Via JMG: MARYLAND: Bill Introduced To Ban "Ex-Gay" Torture Of LGBT Youth

Maryland Del. Jon Cardin has introduced a bill to ban the "ex-gay" torture and brainwashing of minors. Via Washington Blade:

“There are numerous gay conversion therapy providers as well as organizations like the infamous International Healing Foundation located right here in Maryland advocating for what I consider very harmful conversion therapies,” said Cardin, noting Prince George’s County Public Schools last year stopped using an anti-bullying curriculum that included references to the Bowie-based organization and other “ex-gay” groups. “To me it is incredibly repulsive.” International Healing Foundation Director Christopher Doyle criticized Cardin and others who seek to ban conversion therapy to minors in Maryland. “This is not being fueled by mental health advocates,” Doyle told the Blade on Tuesday. “This is being done by political organizations that are more interested in promoting a political ideology as opposed to clients’ rights.”

Similar bills have been approved in New Jersey and California. In November the anti-gay Liberty Counsel lost a court battle to overturn New Jersey's ban.
Truth Wins Out reacts via press release:

If Delegate Cardin's bill passes, it will render a blow to the "ex-gay" industry nationwide, as one of the worst organizations advocating for such "therapy," the International Healing Foundation, is based in Maryland. IHF Executive Director Richard Cohen was banned from the American Counseling Association for life in 2002 after multiple ethics violations, and advocates "therapeutic practices" which involve beating pillows with tennis rackets in order to heal anger toward one's mother, followed by sessions where he cuddles his male patients in order to recreate a father's love. IHF Director Christopher Doyle admitted that he tried to molest little girls in his mother's daycare when he was ten, a disturbing fact considering IHF's focus on youth and Doyle's status as an ill-credentialed counselor. Another "ex-gay" activist, Greg Quinlan of the Maryland-based PFOX, claims to heal LGBT people, but when he's around like-minded people, is more inclined to practice verbal gay-bashing than healing, telling an anti-gay conference in 2010 that he was never a "limp-wristed, flaming faggot," a statement revelatory of his true feelings about the LGBT community.

Labels: brainwashing, Christopher Doyle, Democrats, ex-gay, LGBT youth, Maryland, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: GOP House Rep. Randy Weber Introduces Bill To Ban Feds From Recognizing Out-Of-State Same-Sex Marriages

Freshman U.S. House Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), a former HVAC repairman who won the seat vacated by retiring fellow crackpot Ron Paul, has introduced a bill he calls the State Marriage Defense Act. The bill appears to limit the federal government to only recognizing same-sex marriages that are conducted legally in the state where the married couple resides. From Weber's website:

The State Marriage Defense Act will simply require federal agencies to look to a person’s legal residence when determining marital status and application of federal law. The 10th Amendment was established to protect state sovereignty and individual rights from being seized by the Federal Government. For too long, however, the Federal Government has slowly been eroding state’s rights by promulgating rules and regulations through federal agencies. I drafted the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014 to help restore the 10th Amendment, affirm the authority of states to define and regulate marriage, as well as, provide clarity to federal agencies seeking to determine who qualifies as a spouse for the purpose of federal law. By requiring that the Federal Government defer to the laws of a person’s state of legal residence in determining marital status, we can protect states’ constitutionally established powers from the arbitrary overreach of unelected bureaucrats.

KKK-affiliated hate group leader Tony Perkins is cheering:

Family Research Council strongly supported the Defense of Marriage Act, and disagreed with the Court's decision in Windsor. However, if the federal government is required to defer to state determinations of which of their residents are "married," it must defer to those determinations in all fifty states – not just those that have redefined marriage. The State Marriage Defense Act is consistent with the ruling in Windsor, which reiterated that states have the "historic and essential authority to define the marital relation." The current Obama administration policy is doing the very thing which the Court condemned – "creating two contradictory marriage regimes within the same State."  The State Marriage Defense Act serves to protect state definitions of marriage against what the Court called efforts "to put a thumb on the scales and influence a state's decision as to how to shape its own marriage laws."

