Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 11, 2014

Mindfulness of Breathing

As we begin to practice mindfulness of breathing, we often see ourselves, initially, as the breather, apart and separate from the breath itself. The direction and development of the practice is eventually to bridge this separation until our attention is absorbed fully into the breath. The breath breathes itself, and we experience a place of deep calmness, concentration, and ease. When we breathe, we just breathe.

- Christina Feldman, “Receiving the Breath”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 12, 2014
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Hillary Clinton for HRC's Americans for Marriage Equality

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Frank Bruni

"A news flash for every straight man out there: You’ve been naked in front of a gay man. In fact you’ve been naked, over the course of your life, in front of many gay men, at least if you have more than a few years on you. And here you are — uninjured, uncorrupted, intact. The earth still spins. The sun rises and sets. Maybe it was in gym class, long ago. Maybe at the health club more recently. Or maybe when you played sports at the high school level, the college level, later on. Whether we gay guys are one in 10 or one in 25, it’s a matter of chance: At some point, one of us was within eyeshot when you stripped down. And you know what? He probably wasn’t checking you out. He certainly wasn’t beaming special gay-conversion gamma rays at you. That’s why you weren’t aware of his presence and didn’t immediately go out and buy a more expensive moisturizer and a disc of Judy Garland’s greatest hits. His purpose mirrored yours. He was changing clothes and showering. It’s a locker room, for heaven’s sake. Not last call at the Rawhide." - Frank Bruni, in a New York Times column responding to the coming out of NFL prospect Michael Sam.

Labels: coming out, football, Frank Bruni, gay athletes, HomoQuotable, Michael Sam, New York Times, NFL, sports

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: College Football Star Comes Out, May Become First Openly Gay NFL Player

University of Missouri football star Michael Sam came out today. As an NFL draft prospect, Sam may become the first openly gay active player in the pro football.

Coaches at the University of Missouri divided players into small groups at a preseason football practice last year for a team-building exercise. One by one, players were asked to talk about themselves — where they grew up, why they chose Missouri and what others might not know about them. As Michael Sam, a defensive lineman, began to speak, he balled up a piece of paper in his hands. “I’m gay,” he said. With that, Mr. Sam set himself on a path to become the first publicly gay player in the National Football League. “I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out,” Mr. Sam said Sunday in an interview with The New York Times, the first time he spoke publicly about his sexual orientation.

Sam has been forecast to be drafted in the early rounds and says he came out now because he knew rumors were circulating. Some of his teammates knew he had been dating a member of the Missouri swim team. Hit the link for the New York Times' video interview. UPDATE: Outsports has a behind-the-scenes look at Sam's coming out.
UPDATE II: More of the back story.

Sam was a defensive end for Mizzou Tigers of the University of Missouri. He graduated in December and is currently a highly-touted prospect in the National Football League (NFL) draft. He becomes the first publicly gay athlete in any of the Big 4 sports drafts. In interviews with The New York Times and ESPN tonight, the football player stated: "I am an openly, proud gay man." In December 2013, The Associated Press named him the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year. He was also selected as one of ten unanimous first-team all-Americans. He led the SEC in both sacks and tackles-for-loss and resides in the top 10 nationally in Division I in those categories.

He is originally from Hitchcock, Texas. Sports journalist Cyd Zeigler stated to GLAAD: "Every NFL draft expert has Sam being selected in the first to fifth round of this year's NFL draft." Before his announcement, Michael Sam's publicist Howard Bragman introduced to him to athletes including openly gay former NFL players Dave Kopay and Wade Davis Jr., openly gay NBA player Jason Collins, openly gay former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean, as well as outspoken straight allies and former NFL players Brendan Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe. This is the fifth professional athlete that Bragman has taken out of the closet, along with more than a dozen celebrities.

UPDATE III: Athlete Ally reacts via press release.

“Michael has shown great courage in taking this step and not only do we support him, we are incredibly grateful. His decision to welcome us all into his world as he embarks upon a professional NFL career is an honorable one. This moment will resonate in a unique and important way for countless people, particularly LGBT youth,” said Super Bowl champion and human rights activist Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is a member of the Athlete Ally Board of Directors. Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally said: “With Michael Sam’s brave step, he emboldens LGBT athletes and straight allies everywhere. We are in the midst of incredible transformation in American professional sports. In a very short period of time, athletics has gone from being known as ‘the last closet in America’ to being in a position to lead on this issue. This is the power of sports.”

