Via JMG: LGBT Sports Group Calls On Athletes To Hold Hands At Sochi Olympics

Noting that all demonstrations involving pins, flags, and other items are strictly banned by the IOC, yesterday an international LGBT sports group launched the "Same-Sex Hand-Holding Initiative."

The campaign is simple: Pride House International is calling on everyone present in Sochi – athletes, staff, media, officials, spectators, sponsors, vendors, and fans – to take every opportunity to hold hands with a person of the same sex. “There are extreme restrictions on the uniforms and other items worn by athletes at any Olympic Games. Flags, badges, or pins are not allowed without IOC approval, a near-impossibility, and wearing something as seemingly innocuous as pink socks or shoelaces is very difficult for athletes to do, and complex to organise for other participants and spectators,” said the Federation of Gay Games’ Les Johnson. “But everyone can hold hands with their neighbour. Indeed, raising your rivals’ hands in camaraderie is an image we see on every podium at every sporting event.”

Pride House cautions that any hand-holding should be done with as many witnesses as possible.

Labels: activism, IOC, LGBT rights, Russia

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: MOSCOW: Swedish Athlete Competes With Fingernails Painted In Rainbow Colors, Draws Condemnation From Russian Pole Vaulting World Champion

At the World Track & Field championships in Moscow, Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro competed today with her fingernails painted in rainbow hues in a gesture of solidarity for the LGBT community, drawing condemnation from Russia pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.

“If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people,” Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic champion, said in English. “We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys. “Everything must be fine. It comes from history. We never had any problems, these problems in Russia, and we don’t want to have any in the future. It’s unrespectful to our country. It’s unrespectful to our citizens because we are Russians. Maybe we are different from European people and other people from different lands,” Isinbayeva told reporters. “We have our home and everyone has to respect (it). When we arrive to different countries, we try to follow their rules.”

American runner Nick Symmonds, who yesterday dedicated his silver medal to his gay friends at home, slammed Isinbayeva.

“I want to say to Yelena, ‘You understand a very large portion of your citizens here are gay and lesbian people. They are standard people, too. They were created this way. For you to tell them that they’re not normal and standard, that’s what we’re taking an issue with.’ That’s why we have to continue to demonstrate and to speak out against the ignorance that she’s showing.”

Isinbayeva has set 28 world records and won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. According to the Washington Post, she was part of the team that won Russia the right to host the 2014 Games. Cheering on Isinbayeva's bigotry is NOM's Damian Goddard.

Labels: bigotry, Damian Goddard, Moscow, NOM, religion, Russia, Sochi Olympics, sports, straight allies

WWE Stars Support Darren Young

In case you missed this morning's news, WWE star Darren Young has come out. The WWE has issued a statement to GLAAD: "WWE is proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality, and we will continue to support him as a WWE Superstar. Today, in fact, Darren will be participating in one of our Be A Star anti-bullying rallies in Los Angeles to teach children how to create positive environments for everyone regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation."

UPDATE: WWE superstar John Cena applauds:  "Good for him. That's fantastic. I know Darren personally. Darren's a great guy. That's a very bold move for him. And congratulations for him for actually finally doing it. It's all about being professional, and Darren Young is a consummate professional. For us, it's entertainment, and if you're entertaining you shouldn't be judged by race, creed, color or sexuality ... as long as you're entertaining."

Labels: coming out, Darren Young, sports, wrestling

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Frank Bruni On Hand-Holding

"After all the education that we Americans have had and all the relished progress we’ve made, being gay does mean feeling constrained in situations where most people aren’t, scared in circumstances that wouldn’t frighten others in the least, self-conscious when you shouldn’t have to be. Like when you’re holding someone’s hand. It’s the sweetest, most innocent and most natural of gestures: to interlock your fingers with those of a person for whom you’re feeling a sudden rush of affection. A person you maybe love. And yet when my partner takes my hand in public in New York City, I look at the sidewalk ahead. I note how many pedestrians are coming our way, and how quickly, and whether they’re male or female, young or old, observant or distracted. And I sometimes take my hand back, wishing I were braver, wishing our world didn’t ask me to be." - Frank Bruni, in a New York Times essay which refers to yesterday's gay-bashing in Chelsea.