I can't yet quote from Weber's bill as it hasn't yet been posted to the House website. The only previous House legislation authored by Weber is a failed 2013 resolution which declared that "extensive scientific studies" have found the Keystone pipeline to be "environmentally sound." Which means, of course, that the FRC surely had a hand in writing today's bill. Weber has a 100% approval rating from the virulently anti-gay Heritage Foundation. He will appear tonight on Tony Perkins' nationally syndicated radio show.

UPDATE: The Family Research Council just published a petition for their supporters to call on other members of the House to co-sponsor Weber's bill.

Labels: assholery, Christianists, FRC, GOP, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Randy Weber, religion, teabaggers, Texas, Tony Perkins, U.S. House

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via the Other 98% / FB:

'Define Me' - Ryan Amador (featuring Jo Lampert)

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

"Silence is an empty space, space is the home of the awakened mind." - Buddha

 

 

Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 9, 2014

How Ignorance Causes Suffering

This is what we call ignorance: not recognizing the void nature of phenomena and assuming that phenomena possess the attribute of true existence although in fact they are devoid of it. With ignorance comes attachment to all that is pleasant to the ego as well as hatred and repulsion for all that is unpleasant. In that way the three poisons—ignorance, attachment, and hatred—come into being. Under the influence of these three poisons, the mind becomes like a servant running here and there. This is how the suffering of samsara is built up. It all derives from a lack of discernment and a distorted perception of the nature of phenomena.

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “An Investigation of the Mind”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 10, 2014
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Via JMG: German Soccer Star Comes Out

Via BBC Sports:

Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has revealed he is gay. The 31-year-old, who won 52 caps for Germany and also played for West Ham and Everton, made the announcement in newspaper Die Zeit. He is the most prominent footballer to publicly reveal his homosexuality and said it was "a good time" to do so. "I'm coming out about my homosexuality because I want to move the discussion about homosexuality among professional sportspeople forwards," he added. The midfielder said he has only realised "in the past few years" that he would "prefer to live together with another man", adding: "I've never been ashamed of the way I am."

Hitzlsperger retired last year due to injuries. (Tipped by JMG reader John)

Labels: coming out, gay athletes, Germany, sports

posted by Joe Jervis

The DOs and DON'Ts of PRAYER

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 8, 2014

The Self’s Misconception

In Pali, the language of the oldest written Buddhist teachings, the belief in some core notion of self is called sakkaya-ditthi; this is sometimes translated as ‘personality belief.’ It’s said to be the most dangerous of all the defilements, more dangerous than greed or even hatred, because these are rooted in this mistaken belief. This wrong view of self is central to how we go about in the world, and all kinds of unskillful actions come out of it. The aim of the practice, central to everything we’re doing, is to free the mind from this misconception.

- Joseph Goldstein, “Everyday Meditation”

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Probably Gay, the Homophobia Song - Katie Goodman's Broad Comedy

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

"The man who conquers himself is superior to him who conquers a thousand men in battle." - Buddha

 

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 7, 2014

Dualistic Divisions

We divide our world into me/you, friend/enemy, desirable/ undesirable, fulfilling/frustrating, and so on. It’s a natural process, but a very arbitrary, utterly subjective one. Somehow we’re able to ignore this last fact. We’re in dualistic division mode, and we act on that; all sorts of emotions come into play, and we act on them. We reinforce the tendencies—Buddhists might say, we create or compound karma—that make the illusion thicker, stickier, more solid. And the further we are from truth, the more elusive happiness becomes.

- Pamela Gayle White, “The Pursuit of Happiness”

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Via Gay Proud / LGBT INCLUSIVE / FB

JMG Editorial Of The Day

From the editors of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Same-sex attraction, far from being unnatural, has been around since the dawn of time, and in recent decades mainstream America has come to accept it as something other than deviant. The American Psychiatric Association has considered homosexuality a normal sexual variation, not a mental disorder, since 1973. The Supreme Court in 2003 made same-sex sexual activity legal in every state, and then last June the court took that step of saying same-sex couples have a due-process right to marry. Younger people by and large take a more libertarian view of same-sex relationships, and that is what has fueled the nation’s shift since Utah passed its ban in 2004.
There are 32 states with laws still in effect banning gay marriage, but only one state has passed such a law since 2006. Since that time seven state legislatures have passed laws to allow same-sex marriage, and three more states did so through popular vote. Court decisions have struck down the laws in another seven states, including Utah. One of those states is California, where state officials stopped defending their same-sex marriage ban when it became obvious where the future lies. Utah’s ban passed with 66 percent of voters approving it, but it’s a legitimate question whether it would pass today if another election were held. Even the LDS Church has gone from actively participating in the marriage wars to simply explaining its own beliefs and practices.
The tide has turned. It’s time for Utah to turn with it.

(Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Labels: marriage equality, Salt Lake City, Utah

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: The Friendly Atheist Reviews Linda Harvey

Last week Linda Harvey screamed that Amazon didn't pull her book because it advocates the torture and brainwashing of LGBT children, SHE pulled it herself because of nasty reviews spurred by evil gay bloggers.  The Friendly Atheist has read Harvey's book and today posted a review. An excerpt:

Harvey says that “hundreds” of organizations in the U.S. can help gay people work through their feelings and turn straight, and that plenty of “converted homosexuals” will tell you that it really works. Never mind that the most prominent ex-gay organization Exodus International shut its doors and its president said homosexuality is unchangeable — Harvey says he’s not a good representative of the ex-gay movement because “there seems to be a lot of confusion going on in his life.” If you insist…
Later, she defends parents who kick their gay children out of their homes. She suggests that children whose parents don’t try to shield them from homosexuality will commit suicide. She says that it’s the responsibility of churches to try to warn people about homosexuality. She suggests that gay teenagers are the victims of broken homes or sexual abuse. She waxes poetic on Sodom and Gomorrah. And finally, she says that God is the answer to a troubled life of homosexuality.

Hit the link and read the full review.

 

Labels: Amazon, assholery, bigotry, brainwashing, crackpots, evil, ex-gay, hate groups, LGBT youth, Linda Harvey, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 6, 2014

The Four Reminders

We all know that we’re going to die, but we don’t know it in our guts. If we did, we would practice as if our hair were on fire. One way to swallow the bitter truth of mortality and impermanence—and get it into our guts—is to chew on the four reminders.

- Andrew Holecek, “The Supreme Contemplation”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 7, 2014
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Via JMG: The Man Who Invented San Francisco

The Days Of Anna Madrigal, the ninth and final installment of Armistead Maupin's legendary Tales Of The City series, will be published later this month. Yesterday the Guardian heaped praise upon Maupin. An excerpt:

Quentin Crisp once introduced him with the boast: "This is Mr Maupin. He invented San Francisco." More importantly, Maupin virtually invented the mainstreaming of gay life and helped the world see that "the gay experience" was nothing lesser or greater than human experience. Maupin came to a realisation of his homosexuality relatively late. He was 30 when he came out, the same year he began writing. Taking stock of himself the way he would one of his characters, he once observed: "He had kept his heart (and his libido) under wraps for most of his life, only to discover that the thing he feared the most had actually become a source of great comfort and inspiration." At the time he began writing, he saw gay fiction as both bleak and myopic. This was an era when Truman Capote still equated his homosexuality with his alcoholism and a climate in which Gore Vidal could claim: "There were homosexual acts, but not homosexual people." Maupin, however, had discovered a joyful fraternity and welcoming community in the bath houses and nightclubs of the city and decided, as he put it, to "[allow] a little air into the situation by actually placing gay people in the context of the world at large".

Read the full article. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Labels: Armistead Maupin, gay writers, LGBT History, San Francisco

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 4, 2014

Language in Practice

The first three practices of the eightfold path are right view, right intention, and right speech. These make right conduct possible, and when there is right conduct, there can be meditation practice and mindfulness, which lead to wisdom, thereby reinforcing right view. So from the first, the Buddha saw that our language conditions our spirituality through our views, intentions, and uttered words, and that training in an increased awareness of this process has to be the starting point for spiritual practice.

- Zoketsu Norman Fischer, “Beyond Language”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 5, 2014
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