Zach Wahls, Son of a Lesbian Couple, Addresses DNC

Watch DNC Video on Don't Ask-Don't Tell

Watch DNC Video About President Obama's Support For Gay Marriage

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Why it's a huge deal that Michelle Obama endorsed gay marriage in her convention speech

Last night, during her keynote address at the Democratic Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama, in so many words, endorsed marriage equality:

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Via Another Angry Voice / FB:

Via Barack Obama / FB: This is the Party of Inclusion

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet :

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Cut through five, let go of five, & develop five about all. A monk gone past five attachments is said to have crossed the flood. Practice jhana, monk, and don't be heedless. Don't take your mind roaming in sensual strands. Don't swallow--heedless-- the ball of iron aflame. Don't burn & complain: 'This is pain.' - Dhammpada, 25, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: Will Prop 8 To Be On SCOTUS Docket?

Scottie Thomaston reports an interesting development at Prop 8 Trial Tracker:

The Supreme Court docket page for Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Prop 8 case, has a new notice that the case has been “DISTRIBUTED for Conference of September 24, 2012.” The September 24 conference is the first time this term that the Justices will meet privately and look at petitions for certiorari to decide which cases they will accept for review.
Usually, the Court announces its orders from conferences on the Monday following the conferences, however if they do take up the Prop 8 case on September 24, they could announce as early as the next day whether the full Court will review the case. It takes four votes to grant review.
If the Court denies the petition, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision stands, and Proposition 8 will be invalidated, though the case won’t set a nationwide precedent. If they decide to review the case, they’ll reach a final decision on the merits at the end of June 2013.
The Court could also potentially ‘relist’ the case for a later conference. This would mean instead of making a decision at the September 24 conference, the case would be held and listed for a subsequent one.

Labels: LGBT rights, Proposition 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma September 6, 2012

Loving Negativity to Death

Remember 'Divide and Conquer'—if you can divide a negative reaction into its parts (mental image, mental talk, and emotional body sensation), you can conquer the sense of being overwhelmed. In other words, eliminate the negative parts by loving them to death.

- Shinzen Young, "The Power of Gone"

Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through September 8th, 2012
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Momentum - TheFour2012.Com

Via AmericaBLog Gay:

Michelle Obama references gay marriage in convention keynote

Here's the second gay reference, the first is more subtle:If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire…if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores…if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote…if a generation could...

 

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet :

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Don't forget to bring the good experiences of meditation into your daily activities. Instead of acting and reacting impulsively and following your thoughts and feelings here and there, watch your mind carefully, be aware, and try to deal skillfully with problems as they arise. If you can do this each day, your meditation will have been successful. - Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet :

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Don't forget to bring the good experiences of meditation into your daily activities. Instead of acting and reacting impulsively and following your thoughts and feelings here and there, watch your mind carefully, be aware, and try to deal skillfully with problems as they arise. If you can do this each day, your meditation will have been successful. - Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via FB:

Via JMG: Anti-Gay Whackjob Paul Cameron Repeats "Gays Are Inherently Diseased" Claim

"If you look across the data sets you see that homosexuals have a host of mental problems, disproportionate physical problems, they don't live as long, and they are disproportionately involved in drug abuse and criminality. That would seem to indicate that that is a lifestyle that may reasonably be considered mentally disturbed – [a] disorder. Yet, it isn't. It is surprising that such a wildly defective study, and one that actually proved the exact opposite of what it claimed to have proved has survived so long." - Discredited psychologist Paul Cameron, speaking to the Christian Post.

Cameron is referring to a 1957 study that was cited when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973. Cameron's claim that gay men only live to age 42 is still frequently quoted by anti-gay hate groups, even though he came up with that figure by averaging the ages of men he found in AIDS obituaries in the 1980s. Which is like saying that the average child with a brain tumor dies at age eight, therefore all children have a life expectancy of eight years. Earlier this year Cameron called for imprisoning gay people in a statement that also accused President Obama of being secretly gay himself.

Labels: batshittery, crackpots, douchenozzles, hate groups, liars, Paul Cameron, religion

Reposted From Joe

JMG Quote Of The Day - Richard Socarides

"Last night in Charlotte, the Democratic Party made history as the first national party to offer a platform endorsing marriage equality for all Americans. The move followed, of course, President Obama's personal endorsement of same-sex marriage in May. Both were important moments for me, here as a delegate for New York, and many others at the convention who have fought for full equality for gays and lesbians over many years. It was a completely different scene in Tampa last week.

"When Ann Romney spoke about her own 'real marriage' at the Republican National Convention, I wondered if this admittedly likable woman auditioning for a role as first lady would someday try to stand in the way of my marriage. I thought: can Mitt Romney stop gay marriage? Does he even want to? [snip]

"I asked Evan Wolfson, President of the group Freedom to Marry and the founder of the marriage equality movement nationally, whether he though Mitt Romney could stop marriage equality or if he thought Romney even cared. 'He has staked out a position, whether sincerely or otherwise, to the right of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush'” said Wolfson. 'We have no reason to think he's not serious.'

So while I welcome my pro-equality friends in the GOP to the cause—they see the future—I'm happier in Charlotte than I would have been in Tampa. And I hope that the country sticks with the president it's got." - Former Clinton White House advisor Richard Socarides, writing for the Daily Beast.

Read the full article.

Labels: Barack Obama, Charlotte, Democrats, DNC, LGBT History, LGBT rights, Mitt Romney, Quote Of The Day, Richard Socarides

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma September 5, 2012

Accessing Joy

Whether we are paying careful attention to wholesome states when they arise, reflecting on gratitude, or feeling the delight of living with integrity (which the Buddha called 'the bliss of blamelessness'), we can access joy by shifting the focus of our awareness to what uplifts the heart.

- James Baraz, "Lighten Up!"

Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through September 7th, 2012
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Via I love it when I wake up in the morning and Barack Obama is President. / FB: