Searching for Self | March 29, 2014 This mind that we identify as the self, which we could call ego-mind, controls everything we do. Yet it can't actually be found—which is somewhat spooky, as if a ghost were managing our home. The house seems to be empty, but all the housework has been done. The bed has been made, our shoes have been polished, the tea has been poured, and the breakfast has been cooked. —Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche, "Searching for Self"

Via The Everlasting GOP Stoppers / FB:

Via JMG: Voters Like Gays More Than Evangelicals

According to a poll of likely 2016 voters commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign, voters view gay people more favorably than they do evangelicals. Via the Huffington Post:

On Thursday the Human Rights Campaign and Americans for Marriage Equality released the results of a study, entitled "Victory In Sight", conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and TargetPoint Consulting that investigated the nuances of voters' views on marriage equality. More than a simple matter of "Should gays and lesbians be allowed to marry?", the poll looked at shifts in opinions over time, reasons for such shifts, and differing opinions among ages, faiths, geographic areas and more.

The first question addressed acceptance, comparing voters' favorable or unfavorable feelings towards gays and lesbians and towards evangelical Christians. In a nearly 80% Christian-identified country, the results might surprise you. Fifty-three percent of voters said they felt favorably toward gays and lesbians, compared to 42% who felt favorably toward evangelicals. Eighteen percent said they felt unfavorably toward gays and lesbians, while 28% reported unfavorable feelings toward evangelicals.

Labels: 2016 elections, HRC, polls, religion

Via JMG: Wonder Woman Sends Love To Tomboy

Wonder Woman Sends Love To Tomboy

Last night LGBT ally Lynda Carter posted the above message on her Facebook page. Her fans are applauding and one responded, "Lynda Carter just became more of a hero to me for this post. This was me in the late 70's early 80's." (Via theRandy Report)

RELATED:  In 2011 Lynda Carter was the grand marshal of the NYC Pride parade, which took place less than 48 hours after Gov. Cuomo signed the marriage equality bill into law. She told the press that it was a privilege to have participated on such a historic day. Last year Carter was the grand marshal of Washington DC's pride parade.

Labels: bigotry, education, gender identity, Lynda Carter,religion, straight allies, Sunnie Kahle, Virginia

Warrior Mind | March 28, 2014 Fear diminishes me, makes me no bigger than that part of me which fears. Fearful, I am too small to contain thought, too small to hold real compassion. Protecting myself, I will hurt others. —Sallie Tisdale, "Warrior Mind"

Via JMG: Mozilla Staffers Launch Twitter Campaign Demanding Resignation Of New CEO

Mozilla Staffers Launch Twitter Campaign Demanding Resignation Of New CEO

Technology news site ArsTechnica reports that numerous Mozilla staffers are today tweeting demands for the resignation of CEO Brendan Eich.

This morning, a number of Mozilla employees took to Twitter with a united, nearly simultaneous message to new Mozilla Foundation CEO Brendan Eich: "Step down." Brendan Eich's Prop 8 donations come to light, and internal response is mixed. The internal response began this morning with two tweets from Mozilla Open Badges project lead Chris McAvoy. "I love @mozilla but I'm disappointed this week." He then made a more pronounced declaration: "I'm an employee of @mozilla and I'm asking @brendaneich to step down as CEO." Within minutes, many other Mozilla employees followed suit, using similar language or copying each other's statements outright. Those included Mozilla Festival curator Chloe Vareldi, partnerships lead John Bevan, designer Jessica Klein, and engagement team member Sydney Moyer. McAvoy added that he feels fortunate to work at a company like Mozilla, "where I can say that without fear of retribution."

(Tipped by JMG readers Joel and Marc)

Labels: Brendan Eich, California, Firefox, internet, marriage equality, Mozilla, Proposition 8, Silicon Valley, technology

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Tricycle Enlightening Conversations

Enlightening Conversations

A New Series
Exploring the Intersection of Buddhism & Psychoanalysis

May 9-10, 2014
Friday 6pm - 9pm & Saturday 9 am - 6 pm
New York Blood Center
310 East 67th St, New York

In this groundbreaking series, there will be no prepared papers from any speakers. Instead, there will be structured conversation that is open and impromptu. You are welcome to join the conversation between the audience and the speakers whether or not you have knowledge or experience of Buddhism or psychoanalysis. If you have an interest in what these two contemplative disciplines do, please consider joining us.

“Opportunities and Obstacles in Human Awakening” is the debut conference of the Enlightening Conversations series, in which psychoanalysts and Buddhist teachers will speak openly and honestly about the nitty-gritty of liberation.

Hosted by Enlightening Conversations founder and director, Polly Young-Eisendrath.

Featuring: Polly Young-Eisendrath | Henry Shukman | Pat Enkyo O'Hara Roshi | Jeffrey Rubin | Shoji Muramoto | Pilar Jennings | Robert Caper | James Shaheen | Grace Schireson | Robert Chodo Campbell | Nancy Cater | Deon Van Zyl | Melvin Miller | Deborah Luepnitz | Morgan Stebbins

7.5 CECs are available for those who attend the program in its entirety. The Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (IRSJA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education. The IRSJA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Visit Tricycle for more information or

All tickets must be purchased online. No tickets will be sold at the door.

With thanks to our conference co-sponsors:

Via Daily Dharma

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Integrating Realization | March 27, 2014

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Spiritual realization is relatively easy compared with the much greater difficulty of actualizing it, integrating it fully into the fabric of one’s daily life. Realization is the movement from personality to being, the direct recognition of one’s ultimate nature, leading toward liberation from the conditioned self, while actualization refers to how we integrate that realization in all the situations of our life. 

 

—John Welwood, "The Psychology of Awakening"

 

Via JMG: Married Gay Tech Developers Announce Boycott Of Mozilla Over New CEO

On Monday, Mozilla appointed a new CEO who in 2008 donated $1000 to the Prop 8 campaign. Yesterday a boycott was announced by a married gay couple that runs a development company that produces products for Mozilla's Firefox browser.

Hampton Catlin, creator of Wikipedia Mobile and CSS extension language Sass, said he would no longer develop apps for Firefox after Eich's appointment. Catlin and his husband run a development firm called Rarebit which makes a game called Color Puzzle and was set to bring a dictionary app to Firefox Marketplace. In a blog post, Catlin wrote: "As a married gay couple who are co-founders of this venture, we have chosen to boycott all Mozilla projects. We will not develop apps or test styles on Firefox any more. This is in protest of the appointment of Brendan Eich to the position of CEO of the Mozilla Foundation, where he had previously served as CTO. We will continue our boycott until Brendan Eich is completely removed from any day to day activities at Mozilla, which we believe is extremely unlikely after all he’s survived and the continued support he has received from Mozilla.”

It wasn't until the Supreme Court overturned Prop 8 that the couple married. Catlin was also able to sponsor a visa for his British husband with the overturn of DOMA. The couple married at San Francisco City Hall on the very day of the Prop 8 ruling, landing their story on the front page of the New York Times. Read Catlin's blog post about the boycott and his open letter to Mozilla.

Labels: boycotts, California, Firefox, internet, marriage equality, Prop 8, San Francisco, technology

posted by Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Andrew Sullivan On "Homosexual"

"I like the term 'homo'! I use it all the time – about myself and others, although I also often use 'fag' as well. The gay thought-police would be aghast, but the intent is what matters. Mine is mostly benign. Mostly. But mainly, one great legacy of the gay community has been our love of freedom, especially of speech. For centuries and decades, the right to free speech was our only truly secure constitutional right. We were always about enlarging what was sayable, rather than restricting it. Banning 'homosexual' also reeks of insecurity. We are not so tender we cannot handle a clinical, neutral term, or even a slur or the re-appropriation of a slur. 'Queer' was one such reclamation, although that’s much more pointed than 'homosexual' and certainly doesn’t reflect how I feel about my orientation. There’s nothing queer about being horny and falling in love or lust or getting married. They’re among the most common activities known to humankind. But I sure don’t mind others using it – and more and more heteros want to call themselves 'queer' too. But my main objection to getting rid of 'homosexual' is that we would lose a not-too-easily replaced non-euphemism." - Andrew Sullivan, writing in response to the New York Times article about the "vanishing" usage of "homosexual" by the media thanks to prodding by groups such as GLAAD.

Sullivan and I agree about "homosexual" but not quite for the same reasons (many of you here strongly disagreed with mine). He goes on to express blistering contempt for "LGBT."

God I hate that “word”. It describes no single person; it cannot be spoken easily; it reeks of bullshit. No one started using that word of their own accord as a way to describe herself. It was created by leftists who believe that all oppressed groups are primarilly defined by their oppression and that the very different lives and identities of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender are somehow all one. I know it’s an effort at inclusion. I appreciate the good intent. And if it had any wit or originality, instead of sounding like a town in Croatia, I could live with it. But it doesn’t.

I like LGBT - most of all for its writing utility as an umbrella term. But while I grok why it's done, I do sometimes feel that the ever-growing number of letters sometimes tacked onto the end of LGBT are worthy of the eye-rolling it receives from inside our community and mockery it gets from our enemies. Which takes me back to my appreciation for the catch-all "queer," which to me simply means anybody who isn't heterosexual.

Labels: Andrew Sullivan, gay writers, homosexual, language

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Daily Dharma

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Everyday Bodhisattva | March 26, 2014

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The bodhisattva aspiration is an everyday matter—everyday both in the sense of needing to be renewed as each day passes, and in the sense of applying to simple tasks, to ordinary actions motivated by a longing to reduce the difficulty and increase the happiness of those with whom we share our lives. 

