there's an anti-gay referendum on the May 8th ballot in North Carolina, with which we could use some help. It's called Amendment 1. I think the convention will be a lot more fun for people if Amendment 1 loses.
What should you do to put your body to good use? Most people have no idea. A craftsman who borrows some tools will try to make the best possible use of them while they are available. Your body, too, is actually on loan to you for the time being, for the brief period left before it is taken back from you by death. Had you better not use it to practice the dharma while you can?
After months of obstructionism by the GOP, the U.S. Senate today finally approved President Obama's nomination of Michael Fitzgerald to the federal bench, making him the fourth openly gay federal judge in the nation. Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly:
Fitzgerald's confirmation will make him the first out LGBT Article III judge serving outside of New York City. Article III judges -- referencing the judicial powers detailed in the Constitution -- are nominated by the president, given consent by the Senate to serve and have lifetime tenure. The vote, which began a little after 2:24 p.m. today, came after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday, March 12, announced that he would be forcing debate and votes on 17 of Obama's judicial nominees if no deal was reached. On Wednesday, March 14, an agreement was reached between the parties' leaders to have the Senate vote in the coming weeks on 14 of President Obama's judicial nominees -- including Fitzgerald.
"What makes this so dangerous is despite what the labels say, the actual purchasing market for these games is often young males ages 11-16. This age group is not yet mature enough to not be impacted by these life decisions. There is no argument that video gaming is an extremely effective training tool. These young minds will be indoctrinated to homosexual relationships as normal lifestyles with homosexual characters being portrayed as heroes in warfare and in romantic situations." - American Decency Association board member Steve Ensley, who is ever so pissed about video game makers that allow users to create gay characters.
RELATED: Game maker Electronic Arts is among the many companies dubbed "cultural polluters" for introducing a Star Wars game with the option of gay players.
The latest attack on our culture from gaming is the result of a small, yet very vocal, group insisting that homosexual behaviors and lifestyles be introduced into a Star Wars game. If they are successful, their actions could further indoctrinate children into the belief that homosexual behavior is completely natural, before their minds have developed fully enough to make their own choices and decisions.
Slog's Dominic Holden posts the message that came with the above photo.
Last week the University of Washington's FoQus group for Queer Students held a food drive for the Lifelong Aids Alliance. We raised a lot of money and food that they desperately needed, all the while being picketed, loudly, in the middle of Red Square by church folk, who were yelling that people with AIDS did not deserve to eat, condoms would not save you from hell, and that "Queers shall experience hell, along with the drunkards, druggies, STD havers, and church gossips!" While it was horrible to hear them say as many homophobic things as they did, we'd really like to thank them for picketing so hard, because so many people came up to us and handed us a lot of cash and food donations, just to piss them off.
The protesters reportedly handed out pamphlets from Seattle's infamously anti-gay Mars Hill Church, although the church later issued a statement denying any official involvement.
Twitter has become an amazing tool for conversation, sometimes becoming my own main mode of communication throughout the day in fact. It also has its downside though, because wherever there is an attempt at open dialogue, there will surely be some degree of inflammatory, upsetting, and sometimes unimaginably horrific speech to go along with it.
This kind of hate speech has most recently come from "To My Unborn Child" trending topic, which soon turned into a disgusting ranting space for anti-gay bigots. The Twitter account @Homophobes (which retweets public homophobic tweets to its 4,500 followers) created a post at Storify (a site where users can bundle tweets onto one page and add commentary to create a story) to document over 100 tweets of mostly young men and women saying they would murder their future child if he or she was gay.
Read for yourself, but be warned: the tweets are horrible and disgusting. But perhaps most tragically, they are a look at people who would so openly hate a gay child yet to be even born.
Today GLAAD announces the Commentator Accountability Project, a campaign to educate the nation's media gatekeepers about the histories of the hate group leaders and anti-gay talking heads that they place before the American audience. Fantastic idea!
Journalists or producers who are on deadline often don't have the time to dig into the histories of a commentator. Audiences need to be aware that when they’re not talking to the mainstream media, these voices are comparing the LGBT people to Nazi Germany, predicting that equal treatment of LGBT people will lead to the total collapse of society, and even making accusations of satanic influence. The Commentator Accountability Project is bringing all of these statements to light, while calling attention to the sentiments behind them. We will show that the commentators who are most often asked to opine on issues like marriage equality or non-discrimination protections do not accurately represent the "other side" of those issues. They represent nothing but extreme animus towards the entire LGBT community.
Regular JMG readers will be very familiar with almost all the faces of hatred and bigotry seen below. Please contact GLAAD if these people appear in your local media. Click on the photos to be taken to a page with information about each person.NOTE: Fellow blogger Jeremy Hooper of Good As You worked as a consultant with GLAAD on this project. Well done, Jeremy!
Via Zack Ford at Think Progress, above is the final wording that will appear on Washington state's ballot measure to repeal same-sex marriage. Note that the GOP attorney general's attempt to insert the word "redefine" has been slapped down.
Hate group leader Scott Lively was today sued in Massachusetts court by a Ugandan LGBT rights group for inciting the persecution and murder of homosexuals in their country. Many observers lay Uganda's still pending "kill the gays" bill squarely at Scott Lively's feet.
The lawsuit alleges that beginning in 2002, Mr. Lively conspired with religious and political leaders in Uganda to whip up anti-gay hysteria with warnings that homosexuals would sodomize African children and corrupt their culture. The Ugandan legislature considered a bill in 2009, proposed by one of Mr. Lively’s Ugandan contacts, that would have imposed the death sentence for homosexual behavior. That bill was at first withdrawn after an outcry from the United States and European nations that are among major aid donors to Uganda, but a revised bill was reintroduced last month. Mr. Lively is being sued by the organization Sexual Minorities Uganda under the alien tort statute, which allows foreigners to sue in American courts in situations alleging the violation of international law. The suit claims that Mr. Lively’s actions resulted in the persecution, arrest, torture and murder of homosexuals in Uganda.
Lively responded to the New York Times: "That’s about as ridiculous as it gets. I’ve never done anything in Uganda except preach the Gospel and speak my opinion about the homosexual issue. There’s actually no grounds for litigation on this."
More on this story as it develops...
RELATED: In January 2011 Ugandan gay activist David Kato was murdered after his photo was published in a local paper under the headline "HANG THEM!" Lively and other visiting American evangelicals had urged Ugandans to take a "strictly biblical" attitude towards gay people.
"One of my best friends growing up was gay. It's never been an issue for me. I think there was a time in my life, probably in college, that I wished every guy was gay because it meant more woman for me! I don't know what everyone's problem with it is, I wish everyone was gay! That's always the way I thought about it. I have no issue with it. If I have to suffer through marriage why shouldn't they?" - Exotic wildlife hunter Donald Trump Jr, who disagrees with his loathsome father on almost every issue.
When we are deeply involved in the practice of the Buddha dharma, the sages advise that we practice a common sense of balance by learning to structure our mundane activities and dharma practice in ways that allow us success in both areas of our life. We should not fall into extremes, either of procrastinating in our dharma practice with the excuse of mundane distractions, or of allowing our mundane world to fall apart around us due to an overemphasis on dharma practice which ignores our mundane responsibilities.
Ben & Jerry's has issued this Cockney flavor in the UK to support the marriage equality movement.
The ice cream maker is also teaming up with Stonewall to launch a new Facebook app today that asks users to ‘marry’ each other online. ‘Proposing’ through Ben and Jerry’s, users can voice their support for marriage equality and add their name to a letter to prime minister David Cameron backing the move. Laura Doughty, Stonewall’s Deputy CEO says “We’re truly moved by Ben and Jerry’s support for same-sex marriage in Britain. “All people want is to call their long-term relationship by the same name as everyone else. Our strong advice to those who disapprove of same-sex marriage is just not to get married to someone of the same sex.”
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has endorsed David Cameron's plan to legalize same-sex marriage.
Mr Blair's position is likely to anger the Vatican, which is alarmed at moves in both the UK and the US for same-sex unions. Senior church figures are also opposed to church blessings of same-sex civil partnerships. Mr Blair was responsible for pushing through laws on civil partnerships and lowering the age of consent for homosexuals to 16, but he has remained silent on the issue of gay marriage until now. When Mr Blair joined the Catholic Church, six months after leaving Downing Street, the Vatican's chief spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said his conversion "can only arouse joy and respect". He joined because his wife, Cherie, is a Catholic and their four children were brought up in the church. But Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory minister and also a Catholic convert, complained that his record as prime minister clashed with the church's teachings.
Both the Catholic Church and the Church of England have launched vigorous campaigns against same-sex marriage.
The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking public comment on a proposed plan to ease the ban on blood donations from gay men.
“[T]he increased effectiveness of donor testing for [Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)], [Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)], syphilis and other infectious agents has greatly enhanced blood safety,” the department states in the notice, which will be published in the Federal Register Tuesday. “As a result, questions have been raised about the need to continue an indefinite deferral of all MSM and whether there could be blood donation by MSM who may not be at increased risk.” HHS specifically is calling on the public to evaluate how the department could design an “innovative and cost effective” pilot program to evaluate “alternative blood donor acceptance criteria for MSM.”
Anti-gay hate groups will surely urge their members to deluge the HHS with protests.
News seems to be breaking in Denmark that the Prime Minister today promised the legalization of same-sex marriage by June. A Twitter tipster points us to this early blog report:
The Danish Government is ready with the Law Proposal, which will take effect in June 2012. It is important step for our society, which recognizes the individual's differences and the individual's equality within the society, regardless of who you are, and regardless of who do you love, says PM Thorning. She calls the Law Proposal a completely natural and the right step in the moden Denmark. It will be up to individual priest though to decide, whether they would want to bless the homosexual couples in the church, the PM informs.
More on this when the Danish press weighs in. In 1989 Denmark was the world's first nation to offer federal domestic partnership recognition.
UPDATE: Here's a more formal announcement from the Danish press.
Gay couples can look forward to a church wedding this summer. At her weekly press conference, Tuesday, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the government is putting the finishing touches to a bill that will come into force on June 15th, allowing homosexuals and lesbians to walk down the aisle in the church of their choice – if they can find a priest who’s willing to conduct the ceremony. “It will always be up to the individual priest as to whether he or she is prepared to bless gay couples but this legislation provides homosexuals with the same rights as heterosexuals,” said the PM.
