Via Gay Politics Report:

• LGBT issues front and center as Obama's second term begins
   
• President Barack Obama has started his second term by pushing forward proposals on immigration and military benefits that recognize same-sex couples, and he's spoken out in favor of the Boy Scouts of America allowing openly gay members. These actions, along with the call for LGBT equality included in Obama's inaugural address, have left some advocates impressed with how the president has embraced much of their agenda. "There are some times when I have to pinch myself," said one gay rights activist and Obama donor. The Hill (2/7)     

Via JMG: Late PFLAG Founder Jeanne Manford To Receive Presidential Citizens Medal

PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford, who died last month at the age of 92, will be posthumously honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest honor the government gives a civilian. Twelve others will receive the medal at an upcoming White House ceremony. Paul Schindler reports at Gay City News:

When Manford died last month at the age of 92, Jody Huckaby, PFLAG’s national executive director, said, “Jeanne Manford proved the power of a single person to transform the world. She paved the way for us to speak out for what is right, uniting the unique parent, family, and ally voice with the voice of LGBT people everywhere.” President Barack Obama will honor the Medal winners at a White House ceremony on February 15. The recipients were announced on February 8. Manford is only the second Citizens Medal recipient honored for her work on LGBT causes. A 2011 Medal went to Janice K. Langbehn, a lesbian who sued a Miami hospital after she and her three young children were denied the right to visit her partner of 18 years, Lisa Marie Pond, as she lay dying after suffering a brain aneurysm while on vacation there in 2007. Despite having been told that they were in “an anti-gay city and state” by a hospital official, Langbehn’s suit was dismissed.

Others to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal have included Elizabeth Taylor, Colin Powell, and AIDS researcher David Ho.
UPDATE: PFLAG has issued a statement.

“When Jeanne Manford publicly stood up for her gay son in 1972, she had no idea that her actions would spark a movement that would change the lives of so many individuals and families,” said PFLAG National Executive Director Jody M. Huckaby. “It started out as a simple act of love, but Jeanne’s legacy lives on, as straight allies continue to stand alongside their LGBT loved ones, united by their collective belief in a better—and more equal—tomorrow. Her voice has been joined by millions of others who have raised their voices and will continue to do so in support of acceptance, fairness, and equality.” “I was able to share the news of this honor with my mom before she left us and I only wish the President could have seen the amazing smile that spread across her face,” said Suzanne Manford Swan, daughter of the late Jeanne Manford. “My family is deeply touched by this honor and to represent the PFLAG family values of love and acceptance.”

Labels: heroes, LGBT History, PFLAG

Reposted from Joe

A Gay Dad's Invitation to a Supreme Court Justice: Come to Dinner With My Family

Some of us are afraid to exhale. Same-sex marriage is before the Supreme Court.

Just as the election had the "swing-state factor," these two cases have a swing vote: Justice Anthony Kennedy. Justice Kennedy was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan but has been on the progressive side of two key LGBTQ cases, Romer v. Evans and Lawrence v. Texas. Now, with the question of same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court, Justice Kennedy, with the right decision, could eclipse the likes of Barbra Streisand, Madonna and Lady Gaga as the greatest gilded eagle for gay equality ever known.

Propaganda-like amicus briefs from the anti-gay community seem to be papering the walls of the Supreme Court on a daily basis. The Westboro Baptist Church, the Republicans of the House of Representatives, the Catholic bishops... they all have one. Progressive briefs are due in March.
I am just a gay dad. We gay dads tend not to file amicus briefs. However, we do jot notes, make lists and write letters. Sometimes we invite people to dinner. I think that will tell him more than all the anti-gay briefs put together.

Make the jump here to read the letter by Rob Watson

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The brief elation we experience appeasing sensual impulses is very close to what the drug addict feels when indulging his or her habit. Temporary relief is soon followed by a craving for more. And in just the same way that taking drugs in the end only causes trouble, so too does much of what we undertake to fulfill our immediate sensory desires. We must acknowledge that there can be no hope of gratifying the senses permanently. At best, the happiness we derive from eating a good meal can only last until the next time we are hungry. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

The Stream : Accepting LGBTs in Asia

Via JMG: These Nine People

Details.

