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Tricycle Daily Dharma December 9, 2012

To Recognize Emptiness

Every moment of experience is contingent on a vast complex of myriad conditions. Nothing exists in and of itself as 'this' or 'that,' 'self' or 'other.' Everything is what it is only in relation to what it is not. To recognize this emptiness is not to negate things but to glimpse what enables anything to happen at all.

- Stephen Batchelor, "Nagarjuna’s Verses from the Center"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 11th, 2012
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Via Path To Peace & Happiness / FB:

“If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding.” ― Dalai Lama

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 8, 2012

Participating in Divinity

When we make the effort to understand what may seem strange in the religious practices of others, we may find that it opens the door to something beyond the particular case, something quite general: the capacity of humans to participate in divinity.

- Robert Bellah, "The R Word"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 10th, 2012
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BREAKING: Prop 8 Goes to Supreme Court

Via JMG: SCOTUS Reactions

ACLU

Windsor is represented by attorneys from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; the American Civil Liberties Union; the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. While New York and eight other states now give same-sex couples the freedom to marry, DOMA requires otherwise legally married same-sex couples like Edie and Thea to be treated by the federal government as if they had never married,” said New York Civil Liberties Union executive director, Donna Lieberman. “It is time for the Supreme Court to strike down this unconstitutional statute once and for all.”

NY Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell

While I am disappointed that Californians will now have to wait even longer for Marriage Equality to be restored in their state, I am profoundly hopeful that the Supreme Court is taking this opportunity to consider the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. I was proud to help lead New York’s successful Marriage Equality fight, but until the federal government recognizes marriages like mine, we have not achieved true Marriage Equality.

GLAD

DOMA creates a gay-only exception to federal recognition of state-licensed marriages, and we believe that the federal government should stop discriminating against same-sex couples legally married by their states. We know from working with legally married same-sex couples since 2004 in Massachusetts that DOMA undermines their security in every aspect of life and death. GLAD has been leading the fight for marriage equality for two decades, including the historic marriage equality breakthroughs in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That the issue will soon be heard by the Supreme Court is a vindication of our work to achieve equal protection under the law for same-sex couples. This day has been long in the making, and we are committed to the success of this case.

Empire State Pride Agenda

Although marriage equality in New York and the recent wins in Maine, Maryland and Washington were major victories, DOMA currently prevents our marriages from being recognized on the federal level. This means that our commitments are not honored and our families are not protected by the federal government. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will grant all married couples, in New York and other states, the recognition they deserve by upholding the multiple lower court rulings that have already declared sections of DOMA and Proposition 8 unconstitutional. We view these deliberations as necessary to end discrimination and advance full equality for all Americans.

Human Rights Campaign

Today is a milestone day for equal justice under the law and for millions of loving couples who want to make a lifelong commitment through marriage. The passage of Proposition 8 caused heartbreak for so many Americans, but today’s announcement gives hope that we will see a landmark Supreme Court ruling for marriage this term. As the Court has ruled 14 times in the past, marriage is a fundamental right and I believe they will side with liberty, freedom and equality, moving us toward a more perfect union as they have done in the past. “Proposition 8 has been already been declared unconstitutional in Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Supreme Court has an opportunity to do the same and send a resounding message of hope to LGBT young people from coast to coast that they have the same dignity and same opportunities for the future as everyone else.

Freedom To Marry

By agreeing to hear a case against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, the Court can now move swiftly to affirm what 10 federal rulings have already said: DOMA’s ‘gay exception’ to how the federal government treats married couples violates the Constitution and must fall. When it comes to the whole federal safety net that accompanies marriage – access to Social Security survivorship, health coverage, family leave, fair tax treatment, family immigration, and over 1000 other protections and responsibilities -- couples who are legally married in the states should be treated by the federal government as what they are: married." “Additionally, gay and lesbian couples in California – and indeed, all over the country – now look to the Supreme Court to affirm that the Constitution does not permit states to strip something as important as the freedom to marry away from one group of Americans.

CA Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom

Today marks the beginning of the end for a California journey that started eight years ago when San Francisco issued same-sex marriage licenses. By agreeing to hear the Proposition 8 case the U.S. Supreme Court could end, once and for all, marriage inequity in California. Forty-five years after the Supreme Court ruled that marriages between interracial couples were constitutional in Loving vs. Virginia, Justices can once again reaffirm the basic American principal of equality for all. Today’s announcement starts the clock towards the final decision for California. History will one day be divided into the time before marriage equality and the period that follows. And thankfully, we will be on the side of history worthy of being proud of.

Marriage Equality USA

It’s crystal clear that the United States Supreme Court should rule in favor of the freedom to marry. Our Constitution guarantees every American the fundamental human right to marry the person they love – regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other external characteristic. Proposition 8 targeted lesbian and gay people – and lesbian and gay people alone – to take away their freedom to marry and thus exclude them from the American dream. Proposition 8 cannot stand.

NGLTF

The recent election signaled just how far we’ve come on the path toward treating all families fairly, with landmark statewide victories affirming the right of loving, committed same-sex couples to share in the celebration and responsibilities of marriage. This long road to the high court has been filled with thousands of personal conversations about why marriage matters to us, and of how discrimination hurts our families. The transformative nature of talking about our love and our lives is clear, as we saw with the recent sweeping statewide marriage victories, and in the fact that the majority of Americans now supports the freedom to marry. But the journey is not finished, for as long as DOMA and Prop. 8 remain intact, then true equality remains out of reach. It’s time the Supreme Court strike down DOMA and Proposition 8, once and for all.

More as they arrive....

