A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 10, 2013
Beyond the Reach of Stress
We
should be intent on cleansing and polishing our hearts so that they can
gain release from their worries and preoccupations, the source of pain
and discontent. Peace, coolness, and a bright happiness will arise
within us, in the same way as when we unshackle ourselves from our
encumbering burdens and debts. We'll be free—beyond the reach of all
suffering and stress.
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- Ajaan Lee, “Sowing the Seeds of Freedom”
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Via JMG: CNN Poll: Obama's Approval Ratings Are Highest Regarding LGBT Rights
The president's overall approval rating
is 51%. That's up four points since last month but is four points
below his all-time high. When those polled were asked about specific
issues, only his "policies towards gays and lesbians" scored over 50%.
Reposted from Joe
Via JMG: We Need An Executive Order On LGBT Employees And Federal Contractors
In 2008 then-Sen. Obama promised to deliver an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Since then the White House has repeatedly said that a legislative solution that would affect all employers is the goal. But that goal, ENDA, very clearly is out of reach while the GOP controls the House. So how about that executive order? Chris Geidner reports some new stats at Buzzfeed:
Nearly $250 billion in federal contracts given out in the last fiscal year went to contractors operating in states where the companies could fire a worker solely because the person is gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new report has found. A group of organizations that have been urging President Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers will be releasing the new report Tuesday as a step in increasing pressure on the president to act during tax time.While an executive order would only affect companies that do business with the federal government, it's a start. A start with $250B in federal money attached to it.
The report, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed Monday night, also has found that nearly $300 billion in federal contracts were given out in states that have no specific state-level protections against anti-transgender discrimination.
Although federal government employees are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, there is currently no protection for employees of federal contractors against sexual orientation discrimination and protections against gender identity discrimination are unclear. And while most of the top federal contractors have policies against LGBT discrimination, the report aims to draw attention to the limits employees would have in states without legal protections.
Labels: employment, ENDA, feds, LGBT rights
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 9, 2013
The Ground of Compassion
To
be truly and wholly present even for the briefest moment is to be
vulnerable, for we have arrived at the point where the obstacle that
fear constructs between ourselves and others dissolves. It is here that
the heart is drawn out of hiding and the inherent sympathetic response
called compassion arises.
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- Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Monday, April 8, 2013
Via JMG: REPORT: Gay Couples Will Not Be Included In Immigration Reform Bill
The director of Immigration Equality said today that she does not expect that gay couples will in included in the immigration reform bill about to be introduced in the US Senate. Michael Lavers reports at Washington Blade:
“We are not expecting LGBT families to be included in the Gang of 8 bill,” she told the Washington Blade during a conference call ahead of a rally in support of comprehensive immigration reform on Wednesday that is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the U.S. Capitol. “That in our minds means that of course the bill is incomplete.” Tiven’s comments come roughly three months after President Obama publicly unveiled an immigration reform proposal that includes bi-national gay couples.Rep. Jerrold Nadler confirmed to the Blade that "LGBT-specific language will likely not appear in the bill. Nadler: "This is disappointing but not particularly surprising."
Labels: immigration, Immigration Equality, Senate
Via JMG: OREGON: Haters Lose Bid To Rewrite Marriage Ban Ballot Measure
Oregon's Attorney General has rejected the "absurd" bid of an anti-gay group to rewrite a proposed 2014 ballot measure to overturn that state's ban on same-sex marriage.
The attorney general's office on Friday announced its final wording on a ballot title -- and it rejected the legal argument from an attorney for the Oregon Family Council that the title should reflect the notion that the initiative would require every governmental agency in Oregon to issue marriage licenses. Basic Rights Oregon, the gay-rights group sponsoring the initiative, has rejected that argument as absurd. It says county clerks would continue to be the only ones issuing marriage licenses if this initiative is approved by voters.Here is the ballot language approved by the state: "Amends Constitution: Recognizes marriage between couples of same gender; protects clergy/religious institutions' refusal to perform marriages." Basic Rights Oregon has until July 2014 to collect 116,000 petition signatures.
Labels: 2014 elections, marriage equality, Oregon
Via JMG: Dan Savage On Margaret Thatcher
"I was living in London—waiting tables, seeing plays, stealing silver, pining after British boys—when Section 28 was being debated. The law prompted Ian McKellen to come out of the closet and it prompted some righteous lesbian parents to tag Thatcher billboard with "Lesbians Mums Aren't Pretending." Coming at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Section 28 instilled panic. It felt like this law might the first of many anti-gay laws to come. Instead Section 28 was the beginning of the end for political homophobia in the UK. Because McKellen wasn't the only gay person to come out in protest. And you know what happens when gay people come out. So thanks for that, Maggie." - Dan Savage, writing for Slog.
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 8, 2013
Putting Your Body to Good Use
What
should you do to put your body to good use? Most people have no idea. A
craftsman who borrows some tools will try to make the best possible use
of them while they are available. Your body, too, is actually on loan
to you for the time being, for the brief period left before it is taken
back from you by death. Had you better not use it to practice the dharma
while you can?
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- Dilgo Khyentse, "The Day After You Die"
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Vua JMG: Tenth Brazilian State Legalizes Marriage
The Brazilian state of Parana has become the tenth in that nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
According to a count by the office of Rep. Jean Wyllys, Brazil's first openly gay lawmaker, ten states out of twenty-seven now automatically convert such unions into marriage, they include: Alagoas, Bahia, Ceara, Sergipe, Espiritu Santo, Piaui, Sao Paulo, Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul and the Federal District.Marriages conducted in those ten states are recognized nationwide. (Via Zack Ford)
Labels: Brazil, marriage equality, South America
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 6, 2013
An Ever-Present Refuge
Love
and compassion make us feel safe because they express the safety of
their source—the deep buddhanature within us, the unchanging inner space
of primal awareness that cannot be harmed. By receiving unconditional
love and compassion from those who’ve awakened before us, we sense that
we too can relax into the very source of such love in the unconditioned
nature of our minds, our buddhanature.
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- John Makransky, "Aren't We Right to be Angry?"
Friday, April 5, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
April 5, 2013
Seeing Possibility in Suffering
Being
intolerant of suffering, in the Buddhist sense, does not mean that we
reject it or fight against it. It means that we stop and look at it, not
morbidly, but with faith in the possibility of living a joyful and
peaceful life.
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- Gil Fronsdal, "Living Two Traditions"
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma
Tricycle Daily Dharma April 4, 2013
Lighten Your Load
Consider
the possibility, and I am only saying consider the possibility, that
maybe nothing is unforgivable. Maybe there is a way to find forgiveness
even for what we have believed for so long to be unforgivable. Explore
this mindfully.
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- Allan Lokos, “Lighten Your Load”
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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