Labels: Frank Bruni, gay bashing, gay PDA, NYC

Reposted from Joe

C.O.G. Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Troian Bellisario Movie HD

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 15, 2013

The Self in Self-Help

Most human beings spend their lives battling with opposing inner forces: what they think they should do versus what they are doing; how they feel about themselves versus how they are; whether they think they’re right and worthy or wrong and unworthy. The separate self is just the conglomeration of these opposing forces. When the self drops away, inner division drops away with it.

- Adyashanti, “The Taboo of Enlightenment”

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Via JMG: Prop 8: Really Most Sincerely Dead

 

Breaking news out of California:

The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to revive Proposition 8, ending the last remaining legal challenge to same-sex marriage in the state. Meeting in closed session, the state high court rejected arguments by ProtectMarriage, Proposition 8’s sponsors, that only an appellate court could overturn a statewide law. In its challenge before the state’s highest court, ProtectMarriage argued that a single judge lacked the authority to overturn a state constitutional amendment. The group also contended that Walker’s injunction applied to two counties at most and that state officials had overstepped their authority by ordering county clerks throughout California to issue same-sex marriage licenses. State officials countered that the challenge was a veiled attempt to persuade a state court to interfere with a federal judge’s order in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

And that's that, folks!

Labels: CA Supreme Court, California, marriage equality, NOM, Prop 8, Protect Marriage, religion, suck it

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: RUSSIA: American Runner Dedicates Silver Medal To Gay Friends At Home

 

American runner Nick Symmonds yesterday won the silver medal in the 800-meter race at the World Track & Field Championships in Moscow. Speaking to the press afterwards, dedicated his win to his gay friends at home in the United States.

"As much as I can speak out about it, I believe that all humans deserve equality as however God made them," he told R-Sport after running a 1:43.55 at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. "Whether you're gay, straight, black, white, we all deserve the same rights. If there's anything I can do to champion the cause and further it, I will, shy of getting arrested." Symmonds, 29, made his opposition to a new law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors known in a blog post for Runner's World magazine on August 6. Despite his outspokenness in the United States, he said he would he would not bring up the subject in Russia out of respect for the host country's laws. "I respect Russians' ability to govern their people," he said Tuesday. "I disagree with their laws. I do have respect for this nation. I disagree with their rules."

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti noted that Symmonds is the first athlete to criticize Russia's anti-gay law while on that nation's soil. Several news reports speculate whether Symmonds words, as careful as they were, do put him at risk of being arrested.

Labels: Moscow, Russia, sports, straight allies

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: The Sochi Salute

 

Some on Twitter suggest that the "Sochi Salute" would simply be a wave that describes the arc of a rainbow. Like a car's windshield-wipers.

Labels: activism, Sochi Olympics, Stephen Fry

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 14, 2013

A Moral Politics

Given that government, in theory at least, is our common will, representing us as a people, how do we define ourselves? Will we come to the aid of those among us struggling to get by or will we throw the needy back upon their own meager resources? Is the prevailing philosophy of governance one of mutual concern and collective help, or one of stark individualism in which everyone has to fend for themselves, or at best rely on charity? This is not so much a political question as a moral one, a question pertaining to the moral basis of our common life. Much depends on how we answer it.

- Bhikkhu Bodhi, "A Moral Politics"

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Via JMG: Sen. Chuck Schumer: Nations Should Wave The Rainbow Flag At Sochi Olympics

Sen. Chuck Schumer upset a lot anti-gay folks yesterday, judging by the comments at The Hill.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday said he opposed boycotting the Sochi Olympic Games despite new Russian anti-gay laws, instead urging nations to wave rainbow flags during the opening ceremonies to show support for gay rights. “That'd be pretty embarrassing for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Schumer said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” “Let our athletes participate but still make a stand.”

Labels: Chuck Schumer, LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: BRAZIL: Airborne Activists Harass Anti-Gay Commissioner Of Human Rights

Back in June, Brazilian Human Rights Commissioner Marco Feliciano, who is a virulently anti-gay pastor, supported a bill that would re-legalize "gay cure" therapy, which has been banned since 1999.  The bill passed its first hurdle in a House of Deputies committee, prompting protests in several major cities, but was withdrawn the following week by its sponsor when it became clear it would fail before the full House. A few days ago this happened on a domestic flight in Brazil:

Pastor Marco Feliciano claims he was harassed by gay activists on an aircraft, saying, "They want respect but do not give respect." Feliciano has published a report on his Twitter account of harassment suffered by him during a flight between Brasilia and São Paulo, on the morning of Friday, August 9. According to the congressman and others on the flight, some gay activists began to harass him with curses and with the song "Robocop Gay." Feliciano also said that passengers intervened and defended him, but with the size of the turmoil, the aircraft commander threatened to return to the capital.

