Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Harvey Fierstein

"Mr. Putin’s campaign against lesbian, gay and bisexual people is one of distraction, a strategy of demonizing a minority for political gain taken straight from the Nazi playbook. Can we allow this war against human rights to go unanswered? Although Mr. Putin may think he can control his creation, history proves he cannot: his condemnations are permission to commit violence against gays and lesbians. Last week a young gay man was murdered in the city of Volgograd. He was beaten, his body violated with beer bottles, his clothing set on fire, his head crushed with a rock. This is most likely just the beginning. [snip]

"With Russia about to hold the Winter Games in Sochi, the country is open to pressure. American and world leaders must speak out against Mr. Putin’s attacks and the violence they foster. The Olympic Committee must demand the retraction of these laws under threat of boycott. In 1936 the world attended the Olympics in Germany. Few participants said a word about Hitler’s campaign against the Jews. Supporters of that decision point proudly to the triumph of Jesse Owens, while I point with dread to the Holocaust and world war. There is a price for tolerating intolerance." - Harvey Fierstein, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: activism, Harvey Fierstein, HomoQuotable, LGBT rights, Olympics, Russia, Sochi Olympics, sports, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: COLOMBIA: High Court Rebukes Campaign To Block Same-Sex Marriages

 

Colombia's Constitutional Court has told Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez to drop his campaign to block same-sex marriages. J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed:

Ordoñez had been threatening disciplinary action against any official who took up this authority. His case was based on the fact that the court’s ruling did not specifically say that couples can “marry,” nor did it directly change the law. Instead, it gave congress until June 20, 2013 to change the law to give equal rights to same-sex couples. The 2011 ruling only gives the power directly to judges and notaries because congress failed to act, and ambiguity in the ruling left it unclear whether they will call these unions “marriages” or something else entirely. On Friday, the court rejected Ordoñez’s petition for it to clarify that it did not intend to open marriage to same-sex couples. And Constitutional Court President Jorge Iván Palacio sternly warned Ordoñez to “observe the determinations of this Court and monitor their strict and timely compliance.”

Feder notes that the Court has still not clarified the murky wording of their 2011 ruling. LGBT activists, however, are taking their message to Ordóñez as a very positive sign.
RELATED: Same-sex marriage is legal in the South American nations of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Labels: Colombia, marriage equality, South America

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Via JMG: Updated Marriage Map Of Europe

 

We still don't know exactly when marriages will commence in England and Wales, but some are saying it will be mid-2014.  Images via Wikipedia.

Labels: England, Europe, marriage equality, Wales

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Queer Nation: Dump Russian Vodka

 

Via email:

In light of the Putin regime’s attacks on the LGBT community, Queer Nation is calling for a worldwide boycott of Russian vodka. Do not buy or drink Russian vodka: Brands include Russian Standard and Stolichnaya. Demand that bar owners do not buy or serve Russian vodka. Ask your favorite club promoters, DJs, and entertainers to insist that Russian brands are not served in the venues in which they perform. It’s time to target Russia. Dump Russian vodka! Queer Nation is asking that consumers worldwide dump Russian vodka. Queer Nation expects to have additional actions that the LGBT community can take to make one message clear -- violence against the LGBT community anywhere will be met with swift and direct action.

Image by Gilbert Baker.

Labels: boycotts, LGBT rights, Russia, vodka

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 22, 2013

Our Way of Observing Things

It is because our way of observing things is deeply rooted in our self-centered ideas that we are disappointed when we find everything has only a tentative existence. But when we actually realize this truth, we will have no suffering.

- Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, "The Heart Sutra"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 23, 2013
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Tricycle Daily Dharma July 21, 2013

No Reason to be Unhappy

Whether we are suffering at present or have suffered in the past, there is no reason to be unhappy. If we can remedy it, then why be unhappy? And if we cannot, there's no use in being unhappy about it—it's just one more thing to be unhappy about, which serves no purpose at all.

- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Enduring the Fires"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 22, 2013
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What I want to be when I grow up: Daniel Orey at TEDxSacramento

Via JMG: Britain To Grant Posthumous Pardon To Gay Codebreaker Alan Turing

Famed WWII codebreaker Alan Turing will be granted a posthumous pardon by the British government. Turing committed suicide after being convicted of gross decency under Britain's anti-homosexuality code.

The government signalled on Friday that it is prepared to support a backbench bill that would pardon Turing, who died from cyanide poisoning at the age of 41 in 1954 after he was subjected to "chemical castration". Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, a government whip, told peers that the government would table the third reading of the Alan Turing (statutory pardon) bill at the end of October if no amendments are made. "If nobody tables an amendment to this bill, its supporters can be assured that it will have speedy passage to the House of Commons," Ahmad said. The announcement marks a change of heart by the government, which declined last year to grant pardons to the 49,000 gay men, now dead, who were convicted under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act. They include Oscar Wilde.

Turing is considered by many to be the father of computer science.

