Two from Gay Politics Report:

• Republicans poised to reaffirm opposition to marriage equality
  Republican Party subcommittees have reportedly approved party platform language that criticizes the Obama administration's decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, and supports a "constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman." The language still must be approved by the full GOP committee today, and by delegates at the GOP convention in Tampa next week. BuzzFeed (8/20)     

• GOP platform addresses LGBT community, group says: Certain language included in the Republican Party's national platform is meant to signal the party's support for LGBT Americans, according to R. Clarke Cooper, the director of Log Cabin Republicans. A GOP delegate who supports marriage equality proposed the language "We embrace the principle that all Americans have the right to be treated with dignity and respect," Cooper said. Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)/Poliglot (8/20)     

"My Brother" Official Music Video by Nhojj

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Suffering chastens us and makes us remember. We are like the child who tries to pick up fire and is unlikely to do it again, once she has seen the consequences. With material things, seeing is easy; but when it comes to picking up the fires of greed, aversion, and delusion, most of us arent even aware were holding fires at all. On the contrary, we misguidedly believe them to be lovable and desirable, and so we are never chastened. We never learn our lesson. - Buddhadhasa Bhikku, "Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Wrong Direction's "Disclosure" - A Full Frontal Freedom production

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 21, 2012

Refraining from Harm

To realize truly that there is only this nature, with no 'other' outside us, is to naturally want to refrain from causing harm, just as we refrain from doing harm to one of our own limbs or eyes.

- Bodhin Kjolhede, "Pain, Passion, and the Precepts"

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RIP Scott McKenzie - San Francisco

Via Enough Is Enough: the blog page:

Via JMG: T-Mobile Endorses Marriage

Washington state based mobile phone giant T-Mobile today endorsed marriage equality. HRC has the good news:

The Bellevue-based wireless carrier joins REI, Microsoft, Starbucks and a growing list of other employers in supporting the efforts of Washington United for Marriage. “Our support of this issue is a reflection of our culture, how we do business, and our belief in the fair and equitable treatment of all employees,” said Jim Alling, interim chief executive officer and chief operating officer. HRC applauds T-Mobile for this positive step on its journey toward LGBT inclusion. More than 4,800 T-Mobile employees live and work in Washington state, according to the company.

RELATED: T-Mobile is the U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom. Last year a sale of the company to AT&T was thwarted after fierce resistance from the U.S. federal government.

Labels: cell phones, marriage equality, Washington state

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Michelangelo Signore To FRC President Tony Perkins: Let's Talk About Hate

Michelangelo Signorile has penned an open letter to Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and invited him to a debate on his SiriuxXM show. An excerpt:

Perhaps you recall that in July 2008, a man armed with a shotgun went on a shooting rampage inside a church in Knoxville. The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, like many Christian churches and denominations across the country, is welcoming of LGBT people. The gunman killed two people and severely wounded several others. Police said that the killer's motive was to target gays and liberals. "This isn't a church, it's a cult," the killer wrote in a four-page letter he had left behind. "They embrace every pervert that comes down the pike.... [T]he only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets, kill them where they gather."

I wouldn't claim, as you did with regard to the SPLC, that the FRC gave that killer a "license to shoot." No one knows what's inside the mind of a premeditated killer. But I would ask: Where do people like this killer get the distortions and ugly mischaracterizations that convince them that gay people are evil? More so, where do others who wouldn't engage in gun violence but who do harm to LGBT people in other ways -- firing them from their jobs, throwing them out of their homes, bullying them in schools -- get their misinformation about gay people? They get it from a wide array of sources that contribute to a culture that demonizes LGBT people. And you and the Family Research Council are among those who feed into that culture.

Read the full letter.

Labels: FRC, hate groups, Michelangelo Signorile, Tony Perkins

Reposted from Joe

Via FB:

Via FB / Global Secular Humanist Mov:

Via JMG: Matt Nathanson - Modern Love

Lots of cute gay couples and scenes of the city from San Francisco pop-rocker Matt Nathanson.



(Tipped by JMG reader William)

Labels: pop music, San Francisco

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 20, 2012

Aligning with the Cosmic Order

Buddhist practice, in its traditional context, is to align oneself more and more deeply with the cosmic order. Transcendence occurs when that coming into alignment is complete.

- Linda Heuman, "What's at Stake as the Dharma Goes Modern?"

Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through August 22nd, 2012
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Via Gay Marriage Oregon's photo / FB:

Via FB:

JMG Billboards Of The Day

The above two billboards will be positioned near each of the convention sites in Tampa and Charlotte. World Net Daily's commenters are ever so pissed, but they have exactly zero to say about the thousands and thousands of Christian billboards that promise eternal damnation in an unending lake of fire.

Labels: advertising, atheism, Charlotte, Democratic convention, hypocrisy, religion, Republican convention, Tampa

Reposted from Joe

Via Truebook.org / FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 19, 2012

Skillful Speech

Silence offers us, and those around us, the spaciousness we need to speak more skillfully. When we speak with greater skill, our true self—our compassionate, loving self—emerges with gentle ease. So before you speak, stop, breathe, and consider if what you are about to say will improve upon the silence.

- Allan Lokos, "Skillful Speech"

Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through August 21st, 2012
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Via FB: