Via JMG: TEXAS: ExxonMobil Shareholders Vote Down LGBT Employee Protections

Despite facing years of protests including one outside of today's meeting, the shareholders of ExxonMobil have once again refused to grant employment protections to LGBT workers. The Dallas Voice reports:

Meeting at the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District, the ExxonMobil shareholders voted 80 percent to 20 percent Wednesday morning against a resolution asking the corporation to amend “its written equal employment opportunity policy to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and to substantially implement the policy.” The 80-20 margin of defeat was among the largest for the proposal, which has been introduced each year since Mobil and Exxon merged in 1999. The percentage of shareholders voting for the policy had increased steadily over the years to about 40 percent, before dropping off significantly after gender identity was added in 2008.

Before the two companies merged, Mobil had been one of the first major corporations to provide domestic partner benefits and workplace protections for gay employees. Those benefits were rescinded when Exxon came on board.

Read the full Dallas Voice report.

Labels: domestic partners, employment, LGBT rights, Texas

Reposted from Joe

All the dead people say yes By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Somewhere along a forgotten branch of your family tree, there she is.

Somewhere deep in your lineage, there's at least one, maybe two, maybe even quite a few more whom you know nothing about -- relatives who, when they were alive, never made a sound or ruffled any feathers, hidden like thwarted relics, long deceased but right now whispering at the top of their ghostly lungs straight into your most lucid, semi-hallucinogenic dreams: "Get the hell on with it, already."

Can you hear them? Can you possibly say there are no closeted gay or lesbian, radical or repressed relatives back in your family history -- people who, due to the times and constraints under which they lived, never in a million years could have lived the life you are now free to lead, never could have revealed their true selves in public, much less celebrated that self, much less (heaven forefend) married someone they actually loved, gender/kink/ideology regardless?

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/30/notes053012.DTL#ixzz1wO0TBUZE

Via AmericaBlogGay:

AP: Norwegian terrorist was a feminine momma's-boy who wore make-up, so maybe he was gay

I'm really surprised that AP didn't handle this story better. They have the nerve to do a story suggesting that the Norwegian mass-murderer terrorist might have been gay because - get this - he was kind of effeminate, lived with mom, and liked to sometimes put on make-up. And what gay man doesn't lisp, put on make-up, and live with mom. We're all Norman Bates, now. 

my note:

SHAME ON YOU AP!

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 30, 2012

Breaking Through Resistance

Thinking and talking about practice are easy substitutes for the real effort that a practice life requires. We resist facing life as it is because that would mean abandoning our views of how we think it should be. The most basic form of resistance is wanting life to be other than it is.

- Ezra Bayda, "Breaking Through"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

SF Gay Men's Chorus Celebrates Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary

Did you hear that US Congress?

Via JMG: European Parliament Denounces Nations With Anti-LGBT Legislation

The 754-member European Parliament has approved a resolution denouncing nations with current or pending anti-gay legislation. The item specifically calls out Russia, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The UK's Pink News reports:

The resolution was adopted with 430 in favour and 105 against, saying it was “gravely concerned by developments which restrict freedom of expression and assembly on the basis of misconceptions about homosexuality and transgenderism”. It added that EU Member States should be “exemplary in the application and protection of fundamental rights in Europe”. 14 Conservative MEPs voted in favour of the resolution with 12 either abstaining or being unable to vote. 9 Labour MEPs voted in favour of the move with 3 abstaining or unable to vote. All but two absent Liberal Democrat MEPs voted for the resolution. The resolution specifically addressed laws in several European countries, condemning laws against ill-defined ‘propaganda’.

Of the cited nations, only Latvia and Lithuania belong to the European Union.

Labels: European Parliament, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: RELIGION CENSUS: Fewer Than 50% Of Americans Are "Adherents" Of Christianity

According to a just-published analysis of the 2010 Religion Census, fewer than 50% of Americans are "adherents" of Christianity. The percentage who would self-identify as "Christian," regardless of church membership and attendance patterns, is presumably higher.

The researchers define adherents to be those with an affiliation to a congregation including children, members and attendees who are not members, and believe that the adherent measure is the most complete and comparable across religious groups. Congregations are defined as groups of people who meet regularly at a pre-announced time and location. More than 150.6 million Christian adherents and 344,894 congregations were reported across the country. It is noteworthy that less than 50 percent of of the nation's population identified as Christian adherents. With close to 15.8 million Christian adherents, California reported the highest number of Christian adherents, whereas Vermont reported the lowest -- only 200,000 identified as Christian adherents. Around 10 percent of the nation's Christians reside in California. With 27,248 congregations, Texas reported the highest number of congregations in a state, whereas District of Columbia reported the lowest with 566.

The above-linked reports offer no insight as the number of Americans who consider themselves atheist, agnostic, anti-theist, or merely "unchurched."