UPDATE IV: The NFL has issued a statement: "We admire Michael Sam’s honesty and courage. Michael is a football player. Any player with ability and determination can succeed in the NFL. We look forward to welcoming and supporting Michael Sam in 2014."

 

Labels: college, coming out, football, gay athletes, Michael Sam, Missouri, NFL, sports

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 10, 2014

Pleasure and Pain

The goal of practice is not to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, but rather to experience both with full awareness, neither favoring one nor opposing the other. It is thus possible to experience mental pleasure or happiness while experiencing a certain amount of physical discomfort.

- Andrew Olendzki, “Pleasure and Pain”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 11, 2014
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Via The Other 98% / FB:

Via JMG: EL SALVADOR: Gay Marriage Ban Fails

 

An attempt to place a ban on same-sex marriage into the national constitution has failed miserably in El Salvador.

According to Spanish news agency EFE, only 19 out of 84 lawmakers on Friday voted in favor of the ban. The measure, which cleared the chamber in 2012, defines marriage as between a man and a woman and their children. It also sought to prohibit El Salvador from recognizing the foreign marriages of gay couples and bans gays from adopting children. A constitutional amendment requires the approval of two consecutive legislatures; a simply majority (43 votes) during the first reading followed by a supermajority (56).

RELATED: El Salvador is the only Central American country that allows gays to serve openly in its armed forces.

 

Labels: Central America, El Salvador, LGBT rights, marriage equality

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Anti-Gay US Preachers Are In Sochi

Anti-gay American preachers are rallying in support of Vladimir Putin on the streets of Sochi. And the cops are fine with that, of course.

On Friday evening, while huge crowds made their way to the Olympic opening ceremony viewing party, the men warned that “Judgment is coming” and shook hands with anyone who would stop to listen. A few locals did. But more significantly, at a time when discussion of the Olympics is dominated by issues of discrimination, none of the large police presence near the station appeared to approach them. Meanwhile, Friday night brought reports that at least four gay rights activists were arrested in St. Petersburg. One of the three men in Sochi—Larry Craft from Rochester, N.Y.—said that earlier in the day, they had spent a few hours at the police station after their banner got them in trouble. It read, “God bless Putin for his stance on homosexuals.” He said that they were allowed to return to the sidewalk if they promised to put the banner away.

Kraft has been arrested several times, including at Southern Decadence 2012 when nine anti-gay preachers were rounded up during "aggressive" street protests.
UPDATE: Queer Nation reacts.

Labels: Christian Love, LGBT rights, religion, Russia, Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Catholics Polled On Gay Marriage

 

From a Univision poll conducted in 12 countries: "Two-thirds of Catholics around the world oppose gay marriage. Only in the United States and Spain do majorities of Catholics support it."  Univision also polled Catholics on contraception, divorce, abortion, and female priests. The full PDF is here.

Labels: Catholics, marriage equality, polls, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 9, 2014

Change Makes All Things Possible

As Buddhists, we work to accept the impermanence and inevitable decay of the physical body. But it’s not enough to accept it as a fact; we can believe in this and still not want it in plain sight. Nagarjuna said, ‘Change makes all things possible.’ It is only because of change that suffering can end—and it is because of change that our bodies fall apart, like all compounded things. We cannot have one without the other, but we try.

- Sallie Tisdale, “Washing Out Emptiness”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 10, 2014
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Tricycle Daily Dharma February 8, 2014

Concentration and Inquiry

It is essential that you cultivate together and in harmony these twin elements of concentration and inquiry. Concentration will bring stability, stillness, and spaciousness; inquiry will bring alertness, vividness, brightness, and clarity. Combined, they will help you to develop creative awareness, an ability to bring a meditative mind to all aspects of your daily life. In this way, meditation becomes both a refuge and a training: a refuge into being, and a training into doing.

- Martine Batchelor, “A Refuge Into Being”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 9, 2014
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Dear My Year 7 Self - Straight People Against Homophobia

Gay Mountain | Channel 4

Via JMG: Gay Bashing As An Olympic Sport

Via press release:

The video is the newest fundraising tactic by the Russia Freedom Fund, which aims to raise a million dollars by the end of the Olympics to support LGBT Russian activists. The video was produced by the Fair Games Project, an Indiegogo campaign launched by filmmaker Michael Rohrbaugh. The Fair Games Project also produced a powerful gun violence PSA that received significant attention last year. Athlete Ally is one of the producing partners on the video as well. Other fundraising tactics for the Russia Freedom Fund include a new national initiative called Uprising of Love: Pride House 2014, where restaurants, bars, and clubs will donate $1 of every drink sold from 9 p.m. to midnight to the fund. It takes place during tomorrow's Opening Ceremonies. In addition, Melissa Etheridge released a new single last week and will donate 100% of the profits to the fund. The significance of the Russia Freedom Fund is that it's the only way Americans can directly support LGBT Russian activists.

Wow.




 

Labels: activism, Athlete Ally, gay bashing, PSA, Russia, Russia Freedom Fund, Sochi Olympics

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Google Doodle Slams Russia

Via the Guardian:

Google has nailed its colours to the mast over Russia's gay rights record in a new Google doodle, which is dedicated to the Olympic charter. The internet company's logo was presented in the colours of the rainbow flag and also featured images of Winter Games events. The build-up to the Sochi Games, the opening ceremony of which takes place on Friday, has been disrupted by a debate over the apparent conflict between the central principles of the Games and anti-gay laws in Russia. The doodle linked to search results for "Olympic charter" and quoted from it: "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."

The message is currently appearing worldwide. Thank you, Google! (Tipped by many JMG readers)
UPDATE: The Human Rights Campaign applauds.

"Google has once again proven itself to be a true corporate leader for equality,” said Griffin. “Alongside Olympic sponsors like AT&T, Google has made a clear and unequivocal statement that Russia’s anti-LGBT discrimination is indefensible. Now it’s time for each and every remaining Olympic sponsor to follow their lead. The clock is ticking, and the world is watching.”

Labels: Google, LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Rabbis Stand With LGBT Ugandans

From a petition launched by the American Jewish World Service:

Dear President Museveni, I am writing to implore you, respectfully, to veto Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill that was recently passed by the Ugandan Parliament. As a rabbi, I honor the inherent dignity of each and every person. Jewish theology, tradition and history compel me to uphold the values of kavod habriyot, respect for all of creation, and btzelem elohim, the notion that all people--including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people--are created in the Divine image. Tragically, I know from our history that the stripping away of human rights from specific minorities is often a precursor to targeted destruction. If this bill is signed into law, it would be a grave violation of human rights and would be one of the most abhorrent manifestations of discrimination against LGBT people worldwide.

Read the full petition. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

Labels: Judaism, LGBT rights, religion, Uganda

posted by Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Coca-Cola And Chevrolet To Run Gay-Inclusive Ads During The Olympics

From the New York Times:

Some marketers are seeking to respond to the protesters without agreeing to their demand to condemn the Russian law. During the opening ceremony coverage, Coca-Cola plans to run a 90-second version of “America Is Beautiful,” its 60-second Super Bowl commercial by Wieden & Kennedy that salutes diversity, and generated complaints from some viewers who expressed outrage that “America the Beautiful” was sung in multiple languages along with English. Also during that coverage, Chevrolet plans a commercial for its Traverse minivan with diverse families — including two same-sex couples — to illustrate a theme, “The New Us.” The spot was created by the Commonwealth unit of the McCann Worldgroup.

You likely are already familiar with the now-famous Coke ad. I haven't found the Chevy ad yet.

Labels: advertising, LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics

posted by Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Obama On Sochi Delegation: Of Course We Sent Open Gays There On Purpose

"There is no doubt we wanted to make it very clear that we do not abide by discrimination in anything, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. One of the wonderful things about the Olympics is that you are judged by your merit, how good you are regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love and that I think is consistent with the spirit of the Olympics," - President Obama, speaking to NBC last night.

Labels: Barack Obama, LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics

Reposted from Joe Jervis

NSFW: The Putin Rap - His Emineminence (feat. V. Piddy)