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Creating Compassion | December 4, 2014
The idea of creating compassion for our environment, for something
that we take for granted daily—something that, as a human race, we are
just absolutely destroying, for the most part without a care—I think
that connecting compassion to that is really, really powerful.
- Emily Burke, "Meditating in Public"  |
A new rule prohibiting discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal contracting workforce is being announced today by the U.S. Department of Labor. The rule implements Executive Order 13672, which was signed by President Obama on July 21.The press release notes that today's action becomes effective 120 days after being formally entered into the Federal Register and will apply to all "new and modified" civilian contracts with the federal government from that date forward.
"Americans believe in fairness and opportunity. No one should live in fear of being fired or passed over or discriminated against at work simply because of who they are or who they love," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "Laws prohibiting workplace discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity are long overdue, and we're taking a big step forward today to fix that."
EO 13672 tasked the department with updating the rules implementing EO 11246 to add gender identity and sexual orientation to the classes it protects. While 18 states, the District of Columbia and many businesses, large and small, already offer workplace protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, July's executive order was the first federal action to ensure LGBT workplace equality in the private sector.
Today, the District of Columbia Council unanimously approved a bill that will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy. When signed into law, Washington, D.C. will become the third jurisdiction—behind California and New Jersey—to pass legislation protecting LGBT youth from practices that are known to cause severe depression and even suicide. “Today, the DC Council sent a powerful message to LGBT youth and their families that they are accepted, supported, and loved,” said Samantha Ames, NCLR staff attorney and coordinator of the #BornPerfect campaign at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). “The Council has used its authority to protect our most vulnerable youth from dangerous and discredited pseudoscience that tells them who they are is wrong, and reaffirmed the consensus of every major medical and mental health organization that all children are born perfect, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”The Liberty Counsel fought those bills in both states, taking their fight against California's bill all the way to the Supreme Court, who smacked them down for the final time in June.
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Dharma and the Law | December 3, 2014
In the simplest—and probably the most common—terms, the present
state of the American judicial process runs counter to the tenets of
Buddhism. It is predicated on an adversarial system that places people
in mutually exclusive positions: victim and perpetrator, prosecution and
defense, forces of good and forces of evil.
- Mary Talbot, "No Justice, No Peace" |
