Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 19, 2013

Daydreams of a Poet

It is possible to take our existence as a ‘sacred world,’ to take this place as open space rather than claustrophobic dark void. It is possible to take a friendly relationship to our ego natures, it is possible to appreciate the aesthetic play of forms in emptiness, and to exist in this place like majestic kings of our own consciousness. But to do that, we would have to give up grasping to make everything come out the way we daydream it should.

- Allen Ginsberg, “Negative Capability: Kerouac’s Buddhist Ethic”

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Via JMG: Ex-Gay Poster Boy John Paulk Apologizes: I No Longer Support Ex-Gay Movement

 

 

John Paulk, the man many "credit" with launching the "ex-gay" movement in the United States, has apologized for his past and denounced the "ex-gay" industry.  From an interview with Portland's PQ Monthly:

"Until recently, I have struggled all my life in feeling unloved and unaccepted,” Paulk said. “I have been on a journey during the last few years in trying to understand God, myself, and how I can best relate to others. During this journey I have made many mistakes and I have hurt many people including people who are close to me. I have also found a large number of people who accept me for who I am regardless of my past, any labels, or what I do.”
Paulk continued, “I no longer support the ex-gay movement or efforts to attempt to change individuals — especially teens who already feel insecure and alienated. I feel great sorrow over the pain that has been caused when my words were misconstrued. I have worked at giving generously to the gay community in Portland where I work and live. I am working hard to be authentic and genuine in all of my relationships.”

Truth Wins Out provides some background on Paulk:

John Paulk was at one time the most well known and influential person in the “ex-gay” industry, appearing on the cover of Newsweek with his wife Anne in 1998 under the headline, “Gay For Life?” He was instrumental in forming the Love Won Out “ex-gay” roadshow, which subjected countless LGBT youth and their families to misinformation, indoctrination and lies, and which destroyed many families in the process. In 2000, Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, photographed John Paulk coming out of a Washington, DC, gay bar, and the lies began to unravel. Though John resigned from the board of Exodus International following this incident, the Religious Right continued to use the Paulks’ story as evidence that the “ex-gay” life was a fairy tale rather than a nightmare, and many LGBT people and their families have been damaged or destroyed over the years as a result.

Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen says "not good enough."

"It is not enough to simply send an e-mail that says, ‘I’m sorry.’ John Paulk must work to atone for the damage he has done to LGBT families by taking a public role in renouncing and working against the harmful ‘ex-gay’ industry by embarking on a speaking tour to show that he truly has changed. Further, he should advocate for a bill in Oregon that would ban so-called ‘reparative therapy’ for minors. Only then can he start to repair the damage he has done to countless LGBT people and their families.”

 

RELATED: Last April I posted a report that Paulk's Facebook page was "littered with Glamor Shots-style images of Paulk and attractive men" and that his profile stated that he is "interested in women and men."

Labels: ex-gay, Exodus International, John Paulk, Oregon, Portland, religion, still totally gay, Truth Wins Out, Wayne Besen

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Walking the spiritual path is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. - Chogyam Trungpa, "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 17, 2013

A Change of Heart

A change of heart requires a great deal of courage and a great deal of compassion. The courage is to not avert our gaze, but instead to turn to the various sufferings in our own life or in the world around us and see them with the concern and compassionate eyes of the Buddha.

- Jack Kornfield, "A Change of Heart"

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Sakka asked: "What is the cause of self-interest?" The Buddha answered: "It is perception of the world as one's object." "How does one overcome this perception of the world as apart from oneself?" "By acting for the increase of goodness and happiness. It is in this way that the world ceases to be one's object." - Digha Nikaya More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 16, 2013

Meditation in Action

Buddhism often appears to promote personal transformation at the expense of social concern. Some Buddhist teachings claim that the mind does not just affect the world, it actually creates and sustains it. According to this view, cosmic harmony is most effectively preserved through an individual's spiritual practice. Yet other Buddhists amend the notion that mind is the primary or exclusive source of peace, contending that inner serenity is fostered or impeded by external conditions. Buddhists who place importance upon social factors and social action believe that internal transformation cannot, by itself, quell the world's turbulence.

- Kenneth Kraft, “Meditation in Action”

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Via JMG: ¡Viva los Gigantes!

GLAAD To Honor SF Giants

Next month the world champion San Francisco Giants will become the first professional sports team to be honored by GLAAD.

In 1994, the San Francisco Giants became the first-ever professional sports team to host an HIV/AIDS benefit game, "Until There's A Cure Day." Since then, the Giants and the Giants Community Fund have repeated the effort, generating more than $1.3 million for Bay Area HIV/AIDS education, care/service organizations and international HIV/AIDS research. The Giants were also the first major league sports team to record a video for the It Gets Better Project, a campaign devoted to bettering the lives LGBT youth.  Last September, pitcher Matt Cain, the longest tenured player on the team, was photographed for the NOH8 Campaign in response to California's passing of Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to ban marriage for same-sex couples. In October, the Giants took yet another stand in support of LGBT youth by participating in Spirit Day, GLAAD's annual anti-bullying campaign.

The event takes place on May 11th.

Labels: baseball, GLAAD, San Francisco, sports

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Whose minds are well-developed in the factors of self-awakening, who delight in non-clinging, relinquishing grasping-- resplendent, their effluents ended: they, in the world, are Unbound. - Dhammapada, 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 15, 2013

Living a Virtuous Life

Buddhist practice is never about creating goals and trying to achieve them. It’s about learning to see clearly for ourselves our own real state in each and every moment. As we come to see what life really is, we begin to behave more logically and ethically, because that’s what makes sense.

