Via JMG: Ecuador Recognizes LGBT Relationships

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa has announced that LGBT citizens will be able to register their relationships with the federal government.

"The LGBT community have the constitutional right to register on their union," Correa said during his weekly report. Previously, the Ecuadoran Civil Registry did not recognize these unions because they had no legal status according to law, however Correa said that from now on this right has to be respected and if denied, the authorities will take action on the matter. However, Correa said that although he supports these unions, he don't support gay marriage, which according to him corresponds to the union between a man and a woman. But he said he is committed to guarantee the rights of all Ecuadorans. Correa, a Catholic leftist, has expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage and adoption of children by gay couples in previous occasions. The Ecuadoran Constitution grants equal rights to "cohabitation partnerships" regardless if they are civil or Catholic marriages, so the LGBT community gains more legal recognition with this legislation.

Same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples or individuals remains banned in the national constitution.

Labels: Ecuador, LGBT rights, South America

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: AP Reports On Seventh Circuit

Via the Associated Press:

Federal appeals judges bristled Tuesday at arguments defending gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin, with one Republican appointee comparing them to now-defunct laws that once outlawed weddings between blacks and whites. Judge Richard Posner, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was dismissive when Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Timothy Samuelson repeatedly pointed to 'tradition' as the underlying justification for barring gay marriage. "It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry — a tradition that got swept away," Posner said. Prohibition of same sex marriage, he said, is "a tradition of hate ... and savage discrimination."

Posner frequently cut off Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fischer, just moments into his presentation and chided him to answer his questions. At one point, Posner ran through a list of psychological strains of unmarried same-sex couples, including having to struggle to grasp why their schoolmates' parents were married and theirs weren't. "What horrible stuff," Posner said. What benefits to society in barring gay marriage, he asked, "outweighs that kind of damage to children?" The answer has to do with "procreation," Fisher answered. "All this is a reflection of biology," Fisher said. "Men and women make babies, same-sex couples do not... we have to have a mechanism to regulate that, and marriage is that mechanism."

The ACLU and Lambda Legal have essentially reiterated their equal protection arguments in appeals court filings, arguing that the bans deny gay couples state and federal legal protections and benefits that married straight couples enjoy. "The freedom to marry is a core aspect of personal liberty for all Americans," the ACLU said in its briefs. There was some levity during the hearing. As Samuelson struggled to offer a specific reason for how gay marriage bans benefit society, he suddenly noted a yellow courtroom light signaling his allotted time was up. "It won't save you," Williams told him, prompting laughter in court. Samuleson smiled, saying "it was worth a try."

Labels: Indiana, Seventh Circuit Court, Wisconsin

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 08/26/14

"True service is a fragrance of the Being. It is a light that emanates from your understanding. At a certain stage of the journey, you are able to practice service as an intelligent austerity, which is a spiritual practice that purifies selfishness. You choose to create some friction in order to provoke your ‘no's’ towards love. Since it is a choice, I call it an ‘intelligent’ austerity because it is born out of your intelligence and comprehension. It is bitter medicine, but it works, so you decide to try it out."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Give It Away | August 26, 2014

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Happiness is not happiness unless it is shared. For happiness is the one thing in all the world that comes to us only at the moment we give it, and is likewise increased by being given away. 

 

-Clark Strand, "The Wisdom of Frogs"

 

Via Daily Dharma

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Derived from Mind | August 25, 2014

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It is the various mental constructions that we hold, and hold dear, that appear as time and space, extension and duration. These—and all of the material world—derive from consciousness, which ladles out time and space from a timeless, spaceless sea. 

 

-Steve Hagen, "Time and Now"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/25/14

"Death is a myth that imprisons us, and what sustains this myth is forgetting about the spiritual reality. Death needs to be understood, as it is this myth that chains the soul to the body. At the time of your death, all of your unresolved fears and issues visit you, and this drags your awareness back to those places. Then, when you reincarnate, you are stuck at the same point."

