Via JMG: How DOMA "Defends" Marriage

Visit the pro-gay March 4 Marriage page on Facebook.

Labels: DOMA, LGBT rights, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma;

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 6, 2013

How We Speak to Ourselves

The Buddha saw that we are always engaged in relationships, starting with that most significant relationship: the one with ourselves. On the cushion we notice how we speak to ourselves—sometimes with compassion, sometimes with judgment or impatience. Our words are a powerful medium with which we can bring happiness or cause suffering.

- Allan Lokos, "Skillful Speech"

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Via Beliefnet - Buddhist Wisdom:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The good shine from afar Like the snowy Himalayas. The bad don't appear Even when near, Like arrows shot into the night. - Dhammapada 21, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: PFLAG China Calls For Marriage

The Chinese chapter of PFLAG has issued a public letter calling for marriage equality. The letter has been sent to members of the National People's Congress. China Daily reports:

"Some of our children have been living with their partners for nearly 10 years. They love each other. But they cannot sign their names legally when their partners need an operation," said the letter, which was written by PFLAG China (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of China) and represented more than 100 gay parents. The organization said it will communicate with deputies from South China's Guangdong province who are able to promote the legalization of gay marriage during the NPC this year.  The letter underlines the problems that gay couples in China face, such as adoption, inheritance and purchasing properties. It calls for early amendment of the Marriage Law to include the right of marriage for gays.

PFLAG China was founded in 2008.

Labels: China, marriage equality, PFLAG

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 5, 2013

Wisdom's Questions

When it’s time to suffer, you should suffer; when it’s time to cry, you should cry. Cry completely. Cry until there are no more tears and then recognize in your exhaustion that you’re alive. The sun still rises and sets. The seasons come and go. Absolutely nothing remains the same and that includes suffering. When the suffering ends wisdom begins to raise the right questions.

- Seido Ray Ronci, "The Examined Life"

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	When you are completely clear, there is no subjective distortion; when you are completely pure, there is true perception. But even if you are thus through and through, this is still now the transcendental key. When the wind and waves have died out, the ocean of mind is as is; when you get to the bottom of the ocean of mind, for the first time you see the black pearl. - Tzu-te More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Cut down The forest of desire, Not the forest of trees. From the forest of desire Come danger & fear. Having cut down this forest & its underbrush, monks, be deforested. - Dhammapada, 20, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Gay Poltics Report:

• Nobel Peace Prize winner condemns LGBT elected officials
   
• Former president of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa last week lashed out at openly LGBT elected officials, saying they deserve to be separated from the rest of the national parliament "behind a wall." "They have to know that they are a minority and must adjust to smaller things," Walesa said during a television interview. Parliamentary leaders responded by temporarily moving two openly gay and transgender members to the front row, a position of honor. The Victory Fund’s Chuck Wolfe called the comments, "as sad as they are outrageous," given Walesa’s history as a champion for democracy. The Huffington Post/The Associated Press (3/3), ABC News/The Associated Press (3/4), GayPolitics.com (3/4)     

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 1, 2013

Basic Goodness

When we use this term 'basic goodness' it indicates some fundamental possibility. Life is possible. Situations are possible. And anybody can start to gain some kind of insight and appreciation of their lives. That’s what we call 'sacred.' It doesn’t mean something dramatic, but something very simple. There’s a sacredness to everyone’s life.

- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, "A New Place, A New Time"

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Via JMG: New California Marriage Poll

 

Click over to Zack Ford at Think Progress for the rest of the results.

Labels: California, marriage equality, polls, Proposition 8

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Obama To File Prop 8 Brief

Labels: DOJ, Obama administration, Prop 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	What monks, is the world? The eye and shapes, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and tactile objects, the mind and mental objects--these form the world as we know it. When an eye and a shape are there, then the consciousness of seeing arises. From this consciousness comes sensation; that which is sensed is thought over; that which is thought over is projected outward as the external world. So I declare that in this six-foot-long body with its perceptions and thinking lies the world, the beginning of the world, the ending of the world, and the way to the ending of the world. - Majjhima Nikaya More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 28, 2013

Our Shelter Within

When we can be secure in our inner source for true happiness, we don’t expose ourselves to the devastation that comes when outside hopes for happiness and security are dashed. We have our shelter, our place of security, inside. And we needn’t be afraid that this is an escapist shelter. When the basis of our well-being is firm within, we can act with true courage and compassion for others, for we’re coming from a solid position of calmness and strength.

- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “What We’ve Been Practicing For”

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Via JMG: 300 Corporations & Cities File DOMA Brief

 

A coalition of almost 300 corporations, cities, and other organizations, some of whom also appear on yesterday's Prop 8 brief, have filed a Supreme Court brief in support of the overturn of DOMA.  The ACLU reports via press release:

Signers include Amazon.com, Apple, Bank of New York, CBS, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Facebook, Google, JetBlue, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Liberty Mutual, Marriott International, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, NIKE, Pfizer, Starbucks, Twitter, Viacom, Walt Disney Company and Xerox and the cities of Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica and Seattle, among others.
Other supporters, including religious leaders, retired military personnel, children’s rights groups and former cabinet secretaries are expected to file their briefs later this week. Some groups will be holding a press conference at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, DC on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. announcing their support for Windsor’s case, as well as the Supreme Court case seeking to repeal California’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

Scanning the full brief, I also see Adobe, Alaska Airlines, Diageo, Intuit, M&M Mars, Pfizer, and REI.  Sorry, haters. It's time to also boycott Flash, booze, spreadsheets, candy, boner pills, and camping tents! Enjoy your sober, flaccid, YouTube-free caves! And no Little Mermaid or Lion King for the kiddies, not that you'll be able to buy an anti-gay TV or cable provider.

Labels: business, DOMA, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	If you seek after truth, you should investigate things in such a way that your consciousness as you investigate is not distracted by what you find, or diffused and scattered; neither is it fixed and set. For the one who is not swayed, there will be a transcending of birth, death, and time. Whether you walk or stand or lie down, Stretch your limbs or draw them in again, Let you do all these things attentively, Above, across, and back again. Whatever your place in the world, Let you be the one who views the movement Of all compounded things with attention. - Itivuttaka Sutta More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 27, 2013

Touching Liberation

Insight can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, “Simply Stop”

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Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via JMG: Dozens Of Major Corporations To File Supreme Court Brief Against Prop 8

Later this week dozens of major corporations will file a joint Supreme Court brief in support of the overturn of Prop 8.  The names are huge, people. Fortune Magazine reports:

On Thursday, dozens of American corporations, including Apple, Alcoa, Facebook, eBay, Intel, and Morgan Stanley will submit an amicus brief in the landmark Hollingsworth v. Perry case broadly arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that laws banning same-sex marriages, like California's ballot initiative Proposition 8, are unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.
According to a draft copy obtained by Fortune, the companies argue that such laws "send an unmistakeable signal that same-sex couples are in some way inferior to opposite-sex couples, a proposition that is anathema to amici's commitment to equality and fair treatment to all."
At least 60 companies had committed to signing the brief as of Tuesday evening, according to Joshua Rosenkranz, who is counsel of record on the brief and head of the Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. That number is expected to rise by Thursday, however, according to Rosenkranz. Others who have already committed to sign include AIG, Becton Dickinson, Cisco, Cummins, Kimpton, Levi Strauss, McGraw Hill, NCR, Nike, Office Depot, Oracle, Panasonic, Qualcomm, and Xerox.

An excerpt from the brief declares that Proposition 8 "leaves companies in the untenable position of being compelled implicitly to endorse the second-class status to which their gay and lesbian employees, clients, customers, and business associates are relegated. Until the law no longer relegates same-sex couples to second-class status as inferior 'domestic partnerships,' our adherence to the law compels us to abide by a distinction that stigmatizes and dehumanizes gay men and lesbians."

Labels: business, marriage equality, Prop 8, Supreme Court

posted by Joe

JMG HomoQuotable: Peter Tatchell

"Cardinal [Keith] O'Brien condemned homosexuality as a grave sin and was a long-time opponent of gay equality. He supported homophobic discrimination in law, including the current ban on same-sex marriage. In the light of these allegations, his stance looks hypocritical. He appears to have preached one thing in public while doing something different in private. Several other prominent opponents of equal marriage are guilty of double standards and vulnerable to similar exposure. They include anti-gay clergy and politicians.

"It is estimated that around 40% of Catholic priests in Britain are gay, which makes the church's opposition to gay equality so two-faced and absurd. A significant proportion of all Cardinals worldwide is thought to be gay. Recent revelations in Italy have alleged the existence of a gay mafia within the Vatican, including senior Cardinals and other Vatican officials, and their participation in gay bars, clubs, saunas, chat rooms and male prostitution services. The Vatican is shamelessly championing homophobia and the denial of legal equality to gay people, while hosting a hotbed of secret, guilt-ridden clerical homosexuality." - British activist Peter Tatchell, in a statement posted on his website.

Labels: Catholic Church, HomoQuotable, Peter Tatchell, Vatican

Reposted from Joe