- Brad Warner, “The Enlightenment Pill”

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Via JMG: State Department Announces LGBT Rights Program For Western Hemisphere

Yesterday the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs announced a new program:

Secretary of State John Kerry has committed to advancing the human rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals as a central part of our human rights engagement. Taking into account the Secretary’s commitment as well as the Presidential Memorandum issued December 6, 2011, that directs all federal agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs has developed a regional strategy that strives to eliminate violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Respect for the human rights of LGBT persons in the Western Hemisphere varies dramatically by country. Some countries offer legal protections for LGBT persons, whereas others have laws that criminalize same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults. Recognizing that violence and discrimination based on a person’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity hinder the prosperity of countries.

The four-part strategy of the new program: 1) Expand public outreach and awareness of LGBT issues; 2) Create and leverage existing partnerships and programs; 3) Collaborate with multilateral partners; and 4) Engage directly with host country governments.

Labels: LGBT rights, Obama administration, State Department

Reposted from Joe

JMG HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"My father was a Catholic deacon, my mother was a lay minister and I thought about becoming a priest. I was in church every Sunday for the first 15 years of my life. Now I spend my Sundays on my bike, on my snowboard or on my husband. I haven’t spent my post-Catholic decades in a sulk, wishing the church would come around on the issue of homosexuality so that I could start attending Mass again. I didn’t abandon my faith. I saw through it. The conflict between my faith and my sexuality set that process in motion, but the conclusions I reached at the end of that process — there are no gods, religion is man-made, faith can be a force for good or evil — improved my life. I’m grateful that my sexuality prompted me to think critically about faith. Pushed out? No. I walked out." - Dan Savage, from his New York Times book review of Jeff Chu's Does Jesus Really Love Me?

Labels: books, Dan Savage, HomoQuotable, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 14, 2013

The Light of Reality 

The sense of self creates a feeling of solidity, like the apparent solidity of the clouds veiling the face of the sun, but at certain moments a gap is opened up, through which we may receive a glimpse of the light of reality.

- Francesca Freemantle, “The Luminous Gap in Bardo”

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 13, 2013

Great Enlightenment

Great enlightenment is the tea and rice of daily activity.

- Dogen, “Tea and Rice”

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 12, 2013

Simple Practice

It’s definitely the case that we can practice at any given moment. We can always try a little more to be kind, to be compassionate and be careful about what we do and say.

- Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Keeping a Good Heart"

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Via JMG: Marriage Equality Nations

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Subhuti asked: "What does buddha mean?" The Buddha answered: "Buddha is reality. One who thoroughly comprehends all the factors of existence is a buddha." - Prajnaparamita More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: Missouri Man Arrested For Refusing To Leave Partner's Hospital Bedside

A gay man in Missouri has been arrested after refusing to leave his partner's hospital beside when the ill man's family demanded that he be ejected from the premises. Via Raw Story:

Roger Gorley [on the right in this photo] told WDAF that even though he has power of attorney to handle his partner’s affairs, a family member asked him to leave when he visited Research Medical Center in Kansas City on Tuesday. Gorley said he refused to leave his partner Allen’s bedside, and that’s when security put him in handcuffs and escorted him from the building. “I was not recognized as being the husband, I wasn’t recognized as being the partner,” Gorley explained. He said the nurse refused to confirm that the couple shared power of attorney and made medical decision for each other. “She didn’t even bother to look it up, to check in to it,” the Lee’s Summit resident recalled.

The arrested man in now under a restraining order and may not enter the hospital grounds at all. A hospital spokesman has issued a statement.

"We believe involving the family is an important part of the patient care process. And, the patient`s needs are always our first priority. When anyone becomes disruptive to providing the necessary patient care, we involve our security team to help calm the situation and to protect our patients and staff. If the situation continues to escalate, we have no choice but to request police assistance."

The arrested man says he and his partner were joined in a civil union five years ago. Civil unions, of course, are not legally recognized by the state of Missouri. (Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)
RELATED: In 2010 President Obama mandated that any hospital that receives federal funding such as Medicare or Medicaid must allow visitation privileges for same-sex partners.

Labels: disgusting, hospital rights, LGBT rights, Missouri

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 11, 2013

See the World in a Moment

It is very important to see your life not only from the narrow view of your egoistic telescope but also from the broad view of the universal telescope called egolessness. This is why we have to practice. Right in the middle of the stream of time, we have to open our eyes there and see the total picture of time. Through spiritual practice we can go beyond our egoistic point of view. We can touch the core of time, see the whole world in a moment, and understand time in deep relationship with all beings.

- Dainin Katagiri, “Time Revisited”

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Via Marriage Equality USA / FB:

Marriage Equality USA

 

 

 

The legislature has until 6/20/13 to approve a bill, or the courts have threatened to instate marriage equality on their own.

Colombia: Senate Marriage Equality Debate to Begin Next Wednesday

purpleunions.com

 

After a bumpy start, the Colombia Senate will open its debate on a proposed gay marriage bill on Wednesday, April 17. Colombia Senate President Roy Barreras said in an announcement that LGBT community leaders may choose a spokesman to participate in the debate, the Spanish news agency AFP reported..