Via JMG: President Obama Marks Fifth Anniversary Of Signing The Matthew Shepard Act

Via White House press release:

Five years ago, I was proud to sign the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act into law – a law that strengthened the protections against crimes based on the color of our skin, the love in our hearts, the faith we practice, or the place of our birth.

This law gave the Justice Department new tools for prosecuting criminals. It directed new resources to law enforcement agencies, so they could better serve their communities. And it did what we want all our laws to do: it reflected and strengthened our core national values. By recognizing violent bigotry as an especially dangerous crime – one that not only harms individuals, but threatens the social fabric that binds our country together – the Shepard Byrd Hate Crimes Act has made it possible for more Americans to live freely, openly and safely, and has reinforced our nation’s sacred commitment to equality for all.

Since this law was passed, the FBI and Department of Justice have vigorously investigated and prosecuted dozens of hate crime cases nationwide, including attacks on minorities, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities. The number of individuals charged with hate crimes has increased significantly over the past five years. And state and local law enforcement officers and other community members have received training in how to recognize and address hate crimes. The law is working.

Our job isn’t done. We must continue to stand together against intolerance and hate wherever they occur, and respond decisively when they lead to violence. Ours is a country built on the notion that all people are created equal. It’s up to us to make that ideal real, in our words and deeds as well as in our laws – to ensure that, in America, everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, no matter who they are or who they love.

Labels: Barack Obama, Democrats, gay bashing, hate crimes, hate crimes act, LGBT History, Matthew Shepard, Matthew Shepard Act, murder, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Advocate Names Putin Person Of The Year

 

From their cover story:

As the Olympic Winter Games headed to Sochi in 2014, so did a spotlight on the violations against the Russian LGBT community. Those violations are coming directly from the top of the Russian government, with President Vladimir Putin leading the charge. His crusade against LGBT Russians and the outrage and protests his actions sparked have earned him the title of The Advocate’s 2014 “Person of the Year.”

Since winning his third term in 2012, Putin has become ever more autocratic, and his antigay ideology ever more extreme. In June 2013, he signed the infamous antigay propaganda bill that criminalizes the “distribution of information…aimed at the formation among minor of nontraditional sexual attitudes,” with nontraditional meaning anything other than heterosexual. Individual violators are fined anywhere between $120 and $150, while NGOs and corporations can incur fines as high as $30,000.

International outrage flared in the months before the Sochi Olympics, in response to which Putin reassured the gay and lesbian community they had nothing to fear as long as they left Russia’s children in peace. Such incendiary rhetoric is a staple of Putin’s political playbook. And in Russia, where the majority of media are state-owned, there’s little public pushback.

Putin continually preaches Russian nationalism and purity, telling reporters in January that anything that gets in the way of Russia’s population growth should be “cleaned up.” The message is clear: Putin’s Russia, in grand Soviet tradition, is a country of the masses, not the individual. Yet it’s the masses that must safeguard individual liberties.

Last year the magazine chose Pope Francis.

Labels: Advocate, LGBT rights, Russia, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Missouri Changes Its Stripes

 

Map legend.

Labels: marriage equality, Missouri, Wikipedia

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Janis Ian / FB:

Flower of the Day: 11/07/14

“Let us continue spreading the perfume of peace, love and prosperity to all corners of the world, inspiring all to sing the names of the Supreme. It doesn’t matter in what language or what form of the Divine is revered because we know that God is one. The Eternal manifests in different ways according to the needs of each group of people. When we pay homage to the different forms of the Supreme, we invoke the Supreme that lives in each and every one of us.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Daniel, the hardest thing in politics is changing the status quo. The easiest thing is to get cynical.

The Republicans had a good night on Tuesday, Daniel -- but believe me when I tell you that our results were better because you stepped up, talked to your family and friends, and cast your ballot.

I want you to remember that we're making progress. There are workers who have jobs today who didn't have them before. There are millions of families who have health insurance today who didn't have it before. There are kids going to college today who didn't have the opportunity to go to college before.

