JMG Quote Of The Day - Sen. Max Baucus

"When it comes to the workplace, it is unacceptable for anyone to be fired simply because of their sexual orientation. ENDA will help protect workers from this type of discrimination and I look forward to moving forward on this legislation in the Senate as soon as possible. Members of the LGBT community are our neighbors, brothers, sisters and friends. They are community leaders who bring the kind of diversity to our nation that makes it strong. We all have a role in making sure that Pride Month is not just something we check off on the calendar. 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' for all Americans is what we are called to strive for every day of the year." - Sen. Max Baucus, writing for the Montana Standard. (Tipped by JMG reader Mike)

 

Labels: ENDA, LGBT rights, Max Baucus, Senate

Reposted from Joe

Via GayPolitics Report: Olympics officials are concerned about Russian anti-gay law

The International Olympic Committee expressed concern this week after the Russian parliament advanced by unanimous vote legislation that would punish those convicted of "promoting homosexuality." The 2014 Winter Olympics are to be held in the Russian resort town of Sochi, where officials previously denied establishment of a Pride house for LGBT athletes in the Olympic village. Some out athletes have expressed alarm about the law, saying it could put them at risk of arrest. FoxNews.com/The Associated Press (6/11), Gay Star News (6/12), GayPolitics.com (6/12), Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.) (6/12)

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness. - Heart Sutra More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 14, 2013

The Truth about Suffering

I once thought Buddhism would save me from suffering. That was before I started to grow older and wiser. And it isn’t so much the wisdom that changed my mind about the end of suffering as it is the aging.

- Wes Nisker, “The Question”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through June 15, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Speak not harshly to anyone. Those thus addressed will retort. Painful, indeed, is vindictive speech. Blows in exchange may bruise you. If, like a cracked gong, you silence yourself, you have already attained Nibbana: no vindictiveness will be found in you. - Dhammapada 133-134 More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 13, 2013

The Virtue of Great Compassion

Just as when you want to win people’s hearts you first love their children, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas consider all living beings their children, so if you love all living beings equally, all the Buddhas will be moved to respond.

- Zen Master Torei, "Great Compassion"

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Via JMG: Sen. Patrick Leahy Intro's LGBT Couples Amendment To Immigration Reform Bill

Shortly after the Senate voted to debate the immigration reform bill written by the so-called Gang Of Eight, late this afternoon Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) again introduced an amendment that would allow LGBT citizens to sponsors their spouses for permanent residency. Politico reports:

“Seeking equal protection under our laws for the LGBT community is the right thing to do,” Leahy said in a statement Tuesday. “I withheld my anti-discrimination amendment during the Senate Judiciary Committee markup. As the entire Senate turns to debate the immigration bill, the fight for equality must go on.” It is unclear whether Leahy’s proposal will get a vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have yet to reach an agreement on amendments. And the political dynamics for Leahy’s amendment are different on the floor. In the committee, the amendment would have required just a simple majority for it to pass. On the floor, it will almost certainly need 60 votes.

Republicans had previously threatened to torpedo the entire bill if LGBT spouses were attached. Late last month Democratic members of the Senate reluctantly agreed that such an imperfect bill was better than no immigration reform at all and Leahy withdrew his amendment. It's not yet clear why Leahy is now trying again.
DOMA Project founder Lavi Soloway reacts via press release:

With this bold move, Senator Leahy has carved out an exception to the Defense of Marriage Act for lesbian and gay binational couples that will provide access to existing marriage-related family unification provisions of our immigration law. The Leahy amendment does not actually amend any current provision of our immigration law, but simply removes the extrinsic barrier caused by DOMA that prevents lesbian and gay Americans from filing petitions for their spouses, fiance(e)s and stepchildren. The implication of Senator Leahy's focus on equality is that LGBT families are no different than any other American families comprised of citizens and non-citizens. We must have access to the same immigration law protections that ensure that no family is torn apart. No band aid solution will ever make us equal.  

Labels: DOMA, immigration, immigration reform, Lavi Soloway, LGBT rights, Patrick Leahy, Senate

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again. - Dhammapada More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 12, 2013

Not About Being Good

Just as Buddhist shila [ethical conduct] refers not to some imaginary static state of virtue but to an ongoing test of volition, so too is this true of enlightenment. Since there is no abiding personhood in any of us, rather than speaking of an enlightened person, let’s speak of enlightened conduct.

- Bodhin Kjolhede, "Pain, Passion, and the Precepts"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through June 13, 2013
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Via JMG: Pope: There ARE Gays In The Vatican

Pope Francis has confirmed the presence of a "gay lobby" in the Vatican.