(Tipped by JMG reader Robert)

Labels: activism, Brazil, ex-gay, religion

Reposted from Joe

Sick of Homosexuality, Religious Family Gets Lost at Sea

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 13, 2013

Cutting Out Attachments

The purpose of Buddhism is to cut down anger, hatred, and jealousy. The way you do it is very simple. If you cannot handle an attachment, then you completely cut out whatever helps the attachment grow.

- Gelek Rinpoche, "A Lama For All Seasons"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 12, 2013

The Gate of Not-Okay

The only thing that can make us uncomfortable with being alone is not liking who we are. That’s what we do when we face the wall: we face who we are. Being okay with however that arises is the most compassion and the most honesty you can ever offer yourself—to just accept yourself as you are. Even if you don’t like it, that’s okay, because not-okay is always a practice gate. We can always include what we don’t like in ourselves. But letting go of worrying about having to become perfect: that’s a gift that we give to ourselves.

- Merle Kodo Boyd, "Okay As It Is, Okay As You Are"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 11, 2013

Not Clinging to Pleasant States

We like pleasant meditative states. There's no problem with the pleasantness of them; it's part of our life experience. The problem is that we often devote our life energy to the getting, sustaining, accumulation, and repeating of these pleasant experiences. But, as we all know, these pleasant experiences don't last, so they don't really have the capacity to bring us happiness, to bring us completion, to bring us fulfillment. We're always seeking more—that's samsara, the endless wheel of becoming, fueled by wanting.

- Joseph Goldstein, “One Dharma”

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Via FB: 76 Nations

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 10, 2013

Regarding Doubt

We feel that if we have doubts, it means that we are denying the teachings and that we should really have unquestioning faith. Now in certain religions, unquestioning faith is considered a desirable quality. But in the Buddha-dharma, this is not necessarily so. Referring to the dharma, the Buddha said, 'ehi passiko,' which means 'come and see,' or 'come and investigate,' not 'come and believe.'

- Ani Tenzin Palmo, “Necessary Doubt”

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Via JMG: Feds Announce Social Security Benefits For Spouses In Same-Sex Marriages

 

Via press release from the office of Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security.

I am pleased to announce that Social Security is now processing some retirement spouse claims for same-sex couples and paying benefits where they are due. The recent Supreme Court decision on Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, made just over a month ago, helps to ensure that all Americans are treated fairly and equally, with the dignity and respect they deserve. We continue to work closely with the Department of Justice. In the coming weeks and months, we will develop and implement additional policy and processing instructions. We appreciate the public’s patience as we work through the legal issues to ensure that our policy is legally sound and clear. I encourage individuals who believe they may be eligible for Social Security benefits to apply now, to protect against the loss of any potential benefits. We will process claims as soon as additional instructions become finalized.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

The Social Security Administration is limiting payment of claims for same-sex married couples currently to those couples who were married in a state the allows same-sex couples to marry and are “domiciled,” or live, in a state that recognizes same-sex couples’ marriages.
The decision means claims from same-sex couples married where such couples can legally marry but who live in a state that does not recognize such marriages are having their applications put on hold for the time being.
As of Friday, a new section for “Windsor Same-Sex Marriage Claims” — named after the Supreme Court case of United States v. Windsor, which resulted in a part of the Defense of Marriage Act being struck down — was added to the Social Security Administration’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS), which the agency describes as the primary source of information used by Social Security employees to process claims for Social Security benefits.
The claims processing instructions “allow for payment of claims” when the claimant “was married in a state that permits same-sex marriage” and “is domiciled at the time of application, or while the claim is pending a final determination, in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage.”

Labels: DOMA, feds, LGBT rights, Social Security

posted by Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma August 9, 2013

Continuous Mind

If we believe that mind is continuous, our love for others becomes continuous. If we recognize this continuity, we do not trust temporary, tangible circumstances or take them too seriously.

- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, "Continuous Mind"

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