- Sri Prem Baba

"Sometimes one’s addiction to blaming the other is so deeply ingrained that one doesn't even realize when one is accusing someone – it happens automatically. But if accusations exist, then so do comparisons and judgments, and this is what opens the doors to hell. With this, one awakens one’s lower nature and ends up losing all of the silence and love one has already gained."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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The Single Thing | August 24, 2014

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I don’t envision a single thing that, when developed and cultivated, brings about such happiness as the mind. The mind, when developed and cultivated, brings about happiness.

-The Buddha, "The Single Thing"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/23/14

"I perceive the acute stages of mental disorder as spiritual emergencies. The soul is expanding faster than the body can keep up with. The energy centers are spinning at a frequency that is defined by the soul, but the body carrying all of its marks and scars cannot handle this movement. In other words, the soul is expanding, but the body is still committed to destroying itself and this creates an internal tug of war between opposing forces. This is the origin of suffering: two forces moving in the opposite direction inside of us."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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A Spiritual Life All Our Own | August 23, 2014

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We should never lose sight of the fact that, however difficult the going may be at times, the living of the spiritual life is ultimately our own responsibility. It should never be abdicated to another, however venerable.

 

-John Snelling, “Beware the Charismatic Guru”

 

Via Dialy Dharma:

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What We Need | August 22, 2014

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Restraint means protecting the integrity of our mind so that we’re less likely to depart from our discipline; this way we avoid errors such as greed. So, not only should we not take more than we need but also always practice consideration in making sure that everyone has what they need. 

 

-Venerable Yifa, "Thought for Food"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/22/14

“Paying attention to synchronicities is very important because they are the voice of your intuition or the voice of God coming from within. However, I see that many of you are unable to perceive these signs as you are attached to a particular outcome for situations, filled with expectations. This is a limitation because you predetermine a way for things to happen and hope that life will fit into your plan. But life brings infinite possibilities, and it may offer something that is beyond your own plans.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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When We Trust | August 21, 2014

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When we trust with our open heart, whatever occurs, at that very moment that it occurs, can be perceived as fresh and unstained by the clouds of hope and fear. 

 

-Dr. Jeremy Hayward, "First Thought"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/21/14

“When you de-identify from your past, it will no longer exercise power over you. The past is still the past, but you’re no longer identified with it. It may even be a source of inspiration and understanding that you can use when necessary, but it stops draining your energy and awareness. The past no longer steals away your presence. However, this is only possible when you are in harmony with your past.”

Sri Prem Baba

BKS Iyengar

Via Daily Dharma

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A Whisper of Psychic Release | August 20, 2014

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The most fascinating and perhaps most significant of all interfaces is the one that separates yet connects the ridiculous and the sublime. The surprisingly narrow borderline between things holy and things profane, between prayer and laughter, between a Leonardo chalice and Warhol soup can, between the Clear Light and the joke, provides a zone of meaning as exhilarating as it is heretical: a whisper of psychic release so acutely yet weirdly portentous it just might offer a clue to the mystery of being. 

 

-Tom Robbins, "Now Showing: Satori"

 

Flower of the Day: 08/20/14

It is necessary to learn how to trust the commands that come from the heart. The spiritual master teaches you and guides you through his or her own intuition, but you will only learn if you are able to hear your heart; if you are able to discern. Discernment is an attribute of the Being, for it is a manifestation of your creative intelligence.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 08/19/14

“The fear of scarcity emerges in relation to money, but also in relation to feelings. When you are controlled by a fear of scarcity, you need to wield power over others in order to feel secure. This fear breaks your connection with the source and you feel powerless. So the only way you get power is through robbing other people’s energy by making them feel inferior, guilty, incompetent, or wrong. In other words, making them feel fearful as well. This lowers the other person’s awareness to the same level as your own, and you feel stronger. But the price you pay is very high, because this creates karma that will pursue you indefinitely.”

Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 08/18/14

“I have been speaking about the importance of kindness and friendship during our groups. The sangha, a community of spiritual seekers, is one of the sacred jewels of the path to enlightenment: it is the body of the master teacher. So the health of the master’s body depends on the friendships of his or her students and their ability to work together in harmony.”

Sri Prem Baba