Labels: census, religion, United States

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Brown Vs Savage: Duel Accepted

Just posted to NOM's blog:

"Dan -- I accept and will look forward to debating you at your dining room table. As I said in my challenge to you, anytime, any place. While I appreciate the invitation that you have extended to my wife, she will not be able to attend. She is a full-time mom with seven beautiful children and an eighth on the way. I have no objection to Mark Oppenheimer from the New York Times covering the discussion, nor to you hiring your own video crew to film the event, provided that I am able to hire my own video crew to be sure there is no creative editing of the discussion. Not that a New York Times reporter would slant the news, mind you! :) This will be fun!" - Brian Brown.

Labels: Brian Brown, Dan Savage, hate groups, LGBT rights, NOM, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via George Takei

Arj Barker Sickest Buddhist

Via Utne Reader:

 

The Slow March Toward Marriage Equality

More and more Americans believe in gay marriage. Why don't we have it yet?

Read More >>

Via AmericaBlogGay:

Russian gays arrested for simply trying to hold a Pride parade

AP: Gay activists tried to stage two demonstrations in Moscow on Sunday to demand the right to hold a gay pride parade in the Russian capital, but they were blocked first by Orthodox Christian opponents and then by police, who detained a total of about 40 people from both sides. The gay activists first gathered outside the city council building, where a few scuffles occurred as their... 

 

In This Issue...

• Russian gays arrested for simply trying to hold a Pride parade
• Search Gay Politics | AMERICAblog Gay

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 28, 2012

Sowing the Seeds of Freedom

When we practice meditation, we sacrifice inner objects—unskillful thoughts and mental states—and make our minds solid, sovereign, and pure.

- Ajaan Lee, "Sowing the Seeds of Freedom"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay:

More polling data suggesting Obama changed minds with gay marriage stance

Interestingly, this poll suggests that black opposition to gay marriage shrunk, though it didn't turn into more support.  Rather, they moved from "against" to "unsure."  Which is still a marked improvement.  Among Latinos, our numbers improved as well. This poll showed only 41% support for same-sex marriage.  Clearly there's some variation in the recent polls, with many...

Via AmericaBlogGay:

Did gay marriages destroy straight marriages?

Not unless Tony Perkins has a secret hankering for some farm-boy in Iowa. Credit: Daily Dish As the Dish explains, after initial bursts of weddings following the legalization of same-sex marriage, the marriage rates in each state trend back to where they were before.  Thus, no drop in marriages. Of course, that won't stop liars like the Family Research Council from claiming that...

Via JMG: NORTH CAROLINA: Hundreds Protest Pastor "Concentration Camp" Worley

An estimated 1200 protesters gathered today outside the North Carolina church of Pastor Charles "Put Gays In Concentration Camps" Worley. Unlike fellow NC Pastor Sean "Beat Gay Kids" Harris, Worley has refused to apologize for his message. The Hickory Daily Record reports:

The protestors came out in force to bring a message of love and acceptance. Their signs bore bold statements like, “Jesus had 2 dads and he turned out just fine.” And “I am a gay, moral, conservative Christian.” Sheriff’s deputies and Newton police officers kept the peace as the protestors stood by the side of the road and cheered every time a car drove past and honked in approval. A vocal group of more than 50 counter-protestors were on hand to support Worley and his church. They too had signs with slogans like, “Sodomites are vile, unnatural and worthy of death. Romans 1:21-32.” And “Gay pride is why Sodom got fried.” The protest’s organizer explained her goals for the event. “Hopefully our protest today will send a message that we, as a community, as a state and as a country, will not stand in the background in silent acceptance,” said Catawba Valley Citizens Against Hate member Laura Tipton. “This protest has grown beyond Pastor Worley. I hope his congregation sees that we are gathering in love. Their messages are wrong, and we will not accept them.”

Labels: Christian Love, North Carolina, protests, religion

Reposted from Joe
 

Via Facebook:

Via AmericaBlog Gay:

Colin Powell says yes to same-sex marriage

He's been a tad behind the curve.  But it does help to have a prominent African-American get with the program, so this is still good news.  Even if he has his own personal demons to deal with.

http://gay.americablog.com/2012/05/colin-powell-says-yes-to-same-sex.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AMERICAblogGay+%28AMERICAblog+Gay%29

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 27, 2012

Shoulder to Shoulder, Hand to Hand

In a sense, all of Buddhist practice takes place here, in this most intimate realm: here, in the family, shoulder to shoulder with fellow workers, beside each other on the cushion. We meet each other face to face, and so have all our teachers and ancestors met each other. In this way have all the Buddhas taught. Hand to sweating hand.

     - Sallie Tisdale, "Washing Out Emptiness"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection