Via JMG: Former "Ex-Gay" Leader Marries Man

John Smid, former leader of the "ex-gay" group Love In Action, married a man in Oklahoma on Sunday. Via the Memphis Flyer:

Smid has been living as an out gay man for several years now, and he's been in a relationship with [Larry] McQueen for one year. Gay marriage just became legal in Oklahoma last month. The couple live in Paris, Texas, where Smid moved from his Memphis home in the summer of 2013. Smid's journey from ex-gay leader to happily out gay man has been a long one. He was promoted to the role of executive director of Love in Action in September 1990, and in 1994, the organization moved its ministry to Memphis. Love in Action operated here quietly until 2005, when protests over a youth "straight" camp called Refuge sparked a national media firestorm. Smid met McQueen three years ago, but they were just "acquaintances with common friends," wrote Smid in his Facebook announcement of their marriage Sunday. "I gradually got to know him over time until we reached a place in our lives that we saw we wanted to get to know one another through a dating relationship. As we dated we shared our vision for life, our personal philosophies, and our faith values. We found a compatibility that was comfortable and exciting," Smid said.

In August of this year Smid and eight other former "ex-gay" leaders issued a joint letter denouncing "reparative" torture. Love In Action now operates as Restoration Path. (Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

Labels: brainwashing, ex-gay, gay weddings, John Smid, LGBT youth, Love In Action, Oklahoma, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: South Carolina Earns Stripes Of Progress

 

Yesterday the Fourth Circuit Court refused South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson's demand to continue the stay on same-sex marriages during his appeal. Almost simultaneously, a separate federal court ruled that South Carolina must recognize out-of-state marriages, prompting Wikipedia's marriage map monitor to apply the above blue stripes of progress. Late last night Wilson took his stay extension demand to SCOTUS. Barring action from that court, marriages will commence at noon tomorrow.

 

Labels: Alan Wilson, Fourth Circuit Court, lawsuits, LGBT rights, marriage equality, SCOTUS, South Carolina, Wikipedia

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Procter & Gamble Endorses Gay Marriage

Consumer goods behemoth Procter & Gamble has endorsed marriage equality.

P&G executives say they want to attract top talent from all backgrounds and part of that strategy is providing a welcoming work environment. "We have always supported our employees and fostered a culture of inclusion and respect – this includes the right to marry whomever they choose and to have that union legally recognized," said Deborah P. Majoras, P&G's chief legal officer and executive sponsor to GABLE – the company's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-allied employee group.

One of the world's largest and most valuable companies, P&G's public stance won't go unnoticed in corporate America. Still, the company says it continues to focus on making consumer products from Pampers diapers, Tide detergent and Head & Shoulders shampoo. "At the heart of it all, P&G is a company heavily dependent on innovation – what's critical are new insights and new ideas," said William Gipson, P&G's chief global diversity officer. "For our company, it's not a political statement, but a statement of support for our employees."

That boycott list just got a few hundred brands longer.

Labels: business, marriage equality, Procter And Gamble

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 11/19/14

“If you are able to cultivate five minutes of silence in your day, you will have won a great victory over the material world. Matter, which includes your body and mind, has to be at service of the spirit. All of the misery that we see and experience in the world comes from spirit serving matter instead. The mind has become the ruler of the house, when really it's only a vehicle, a place of pilgrimage. The higher self can pass through the mind, but so can the lower self, which manifests through the form of destructive thoughts, causing you to believe that you are isolated and inferior or superior to others. These voices act through your mind creating dark clouds that prevent you from seeing the wind that dances in the leaves. They inhibit you from understanding that all is one. We are connected by an invisible thread that unites everything and everyone.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Dialy Dharma

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Foundation, Practice, Fulfillment | November 19, 2014

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Starting with this most simple of expressions—When this is, that is—[Thich Nhat Hanh] explicated dependent origination as a vision of radical interdependence, or what he called “interbeing,” in which all beings support and are in turn supported by all other beings. This elaboration . . . encompassed the foundation, the practice, and the fulfillment of spiritual life.

