Via JMG: Sen. Ted Cruz: Being Gay Is Tim Cook's Personal Choice But I Love My iPhone

The Hill reports on Sen. Ted Cruz' reaction to today's coming out by Apple CEO Tim Cook:

"Those are his personal choices. I’ll tell you, I love my iPhone," Cruz said. "Listen, Tim Cook makes his personal decisions, and that is his life. My focus is on the constitutional question of who has the authority to make decisions," he later added. Cruz said that marriage is a "question for the states" because of the country's federalist system. "This is something we’ve seen over and over again, which is the federal government and federal courts deciding they don’t trust the people," Cruz said. "They look down on the people, they don’t trust us to make judgments about our own lives, so the federal government and federal courts are going to step in and impose their own policy preferences."

Labels: Apple, assholery, business, coming out, crackpots, GOP, Tea Party, teabaggers, Ted Cruz, Tim Cook

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Bill Clinton Congratulates Tim Cook

Labels: Apple, Bill Clinton, coming out, Tim Cook

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 10/30/14

“Sometimes one needs to withdraw. When we are going through a healing process and doing a self-study, we need to sustain a prayer field. If we go out into the world, we may get identified and fall, so we must allow ourselves to be alone for some time. At some point, we must also go back out into the world and relate to others. The key here is being prepared to give of ourselves and wanting others to be happy. The question is whether or not we are able to embark on a higher level of study by being a channel of generosity, sharing our silence and love with others – even if they don’t know it.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

---

The Right Pitch | October 30, 2014

---

Cultivating skillful effort, we learn to distinguish the 'right' amount of effort. Not too little. Not too much. Just right. In tune. When we find the right pitch, our practice flourishes. 

 

- Peter Doobinin, "Skillful Effort" 

 

Via Dialy Dharma

Humanized Once More | October 29, 2014 We must realize that modern civilization is thoroughly oriented towards dehumanizing humanity in every possible way; that is to say, we are fast turning into robots or statues with no human souls. Our task is to get humanized once more.    - D. T. Suzuki, "Humanized Once More"

Flower of the Day: 10/29/14

“You can only renounce what you already have. It is not possible to give up something you don’t have. Renunciation needs to be truthful; otherwise, when you are facing the ocean you may look back and see that you still want to be a river. You don’t want to give up certain things because you are stuck in your need to be recognized and loved. You don’t want to give up your story, your name or your body. This process brings you to the source of the inner split where there are two opposing forces acting inside of you. It is precisely this tug-of-war that causes suffering.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: Together - We Are Stronger | Moovz

Via press release:

People from all around the world took part in the gay selfie project released by the global gay social network Moovz. This project was meant to show the faces of the global gay community, with people from different cultures, with different colors, appearance and races and that speaks different languages. From South to North America and from Europe to as far as Asia - people uploaded their pictures and agreed to be exposed in order to send a message to the world and prove how united is the global gay community. This is probably the first time that gays from all around the world did something together to send a message that empowers their whole community. Many gay influencers also took part in this project, such as Amanda Lepore, Davey Wavey, Chris Salvatore, Colby Melvin, Matthew Lush, Willam Belli and many other global and local gay leaders from different regions who are following this initiative that gathered the entire gay community into one place.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks at Alabama Academy of Honor induction

Alice in WeHoLand - a public safety announcement

Via JMG: Michael Stipe On 20 Years Of Being Out

"In 1994, most people had a largely binary perception of sexuality – the message was complicated for them. I am thrilled to see how much this has changed in those 20 years. The 21st century has provided all of us, recent generations particularly, with a clearer idea of the breadth of fluidity with which sexuality and identity presents itself in each individual. Gender identification, and the panoply of sexuality and identity are now topics that are more easily and more widely discussed, debated and talked about openly. It’s thrilling to see progressive change shift perceptions so quickly.