Labels: Alan Turing, Britain, LGBT History, science

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What I want to be when I grow up: Daniel Orey at TEDxSacramento

Publicado em 17/07/2013:

 

Daniel Orey, PhD, is a professor of mathematics education in the Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distância at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto in Brazil. A professor for 22 years at California State University, Sacramento, in the College of Education and the Department of Learning Skills, he began his teaching career in 1978. After living and teaching in Guatemala, he completed a Masters degree at New Mexico State University, and earned a Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico. Daniel's Masters work took him to Patzun, Guatemala where he undertook field research with LOGO, computers and Mayan children. During his doctoral research, he served as a consultant at the Colegio Americano de Puebla and for Apple de México. With specialties in mathematics education, modeling and ethnomathematics, he was a Fulbright scholar to the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas; served as a CNPq visiting researcher at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto; and served as a Senior Fulbright Specialist to Kathmandu University in Nepal. In 2011, Daniel and his husband moved to Brazil where he is currently teaching at Univeridade Federal de Ouro Preto.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 19, 2013

Dealing with Shit

You deal with your shit in Zen by sitting with it. By breathing right into it. You don’t try and ignore it with pleasant thoughts or lofty ideas, and you don’t try and bury it with solutions. You deal with it, you work with it, one breath at a time.

- Steve Krieger, "Growing Ground"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 20, 2013
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I say! Well played Your Highness!

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 18, 2013

Deep Acceptance

Implicit in Buddhist compassion is a genuine awareness and deep acceptance of things as they truly are, painful as that may be. From this soil of clarity and connection, compassion is said to arise of itself.

- Allan Hunt Badiner, "Is the Buddha Winking at Extinction?"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 17, 2013

The Time is Now

Awareness practice is like any other skill-building activity. It is not meant to be casual, or occasional, or reserved for only when convenient.

- Les Kaye, "The Time is Now"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 18, 2013
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JMG Quote Of THe Day - Wayne Besen

"There was never going to be an actual ‘Ex-gay Pride Month’ because ex-gays are as rare as the Dodo bird. They simply could not find real ‘ex-gays’ to participate and had to cancel to save face. This was nothing but a desperate publicity stunt intended to revive a failing industry that has repeatedly embarrassed anti-gay organizations.  We challenge [Christopher] Doyle to come forward and release the names of LGBT activists and organizations that have allegedly jeopardized his organization’s security.  Until concrete allegations are made, we can only assume Dole is making an excuse for his organization’s abject failure to produce a viable Ex-Gay Pride Month event." - Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen, "laughing" at the yesterday's cancellation.

Labels: Christopher Doyle, crackpots, ex-gay, religion, self-loathing, still totally gay, Truth Wins Out, Wayne Besen

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 13, 2013

Get Yourself Out of the Way

The more we can get the self out of the way, the more clearly we can see the effect of our thoughts, words, and action upon ourselves and others.

- Andrew Olendzki, “Moral Health”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 14, 2013
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 12, 2013

Not Self-Help

Buddhism asks us to go beyond the self, not to perfect the self.

- Dharmavidya David Brazier, “Living Buddhism”

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Baha'i words, deeds differ

Dr. Gary Wright
Springfield



The official worldwide and local Baha’i position on gay rights is all in favor of glib generalities against generic “prejudice,” but when it comes to taking one baby step to actually help lift our oppression, they will not take it. They will not do one concrete thing that might make an actual difference.
A letter written on behalf of their highest body, the House of Justice, to a gay asking for guidance states their true policy: “...this practice, which like other sexual vices, is so abhorrent to the Creator of all mankind....”
Current ordinances do not equate oppressed LGBTs with other victimized or belittled groups.
People, do not be fooled by Janet Haworth’s muddled opinion piece. (“Baha’is support eliminating prejudice,” July 6)

Make the jump here to read the online text

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 11, 2013

The In-between State

Anxiety, heartbreak, and tenderness mark the in-between state. It's the kind of place we usually want to avoid. The challenge is to stay in the middle rather than buy into struggle and complaint. The challenge is to let it soften us rather than make us more rigid and afraid.

- Pema Chodron, “The In-between State”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 12, 2013
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Via JMG: ENDA Passes Senate Committee

Andrew Cray has details at Think Progress:

This morning, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee voted 15-7 to advance the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) with support from Republican Sens. Mark Kirk (IL), Orrin Hatch (UT), and Lisa Murkowski (AK). The bill, now headed for the Senate floor, is considered instrumental in preventing workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and mending the “broken bargain” of unequal treatment of LGBT workers under the law.

UPDATE: The ACLU cheers via press release:

Coming on the heels of the landmark Supreme Court marriage rulings, today's strong, bipartisan vote in favor of expanding workplace non-discrimination protections to include those who are LGBT is yet another sign that the tide has turned," said Ian Thompson, American Civil Liberties Union legislative representative. "Advocates have been working for nearly 40 years to pass these basic protections to ensure that all American workers, who stand side-by-side in the workplace and contribute with equal measure in their jobs, will stand on the same equal footing under the law. In 2013, it is completely unacceptable to force individuals to hide who they are out of fear of losing their livelihood.

Labels: employment, ENDA, Senate

Reposted from Joe