- Andrew Cooper, "The Debacle"

Flower of the Day: 11/18/14

“Cultivating silence for just five minutes a day is enough. Divide these five minutes into periods of one minute each to be practiced before your main activities of the day. When the mind is going in all directions, simply withdraw for one minute and make yourself completely present. Let go of all your worries, expectations, desires, and thoughts. Feel yourself occupying your body and focus on the emptiness between your thoughts. You can prepare the field for this minute of silence through soft, deep breaths through the nostrils. This is a magical one minute because your mind may be wherever it is, but in this moment it returns to presence.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Great Heart Way | November 18, 2014 If we learn to keep our mind quiet through meditation, to just stay present with our feelings, to connect with our heart, to let go of the story lines, and to directly feel all the unpleasant sensations associated with our emotional hurts, then the heart will open and we can approach each situation from a wider perspective. - Gerry Shishin Wick, Roshi, "The Great Heart Way"

All God's Children - Alyce

Via JMG: Michael Sam Is A GQ Man Of The Year

 

Via the Washington Post:

This fall, GQ magazine found room for an athlete on its annual list of celebrities who have left a mark on pop culture. This isn’t any athlete, though. It’s Michael Sam, the first openly gay player taken in the NFL draft last spring. Sam joins “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt, comedian Dave Chappelle, actors Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Foxcatcher” star Steve Carell. The magazine revealed all six covers Monday, with a story on each honoree being rolled out daily this week. Sam was drafted by St. Louis Rams and he quickly crossed from a sports story into a cultural one when he kissed his partner in celebration.

Sam was cut by the Dallas Cowboys last month and remains unsigned.

Labels: 2014 In Review, coming out, football, gay athletes, GQ, magazines, Michael Sam, NFL, sports

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via Nobel Women's Initiative / FB:

Via Walking the Red Road / FB:

Flower of the Day: 11/17/14

“We need to understand the designs of karma, ceasing to fight with the situations life brings us, which is karma itself. Since we haven’t yet taken in this point, we lose a lot of time fighting and wanting things to be different. It is merely a question of understanding why God has placed us in a particular place. Suffering occurs when we refuse to understand this and go on believing that God is our enemy. God is our best friend: the universe is conspiring in favor of the evolution of consciousness.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Apply Yourself | November 17, 2014

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If you separate from . . . everything you have done in the past, everything that disturbs you about the future . . . and apply yourself to living the life that you are living—that is to say, the present—you can live all the time that remains to you until your death in calm, benevolence, and serenity.

- Marcus Aurelius, "The Present Moment"

Via Budistas Gays / FB:

 

Translation: Lack of understanding, generates prejudice which generates violence"

Via Bernie Sanders / FB:

Flower of the Day: 11/16/14

“There comes a moment when we perceive the senselessness of insisting on a certain negative situation: we see the stupidity of jealousy or envy, of rejecting others or being rejected, of feeling powerless, and so forth. Still, we want to continue dreaming in this sweet sleep, identified as we are with negatively oriented pleasure. Life will continue to give us wake up calls until we decisively choose to get out of this state. By looking at this aspect consciously, it is possible to renounce this behavior, enabling us to exchange a negative habit for a positive one.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Dialy Dharma

Spiritual Friendship | November 16, 2014 It is important to have strong spiritual friendships—not spiritual in the rarefied sense, but in a really down-to-earth way, to have good friends in the dharma with whom you can talk things over, share experiences, share difficulties and whose spiritual support you're assured of. - Sangharakshita, "Going for Refuge"

Via JMG: Missouri Changes Its Stripes

Wikipedia's marriage map monitor, who decloaked this week as a JMG reader, has made a change to reflect the complicated situation in Missouri.

Labels: marriage equality, Missouri, Wikipedia

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 11/15/14

“The process of transformation includes going beyond the shame of admitting our imperfections and even our negatively oriented pleasure. In other words, it involves being able to see how much we are insisting on a negative repetition only to get some pleasure out of it. Once we see this, we begin a deep process of transforming the personality’s structure, which is not so easy. Some people may feel like they’re walking backwards, but really it's that they are now starting to become aware of the games of the lower self. Beforehand, they weren’t visible since we were numb. We begin to see that the other is not responsible for our suffering, because he or she cannot hurt us without our permission.”

Sri Prem Baba