"What I feel we have arrived at with all this, is that queerness – as I am happy to call an all-embracing, foundational tenet – is really a state of mind brought about by an understanding: it is understanding difference, accepting your own truth, desire and identity, and lovely, lovely choice. It is the final, completely obvious contemporary acceptance and understanding that this enormous world of beauty, sexuality, identity, lust, feeling, excitement, and love isn’t just black and white, or simple, at all – it is literally every shade and gradation of the rainbow. It doesn’t just lie in one of two camps. It includes accepting and supporting positions that you may not even completely understand; and to arrive at that conviction is so, so beautiful, and to quote my great friend Casey Legler: 'Fierce!'

"These 20 years of publicly speaking my truth have made me a better and easier person to be around. It helped develop the clarity of my voice and establish who I would be as an adult. I am proud to be who I am, and I am happy to have shared that with the world." 

- REM frontman Michael Stipe, in an essay for the Guardian. Next month REM will release an 11-disc vinyl box set collection of its singles, titled 7IN – 83–88, which will include reproductions of all their IRS Records singles from those years, including the original sleeve art. (Tipped by JMG reader Mike)

Labels: coming out, gay artists, Michael Stipe, pop music

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Please Don't Vote - A Message From The Republican Party

Via Qwerty: Church Sends Terrible Letter To Gay Congregant. He Responds Like A Pro.

The Presbyterian Church in America has a clear stance on homosexuality. Basically, it’s a sin. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

But even their tired beliefs don’t explain the way one church treated a member of its congregation after they discovered he is gay.

The churchgoer — Justin — was outed by a trusted church official, and discovered a lengthy and insulting letter sitting in his mailbox one day.

“Regretfully it has come to our attention that you have been engaging in a homosexual lifestyle,” it begins, only continuing downhill from there.

He’s told he must defend himself at a special hearing. Instead, he replied with the perfect rebuttal.

“What was my crime? I loved. I was loved. I am capable of love. It is abundantly and sadly clear that you do not understand this,” he writes in his response.

Here’s the letter he got from the church, followed by his response:





And here’s Justin’s response:




h/t Gay Star News

http://www.queerty.com/church-sends-terrible-letter-to-gay-congregant-he-responds-like-a-pro-20141028

Via Canal Brasil / FB:

A partir do dia 13/11, às 23h30, o jornalista e professor Jean Wyllys reforça o time do Canal Brasil!

No 'Cinema Em Outras Cores' ele propõe uma reflexão sobre a diversidade sexual e a descriminalização das drogas através do cinema, apresentando e discutindo polêmicos curta-metragens.

http://bit.ly/OutrasCores

Via Mystic Medusa / FB:

Flower of the Day: 10/28/14

“Life is cyclical. One moment you are on the crest of the wave, the next you are in the trough. Then you are up on the crest again and soon after you come back down. That’s how it is. There are warm sunny days and there are cold rainy days; there are white clouds and dark clouds, but they always pass by. If you observe the clouds without becoming identified with them, you will find the way out of the labyrinth of suffering and you won’t get caught in it anymore.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

A Guide to Sanity | October 28, 2014 Feeling alarm or devastation can guide us to a deep sanity, reminding us of who we are and what we need. Our power to act, our power to take part in the healing of our world, our power to bring things back into balance, comes from the same source as that devastation. Our pain for the world, and our power to take part in the healing of our world, both come from the same place.    - Joanna Macy, "Allegiance to Life"

STEVE HAYES: Tired Old Queen at the Movies - PSYCHO

Via Daily Dharma

The Brain in Space | October 27, 2014 What’s important is not just what is inside the brain but what the brain is inside of—the larger space of the body and culture. That is where we find mind and meaning.    - Evan Thompson, “The Embodied Mind”

Flower of the Day: 10/27/14

“Deep down everyone on this Earth is looking for peace, prosperity and joy. Even when they are in frantic disputes, fighting for material achievements, they are in fact in search of joy. However, without love this is impossible to achieve. This is why we are dedicated to awakening love. As long as there are still points of hatred and fear inside of us, we are being robbed of our joy. As long as we desperately want to receive love, we will be walking in the wrong direction because this achievement is only possible when we are generously giving the love we long to receive.”

Sri Prem Baba