Saturday, May 18, 2013
Via JMG: MEXICO: President Enrique Pena Neito Issues Message Against Homophobia
Yesterday Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito issued the above tweets
in recognition of the International Day Against Homophobia. "This May
17, International Day of the Fight Against Homophobia, I endorse my
committment to a #InclusiveMexico, free of discrimination. Making Mexico
a society of rights implies equality in dignity and eliminating all
types of discrimination."
Reposted from Joe
Friday, May 17, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 17, 2013
How to Deal with Excessive Thinking
The
best way to deal with excessive thinking is to just listen to it, to
listen to the mind. Listening is much more effective than trying to stop
thought or cut it off.
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- Ajahn Amaro, "Thought Like Dreams"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 18, 2013
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Via JMG: Europe Rainbow Map 2013
ILGA-Europe has issued its annual overview of LGBT rights. Although it
does not yet have full marriage equality, the United Kingdom received
the highest rating of the 49 nations in the report, earning a 77% score.
Russia got the lowest score at 7%. Via Pink News:
posted by Joe
Among the EU member states causing major concern are Hungary and Greece. The report notes that the economic crisis in Greece has given a platform to extremist groups, such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, who target minority groups including LGBT activists.The co-chair of ILGA-Europe notes: "The Annual Review 2013 uncovers the real situation of LGBTI people beyond laws and gives us the whole picture of what it is like to be an LGBTI person in Europe today. The picture is far from satisfactory." Ratings and graphs for individual nations can be downloaded here.
North Cyprus continues to be the only place on the continent of Europe where homosexuality is a criminal act, while expressions of “overt homophobia and transphobia” by government, religious leaders and extremist groups were “common” in Bulgaria.
Italy is not taking any legislative initiatives despite having a “relatively high level” of violent homophobia and transphobia. Meanwhile in France, despite the recent passing of the country’s same-sex marriage bill, 1,397 cases of hate crime, hate speech and discrimination incidents against sexual minorities were documented last year.
Labels: Europe, ILGA, LGBT rights
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 16, 2013
Things As They Are
The
process of finding the truth may not be a process by which we feel
increasingly better and better. It may be a process by which we look at
things honestly, sincerely, truthfully, and that may or may not be an
easy thing to do.
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- Adyashanti, "Bliss is a By-Product"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 17, 2013
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Via JMG: More On Brazil's Marriage Situation
Yesterday the federal judiciary council that oversees Brazil's notary publics ruled that gay marriage ceremonies cannot be refused. The New York Times reports on what this likely means:
The move by the National Council of Justice, a 15-member panel led by Joaquim Barbosa, the chief justice of the nation’s high court, effectively legalizes gay marriage throughout Brazil, legal scholars here said. The decision follows legislation in two neighboring countries, Argentina and Uruguay, where lawmakers have managed to pass bills authorizing same-sex marriage nationwide in recent years.Same-sex marriage is already legal in 13 Brazilian states and in the capital federal district.
Still, there is some room for judicial appeals of the Brazilian decision, potentially within the high court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, and resistance may emerge in Congress, where gay-marriage legislation has faced opposition from an influential bloc of evangelical Christian lawmakers. Even so, supporters of same-sex marriage described the council’s decision as pioneering.
Labels: Brazil, marriage equality, South America
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 15, 2013
The Remedy Itself Is Free Right Where It Is
We
are not called upon as Buddhists to deny the world, and certainly not
to escape from it. We are called to live with it, and to make our peace
with all that is. The world of worries we wish to escape from in the
beginning of Buddhist practice is found to be enlightenment itself in
the end.
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- Clark Strand, "Worry Beads"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 16, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Via JMG: New Gallup Marriage Poll
Fifty-three percent of Americans say the law should recognize same-sex marriages, the third consecutive reading of 50% or above in Gallup polling over the past year. The 53% in favor ties the high to this point, also measured last November and in May 2011. Gallup's May 2-7 poll suggests Americans' support for gay marriage is solidifying above the majority level.
Labels: Gallup, marriage equality, polls
Via JMG: OREGON: Portland Timbers Pro Soccer Fan Club Display Denounces Homophobia
Sometimes, supporters groups' tifo displays are designed to look really cool, to recognize a player's career-long contributions to the club or even to intimidate that day's opponent with a massive pregame display that covers the entire end of a 70,000-seat stadium. And other times, the displays transcend the sport of soccer altogether, making a statement about life in general. On the same day a match in Italy – one that happened to involve United States national team midfielder Michael Bradley's club team, AS Roma – had to be momentarily halted because of racist chants aimed at opposing AC Milan players, the Timbers Army chose to spend their Sunday afternoon taking a stand against another sensitive social issue in the sports world: homophobia. The 5,000-person section used roughly 4,500 colored cards to create the display, according to Timbers Army 107 Independent Supporters Trust board member Abram Goldman-Armstrong in an e-mail exchange with MLSsoccer.com on Monday.The article adds: "The Timbers Army will be the first of many independent supporters groups across MLS to lend their support to the 'Pride, Not Prejudice' cause this week." Very, very cool. By the way, the Timbers won their game. (Tipped by JMG reader Lance)
Via JMG: Marriage Now Legal In All Of Brazil?
O Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) aprovou nesta terça-feira (14), por maioria de votos (14 a 1), uma resolução que obriga os cartórios de todo o país a celebrar o casamento civil e converter a união estável homoafetiva em casamento. Os cartórios não poderão rejeitar o pedido, como acontece atualmente em alguns casos. A decisão do CNJ poderá ser questionada no Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF). Segundo o presidente do CNJ e autor da proposta, Joaquim Barbosa, que também é presidente do STF, a resolução visa dar efetividade à decisão tomada em maio de 2011 pelo Supremo, que liberou a união estável homoafetiva.JMG reader Ricardo provides us with a translation:
The Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) decided by 14-1 vote that notary offices (where civil marriages are performed) in ALL 26 Brazilian states and the capital do Brasília have to officiate same sex marriages. Until this past week, the decision was up for local jurisdictions: 12 states and the federal district had already started doing them. Notary offices can't refuse to perform the unions, as it was happening in some places. In 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court had decided that gay unions were legal, but left the regulation of marriage to Congress, that has never acted on the matter. Civil unions were law nationwide for the past two years. Federal benefits, like pensions and immigration, have been the norm since 2001.I'll have more on this today when it hits the English-language press. Zoom, zoom, zoom!
UPDATE: O Globo has more.
UPDATE II: Here's the first English-language report.
A top judicial panel cleared the way for same-sex marriage in Brazil on Tuesday, ruling that gay couples could not be denied marriage licenses. The National Council of Justice, which oversees the Brazilian judicial system and is headed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, said government offices that issue marriage licenses had no standing to reject gay couples. The Supreme Court "affirmed that the expression of homosexuality and homosexual affection cannot serve as a basis for discriminatory treatment, which has no support in the Constitution," said Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa on the council's website, referring to a 2011 ruling by the top court.
Labels: Brazil, LGBT rights, marriage equality, South America
Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:
| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 12, 2013
The Compulsion to Consume
Like
a fire, greed is more a process than a thing. It is the state of
combustion, the activity of consumption, the procedure by means of which
organic resources are quickly reduced to a heap of ash. It is
insatiable by nature, since the moment one desire is gratified another
flares up, demanding also to be sated. Greed drives an unquenchable
compulsion to consume, and as the guiding hand of our economic system,
its reach is rapidly becoming global. As it burns it throws off a
compelling light, dazzling us with the pleasure of its shapes and
colors. We delight in playing with this fire.
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- Andrew Olendzki, "Burning Alive"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 13, 2013
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Saturday, May 11, 2013
Via AmericaBlog: It’s time to out Lindsey Graham
It’s time to finally out Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Graham has had it coming for a while now. Not because he’s a Republican. But because he’s an anti-gay Republican. And while it’s one thing to be gay and a closet case, it’s quite another to be a hypocrite, an anti-gay gay, someone who uses his power to harm others in the name of morality, all the while knowing secretly that he is one of the others.
In this case, Graham’s hypocrisy that broke the camel’s back is immigration reform. I have it on good authority from someone intimately involved in the immigration reform process that Lindsey Graham is the central reason that the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would help stop the forced deportation of foreign-born gay spouses, is being blocked from being added to the immigration bill. While other Senators might be bluffing about their opposition to addressing the immigration needs of gay binational couples in immigration reform, I’m told Graham isn’t bluffing.
The obvious question arises as to why Graham is holding gays hostage in the immigration bill.
Make the jump here to read the full article
Graham has had it coming for a while now. Not because he’s a Republican. But because he’s an anti-gay Republican. And while it’s one thing to be gay and a closet case, it’s quite another to be a hypocrite, an anti-gay gay, someone who uses his power to harm others in the name of morality, all the while knowing secretly that he is one of the others.
In this case, Graham’s hypocrisy that broke the camel’s back is immigration reform. I have it on good authority from someone intimately involved in the immigration reform process that Lindsey Graham is the central reason that the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would help stop the forced deportation of foreign-born gay spouses, is being blocked from being added to the immigration bill. While other Senators might be bluffing about their opposition to addressing the immigration needs of gay binational couples in immigration reform, I’m told Graham isn’t bluffing.
The obvious question arises as to why Graham is holding gays hostage in the immigration bill.
Make the jump here to read the full article
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 11, 2013
The Primacy of Intention
Metta
practice is the cultivation of our capacity for lovingkindness. It does
not involve either positive thinking or the imposition of an artificial
positive attitude. There is no need to feel loving or kind during metta
practice. Rather, we meditate on our good intentions, however weak or
strong they may be, and water the seeds of these intentions.
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- Gil Fronsdal, "May We All Be Happy"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 12, 2013
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Friday, May 10, 2013
Via The Cormorant Baker: You will be Assimilated
“We welcome everyone”
“Except gays”
“Oh no. We welcome gays… …except as members”
“And obese people.”
“No, I’m sure that’s not right.”
“Well, I read a blog entry where…”
“Oh yes, I read that too. But we do welcome obese people who want to be thin.”
“Yeah, we welcome everyone, But you’ve got to want to be straight, and thin…”
“…and apolitical, and…”
“This is getting complicated. How about: ‘We welcome everyone, but you’ve got to want to be just like us.’”
“That’s right, and we call it ‘unity in diversity’”
“Yes, we take diversity and turn it into unity.”
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma May 10, 2013
Inhabiting the Body
As
we inhabit our body with increasing sensitivity, we learn its unspoken
language and patterns, which gives us tremendous freedom to make
choices. The practice of cutting thoughts and dispersing negative
repetitive patterns can be simplified by attending to the patterns in
the body first, before they begin to be spun around in the mind.
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- Jill Satterfield, "Meditation in Motion"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through May 11, 2013
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