Labels: DOMA, Proposition 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 8, 2013

Our Shared Awakening

Nothing is separate and alone. This is how things are. This is compassion, not merely an extra something one of us feels for another, but existence itself. Being is by its nature sharing and loving. And we realize this not as a concept or a method we can work at and finally grasp, but as a truth that we perceive through our mutual recognition, our mutual shared awakening.

- Norman Fischer, "Revealing a World of Bliss"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 9th, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	If you are afraid of pain, if you don't like it, do nothing evil, either openly or in secret. For if you do, even if you get up and run away you won't escape its pain. If you are afraid of pain, if you don't like it, take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Train in the precepts. This is good. - Theri-Gatha, 246-249 More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 7, 2013

Outside the Story

Our lives are meaningless if we take meaning for a coherent narrative plot of some sort. When we strain to make our lives otherwise, we're merely telling ourselves a story. You and I don't manifest in the universe as meaning, we manifest as living human beings. We're not here to represent something else. We're here in our own right.

- Lin Jensen, “Wash Your Bowl”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 8th, 2013
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Via Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center / FB:

‎"Attachment constrains our vision so that we are not able to see things from a wider perspective."- His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

JMG HomoQuotable - Evan Wolfson

"With France and Britain poised to become the next countries to embrace the freedom to marry, it's clear that the momentum we see here in the United States for ending marriage discrimination is, in fact, a global movement toward greater freedom and equality for all - and the U.S. should be leading, not lagging. America cannot afford to fall behind its closest allies and trade partners in this global economy, and needs to do right by its families, as a right-of-center British prime minister and left-of-center French president have called on their parliaments to do, with resounding success." - Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson, in a press release noting this week's victories in Britain and France.

Labels: Evan Wolfson, Freedom To Marry, HomoQuotable

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 6, 2013

No Time to Waste

This precious human body, supreme instrument though it is for the attainment of enlightenment, is itself a transient phenomenon. No one knows when, or how, death will come. Bubbles form on the surface of the water, but the next instant they are gone, they do not stay. It is just the same with this precious human body we have managed to find. We take all the time in the world before engaging in the practice, but who knows when this life of ours will simply cease to be?

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “A City of Dreams”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 7th, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	As long as there is a lack of the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, no matter what external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the feeling of joy and happiness that you are seeking. On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality of calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, then even if you lack various external facilities that you would normally consider necessary for happiness, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful life. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - SAME LOVE feat. MARY LAMBERT (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Via Gay Politics Report: Over a million petition-signers ask Boy Scouts to drop gay ban

Over a million petition-signers ask Boy Scouts to drop gay ban
  
 Gay scouts and their supporters delivered 1.4 million petition signatures to Boy Scouts of America headquarters this week in a bid to pressure the organization to allow local branches to admit openly gay scouts and leaders. The effort also got the backing of President Barack Obama, who in a pre-Super Bowl interview this weekend said the BSA should change its longstanding policy. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the group should hold firm and keep the ban in place, and the anti-gay Family Research Council ran a full page-ad in USA Today urging the same. The Dallas Morning News (free content)/The Scoop blog (2/4), CBS News/Political Eye (2/3), Dallas Voice (2/4), Towleroad (2/4)     

Why Homophobia Is Not An Acceptable Life Choice

Macklemore, the first unsigned artist to make it to #1 in over a decade, perfectly frames the world homophobia creates. Give his hit track "Same Love" a listen and see if that doesn't melt your heart in a jiffy. 

 

 

Via Mothers for Sustainable Energy -TheMothersProject.org Colorado / FB:

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	When people speak badly of you, you should respond in this way: Keep a steady heart and don't reply with harsh words. Practice letting go of resentment and accepting that the other's hostility is the spur to your understanding. Be kind, adopt a generous standpoint, treat your enemy as a friend, and suffuse all your world with affectionate thoughts, far-reaching and widespread, limitless and free from hate. In this state you should try to remain. - Dhammapada More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 5, 2013

Investing in Practice

It is essential at the beginning of practice to acknowledge that the path is personal and intimate. It is no good to examine it from a distance as if it were someone else’s. You must walk it for yourself. In this spirit, you invest yourself in your practice, confident of your heritage, and train earnestly side by side with your sisters and brothers. It is this engagement that brings peace and realization.

- Robert Aitken Roshi, “The Teacher in Everything”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 6th, 2013
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