So don't get cynical, Daniel. Cynicism didn't put a man on the moon. Cynicism has never won a war, or cured a disease, or built a business, or fed a young mind. Cynicism is a choice. And hope will always be a better choice.

I have hope for the next few years, and I have hope for what we're going to accomplish together.

Thank you so much, Daniel.

Barack Obama

Flower of the Day: 11/08/14

“In short, it is necessary to surrender to love. If love is the juice of life, then love is leading us and giving us our commands. Love is breaking our attachments and our control so that we can return back to love itself. Love is awakening the love that pulsates inside of us. But we must have a certain type of courage in order to love and to surrender. Pray for this courage, call for it. Implore the universal principle of love to give you the strength and firmness to follow its commands.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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A True Path | November 8, 2014

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I try to understand the teachings of the Buddha, of enlightenment, and to put my understanding into practice. It’s a slow path, rarely an easy path, but it is a true path.

- Pamela White, "A Slow, True Path"

Via Daily Dharma

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What is the Moon? | November 7, 2014

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The five world religions are like the five fingers of the hand, pointing to the same moon. And I wonder, along with my children, what is the moon?

- Sarah Ruhl, "Five Questions for Sarah Ruhl"

Via Daily Dharma

Bringing It All Back Home | November 6, 2014 While an attitude of nonattachment is essential, it would be sadly misguided to imagine we need to give up love and affection for our children or other family members in order to follow the Bodhisattva Way. - Lama Jampa Thaye, "Bringing It All Back Home"

Flower of the Day: 11/06/14

“The great saboteur of peace in relationships is pride, and this pride is serving fear. We must have humility in order to say ‘no’ to the conditioning that makes us point the finger at others through blame. This doesn’t mean looking away from their faults, but rather developing an objective view of reality. In this objective view, there is no room for the blaming game. There’s only space for what is true. This objective viewpoint is only possible to attain through loving consciousness.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Liberal Dragon / FB:

Via JMG: RE-ELECTED: All LGBT House Members

 

The 2014 midterms were not a total disaster, at least for the six openly LGBT members of the US House. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Jared Polis* (D-CO), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep David Cicilline (D-RI), and Rep. Kysten Sinema (D-AZ) all retained their seats today. 

Openly gay US House candidates who lost their bids today include Oklahoma state Sen. Al McCaffrey, Texas military veteran Louie Minor, North Carolina American Idol finalist Clay Aiken, former Massachusetts GOP legislator Richard Tisei, and New York investment banker Sean Eldridge, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

The House bid of scandal-plagued homocon Carl DeMaio is too close to call at this writing.

*Not pictured.

Labels: 2014 elections, Clay Aiken, David Cicilline, gay politicians, Jared Polis, Krysten Sinema, Mark Pocan, Mark Takano, Richard Tisei, Sean Maloney, U.S. House

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Headline Of The Day

 

From the Huffington Post.

Labels: 2014 elections, Huffington Post, Senate

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via Boing Boing / FB:

Flower of the Day: 11/05/14

“What makes us repeat a negative pattern is our enchantment with our own story. This enchantment is sustained by negatively oriented pleasure, which is the connection between pleasure and destructiveness. This connection takes place when our spontaneity was first repressed, causing pain that had to be numbed up. At this moment, pleasure got connected with the mask, as well as all the games that today sustain the status quo.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Surrender and Engagement | November 5, 2014 We must walk a fine line between surrender and engagement. As we individuate, we learn to remain open to the nature of uncertainty in the journey, allowing ourselves to fearlessly unfold. At the same time, our active participation in the process functions as a kind of dialogue between the ego and our Buddha-nature. We still pay the bills, do the washing up, and take the kids to school. - Rob Preece, "The Solace of Surrender"

Via JMG: Kansas Goes Cerulean

 

But poor Florida is still cerulean. Map legend.

Labels: Kansas, LGBT rights, marriage equality

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Gay Cowboys I The Feed