Back in February Italian media claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating the leaks included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay Vatican clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships."In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption," the pope is quoted as having said during an audience last week with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women).

"There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists. We have to see what can be done," the 76-year-old pontiff is quoted as saying on the Reflection and Liberation website, which was flagged up by religious news agencies on Tuesday. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP: "It was a private meeting, I have no comment to make." The secret report compiled by a committee of three cardinals for the pope's eyes only was the result of a broad inquiry into leaks of secret Vatican papers last year -- a scandal known as "Vatileaks".

Sounds like a witch hunt is coming.

 

Labels: Catholic Church, Pope Francis, religion, Vatican

Reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report

Can same-sex couples save marriage?
Liza Mundy writes about same-sex couples' approach to marriage, and wonders whether it can be a model for opposite-sex couples, many of whom have struggled to adapt their marriages to the realities of modern life. "[I]f a genderless marriage is a marriage in which the wife is not automatically expected to be responsible for school forms and child care and dinner preparation and birthday parties and midnight feedings and holiday shopping, I think it's fair to say that many heterosexual women would cry 'Bring it on!' " Mundy writes. A 2006 study found that heterosexual divorce rates dropped in European countries that granted legal status to same-sex partnerships. The Atlantic online (5/22)

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Colin & Joe - Binational Couple Fights Uncertainty Brought on by DOMA gaybinationals

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	It is through not understanding, not penetrating four things that we have run so erratically, wandered on so long in this round of existence, both you and I. What are the four? Goodness, concentration, wisdom, and liberation. When these four things are understood and penetrated, craving for superficial existence is rooted out and that which leads to continued return to the same conditions is ended. There is no more constant journeying. - Digha Nikaya More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma / FB:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 11, 2013

A New Approach

What disintegrates in periods of rapid transformation is not the self, but its defenses and assumptions. Self-protection restricts vision and movement like a suit of armor, making it harder to adapt. Going to pieces, however uncomfortable, can open us up to new perceptions, new data, and new responses.

- Joanna Macy, "The Greatest Danger"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through June 12, 2013
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Via JMG: Google Salutes Maurice Sendak

Today's Google Doogle pays tribute to gay author Maurice Sendak, who died last year.  Sendak came out in 2008 at the age of 80 and revealed a 50-year relationship with his partner.

For what would have been his 85th birthday on Monday, Google has drawn up a wonderfully imagined Google Doodle as a tribute to the beloved illustrator and children’s book author Maurice Sendak. It begins, of course, with Max sailing to the land of Where the Wild Things Are, but soon also ventures to the surreal cityscape of In The Night Kitchen and ends, appropriately, with the birthday party from Sendak's 2011 book Bumble-Ardy. Happy birthday, Mr. Sendak.

Labels: gay writers, Google, Maurice Sendak

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: No Marriage Rulings From SCOTUS Today

 

The Supreme Court has released its regular Monday rulings and the same-sex marriage cases do not appear on the list.  Most do not expect the DOMA and Prop 8 rulings to be issued until the end of the month, but there is a chance they could come sooner.  There will be another round of rulings issued later this week in a rare Thursday release.

Labels: DOMA, Prop 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Prop 8 Ruling is Just Days Away: June 10 Marriage News Watch

Via JMG: Californians Back Marriage By 22 Points

The Los Angeles Times reports on their latest poll:

The poll found that 58% of the state's registered voters believe same-sex marriage should be legal, compared with 36% against, a margin of 22 points. When the same pollsters asked that question three years ago, 52% favored gay marriage and 40% opposed it, a 12-point spread.
Most national polls this year have found majority support, but only one of those surveys reported it as high as 58%. The average was roughly 51% in favor of gay marriage. As in the rest of the country, more women (63%) than men (52%) in California favor same-sex marriage.
Younger California voters also support gay marriage by larger margins than older voters, the poll found. Whereas 76% of voters ages 18 to 29 support legalizing the unions, only 52% of those ages 50 to 64 agree.
Still, the shifts among older voters are dramatic. Voters 65 and older are now almost evenly divided — 46% in favor, 47% against — compared with just three years ago, when seniors opposed gay marriage by 19 percentage points.

If Prop 8 is upheld and marriage ends up returning to the ballot in California, at least we have this as a starting point. For now.

Labels: California, marriage equality, polls, Prop 8

Reposted from Joe

Via The Buddha's Face / FB:

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is itself to succumb to the violence of our times. Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
~Thomas Merton