Labels: ACLU, Daniel O'Donnell, DOMA, LGBT rights, Proposition 8, Protect Marriage, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: BREAKING: Supreme Court To Hear Proposition 8 & Windsor DOMA Cases

SCOTUSblog weighs in:

Trying to sort this all out, it is clear that the Court has agreed to consider the merits case in Prop. 8, because that is what the petition presented as its question, but that it is also going to address whether the proponents had a right to pursue their case. If the Court were to find that the proponents did not have Art. III standing, that is the end of the matter: there would be no review on the merits of Proposition 8, or of the 9th CA decision striking it down.

UPDATE: The decisions have been posted.

Labels: DOMA, LGBT History, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Supreme Court

Reposted from Joe
 

Via Gay Politics Report:

• LGBT Americans feel increasing acceptance, poll finds
   
• Ninety-one percent of LGBT Americans say people in their communities have become more accepting of them in recent years, a poll finds, but almost as many say discrimination is still a somewhat serious or very serious problem in the U.S. The USA TODAY/Gallup poll also found that 53% of all Americans now say they support allowing same-sex couples to marry, compared with 27% in a 1996 Gallup poll. USA Today (12/5) 

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Path To Peace & Happiness shared Buddhism - Path To Peace's photo.

‎"Through our practice of mindfulness we become aware of the feelings which arise when we make sense contacts. Feelings happen all the time and need to be recognised so that we can change our instinctive way of living to a deliberate way of being alive. Instinctively we are a constant reactor; deliberately we become an actor."

- Ayya Kema

‎

"Through our practice of mindfulness we become aware of the feelings which arise when we make sense contacts. Feelings happen all the time and need to be recog

nised so that we can change our instinctive way of living to a deliberate way of being alive. Instinctively we are a constant reactor; deliberately we become an actor."
- Ayya Kema

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Delight in heedfulness. Watch over your own mind. Lift yourself up from the hard-going way, like a tusker sunk in the mud. - Dhammapada, 327, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Path To Peace & Happiness / FB:

‎"Whenever the energy of anger comes up, we often want to express it to punish the person whom we believe to be the source of our suffering. This is the habit energy in us. When we suffer, we always blame the other person for having made us suffer. We do not realize that anger is, first of all, our business. We are primarily responsible for our anger, but we believe very naively that if we can say something or do something to punish the other person, we will suffer less. This kind of belief should be uprooted. Because whatever you do or say in a state of anger will only cause more damage in the relationship. Instead, we should try not to do anything or say anything when we are angry."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 7, 2012

Acts of Universal Generosity In a profoundly interdependent world, generosity is fundamental to the entire economy of life. Even the simplest biological function involves receiving something from others (nutrients, oxygen, life), processing it in some unique way, and then passing it on to all other members of the matrix of life. We all do this whether we want to or not, and whether or not we are aware of it. The practice of giving becomes perfected when we align ourselves very deeply with this truth, by consciously and mindfully offering everything we do or say—even everything we think—as an act of universal generosity. - Andrew Olendzki, "Dana: The Practice of Giving" Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 9th, 2012 For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Don't associate with bad friends. Don't associate with the low. Associate with admirable friends. Associate with the best. - Dhammapada 78, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu More Buddhism Quotes >>

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Tricycle Daily Dharma December 6, 2012

Transforming Anger

Perhaps the most important reason for getting to know our anger is that anger is actually a precious energy that becomes anger only when it is caught up in complex egoic patterns. Those patterns include my stories about anger’s cause and object as well as many deluded beliefs, not the least of which is the delusion of separation. This energy needs to be freed and transformed rather than distorted or destroyed.

- Nancy Baker, "Precious Energy"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 8th, 2012
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Via JMG: REPORT: Openly Gay Banker Under Consideration For Obama Cabinet

According to an unnamed source, openly gay Export-Import Bank head Fred Hochberg is under consideration to join President Obama's cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. If chosen, Hochberg would be the first openly gay cabinet member in history. Chris Johnson reports at Washington Blade:

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Blade that Hochberg is under consideration for various positions within the administration, although commerce secretary is the role for which he’s seen as most fit. “What I’ve been told is Fred very well regarded, he’s done a great job at the bank, and he’s one of the folks that they are looking at carefully for Commerce,” the official said. But the official said Hochberg hasn’t been involved as of Monday in direct talks with the White House about the position, nor could the official offer any timeline for when the administration would make an announcement.

RELATED: Shortly after last month's election, the Human Rights Campaign began advocating for the president to consider adding an LGBT person to his cabinet.

Labels: Commerce Department, Fred Hochberg, Obama administration, Obama cabinet

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Belief:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Overcoming attachment does not mean becoming cold and indifferent. On the contrary, it means learning to have relaxed control over our mind through understanding the real causes of happiness and fulfillment, and this enables us to enjoy life more and suffer less. - Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate" More Buddhism Quotes >>

God's Diary is Embarrassing

Via JMG: URUGUAY: Lower House To Vote On Same-Sex Marriage Bill Next Week

Uruguay's Chamber of Deputies, that nation's lower legislative body, will vote on same-sex marriage on December 11th.

Five months ago, the government approved the recognition of same sex marriage legalized in other countries. The law was supported by the Constitution Committee and the Codes of the House including two opposition legislators.  Frente Amplio legislator Julio Bango, a supporter of the law, said the law would pass the Senate in 2013 after the summer recess. He noted the dispute about name order for children of same sex marriages but said that issue would be resolved in the next week. The law reads, “the institution of marriage will mean the union of two parties, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation thereof at the same terms with the same effects established in the Civil Code”. The law will extend to include homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals.

In 2007 Uruguay became the first South American nation to legalize civil unions.

Labels: marriage equality, South America, Uruguay

Reposted from Joe