 

—Manjusura, "An Everyday Aspiration"

 

London LGBT choir Celebrates Same-sex Marriage

From a love poem by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī:

May these vows and this marriage be blessed
May it be sweet milk, this marriage, like wine and halvah
May this marriage offer fruit and shade like the date palm
May this marriage be full of laughter
Our every day a day in paradise
May this marriage be a sign of compassion
A seal of happiness here, and hereafter
May this marriage have a fair face and a good name
An omen, as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky
I am out of words to describe how spirit mingles in this marriage

https://soundcloud.com/thefourthchoir/this-marriage-ed-rex

Via JMG: Prop 8 Donor Named Mozilla CEO

The newly named CEO of Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox brower, is Brandon Eich, who gained headlines in 2008 when it was revealed that he had donated $1000 to the backers of Proposition 8.  From his personal blog:

A donation that I made in support of California Proposition 8 four years ago became public knowledge and sparked a firestorm of comments in the last few days, mostly on Twitter. People in other countries or other U.S. states do not know why “Mozilla” was listed in the donation data. Donors above a certain amount are required by the State of California to disclose their employer. Mozilla had nothing to do with the donation. I’m not going to discuss Prop 8 here or on Twitter. There is no point in talking with the people who are baiting, ranting, and hurling four-letter abuse. Personal hatred conveyed through curse words is neither rational nor charitable, and strong feelings on any side of an issue do not justify it. In contrast, people expressing non-abusive anger, sadness, or disagreement, I understand, grieve, and humbly accept.

For someone who is "not going to discuss Prop 8", he manages to on for several more paragraphs. (Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

Labels: Firefox, internet, Prop 8, technology

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Melissa Etheridge - "Uprising of Love" Official Video

Via JMG: AFA Calls For World Vision Boycott

Via press release:

This decision by World Vision to equate homosexual "marriage" to natural marriage between a man and a woman is in direct conflict with the Holy Scriptures. The first chapter of Romans is very clear. World Vision has abandoned the warning of Paul and compromised the integrity of a ministry financially supported by Christians who regard Scripture as the final authority on the issue. Christians who support World Vision should stop as should all of the artists and authors who raise money for them. There are many other organizations that sponsor children around the world who remain true to the gospel. If you would like to express your thoughts or cancel your financial support to World Vision, you can contact them here.

Fuck those starving children, the gays MUST BE STOPPED.

Labels: AFA, Christian Love, hate groups, World Vision

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Midling America: Updated Marriage Map: Michigan / FB

Via Daily Dharma

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Hearing Silence | March 25, 2014

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Silence does not disappear when it is broken; for those who are not distracted, silence limns language as the necessary condition that exposes both its richness and its fragility. Silence is not just in the gaps and spaces that punctuate sentences but also within words as the lack that renders them fully articulate. To know what a person says, we must hear what remains unsaid. If we cannot hear silence, we do not know how to listen. 

 

—Mark C. Taylor, “Hearing Silence”

 

FIRST KISS (Gay Version from New Zealand)

Via JMG: NYT On The Decline Of "H" Word

The New York Times yesterday explored the vanishing use of the word "homosexual" by almost everybody except anti-gay groups.

Consider the following phrases: homosexual community, homosexual activist, homosexual marriage. Substitute the word “gay” in any of those cases, and the terms suddenly become far less loaded, so that the ring of disapproval and judgment evaporates. Some gay rights advocates have declared the term off limits. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or Glaad, has put “homosexual” on its list of offensive terms and in 2006 persuaded The Associated Press, whose stylebook is the widely used by many news organizations, to restrict use of the word.
George P. Lakoff, a professor of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, has looked at the way the term is used by those who try to portray gays and lesbians as deviant. What is most telling about substituting it for gay or lesbian are the images that homosexual tends to activate in the brain, he said. “Gay doesn’t use the word sex,” he said. “Lesbian doesn’t use the word sex. Homosexual does.” “It also contains ‘homo,’ which is an old derogatory,” he added. “They want to have that idea there. They want to say this is not normal sex, this is not normal family, it’s going against God.”

Back in the 90s when some of our people began to reclaim "queer," I understood so many others in our community objected. The visceral unease that some experience when hearing or seeing the word "queer" - even in a benign, supportive or celebratory context - may never fade for those of us whose most vivid playground memories are the vicious-by-design games of "smear the queer." Still, I relished the fuck-you-ness of taking "queer" back and I defiantly wore my Queer Nation t-shirt until it disintegrated into gay-friendly cotton molecules.
Similarly, I do get why many consider "homosexual" to be cold, clinical, and reductive. But so too is "heterosexual" - and straight people certainly don't instinctively flinch at the term. For many people, the 20th century (ish) reappropriation of "gay" continues to carry an inherent, even subliminal, subtext of happiness - of a carefree life unburdened by shame or guilt or regret. And that's both wonderful and exactly why our enemies impotently flail against its usage. I don't disagree with those who complain that "homosexual" can be, often deliberately, a crude reduction of all-that-we-are to to merely who-puts-what-where.
But it cannot be denied that the epiphany that led us all here to take our first tentative steps on the yellow brick road was based in our acceptance that society's who-puts-what-where edict doesn't work for us. "Homosexual" may feel like a linguistic anachronism, but to my mind that word is merely the foundation upon which we build our culture. It's our starting point. I don't like giving the haters the satisfaction of watching us try to bury "homosexual." I wish we wouldn't do it.

Labels: hate groups, homosexual, language, LGBT culture, LGBT History, LGBT rights, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis