Via JMG: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) To Introduce Sweeping Federal LGBT Rights Bill

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) today announced that in the next session he will introduce a sweeping federal LGBT rights bill that will cover employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations. Justin Snow reports at MetroWeekly:

Merkley said that while the Senate’s passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in November of last year by a 64-32 vote after the bill failed by one vote in 1996 was a “tremendous victory,” if discrimination is wrong in employment, it also must be wrong in areas such as housing, public accommodations and financial transactions. “Such an act would be a major advance for opportunity and equality for the LGBT community and would be a major stride toward a more just society,” said Merkley, who has been the lead sponsor of ENDA in the Senate since assuming that role from Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2009. Merkley made the announcement during the unveiling of a new report by the Center for American Progress addressing the need for comprehensive LGBT nondiscrimination protections.

Merkley spearheaded the passage of a similar bill while speaker of the Oregon House.

Labels: Congress, Democrats, employment, feds, housing, Jeff Merkley, LGBT rights, public accommodations, Senate

Reposted from Joe Jervis

JMG HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"Look at Marcus Bachmann, Michele Bachmann’s husband. Anybody who has gaydar—anybody who has eyes—looks at him and sees a tormented closet case who has externalized his internal conflict and is abusing other people, doing his reparative-therapy bullshit. It’s so sad and pathetic. A lot of the self-destructive behaviors gay people are prone to drifting into are directed inward, and then you have these shitbags like Marcus Bachmann for whom it’s all directed outward. Marcus Bachmann is the photo negative of the guy on the last bar stool in the gay bar, drinking and smoking himself to death, except instead of destroying himself, he’s destroying other vulnerable queer people in an effort to destroy the queer inside himself." - Dan Savage, speaking to Playboy. Hit the link and read the full piece - I could have pulled at least a dozen other quotes for this post.

Labels: brainwashing, Dan Savage, ex-gay, HomoQuotable, Ladybird, LGBT youth, Michele Bachmann, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via PnkNews: After half a century of waiting – this gay couple were finally allowed to tie the knot

Percy Steven and Roger Lockyer,

While many same-sex couples celebrated as they converted their civil partnerships to marriage starting yesterday, one couple had waited longer than most.

Percy Steven, 75, and Roger Lockyer, 87, became one of the first couples in the UK to convert their civil partnership to a marriage yesterday at Westminster Council.

But having been together for 49 years, it was long overdue.

When they first got together, gay sex was still illegal, and when civil partnerships were introduced in 2005, they were one of the first to enter one.

Lockyer told the Guardian that being able to refer to themselves as married, finally, was “really rather lovely”.

On signing the marriage certificate at Westminster Council, he said: “I feel different already.”

 http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/12/11/after-half-a-century-of-waiting-this-gay-couple-were-finally-allowed-to-tie-the-knot/

Sur Sudha - Dhyana / Lumbini / Bodhimarga - The Path Of Enlightenment (The Third Eye)

Nepali folk Dhuns (KUTUMBA instrumental) all in one

Via Fox News Latino: Brazil had 3,701 gay marriages in 2013, the 1st year such unions were legal

Brazil celebrated 3,701 gay weddings in 2013, the first year a judicial decision authorized same-sex marriage, officials announced Tuesday.

Of all gay marriages last year, 52 percent were between women and 48 percent between men, according to figures of the civil registry published by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, or IBGE.

Same-sex marriages were pronounced legal in Brazil in a May 2013 decision of the National Judiciary Council (CNJ), though gay activists demand that their rights be confirmed in a law.

Previously, a same-sex couple could only register as a "stable union," which in terms of its rights were judged equivalent to marriage in a May 2011 decision of the Supreme Court, which acted in lieu of any existing legislation on the matter.

In those two years, up to the granting of the right to gay marriage, 1,277 stable unions of same-sex couples were registered, according to official figures.

The IBGE also said that the total number of same-sex marriages increased by 1.1 percent in the country in 2013 over the previous year to number 1.1 million, while 324,921 divorces were granted, a drop of 4.9 percent.

Make the jump here to read the full / original article

Flower of the Day: 12/11/14

"The word religion comes from the Latin word religare (reuniting or union), which is synonymous with yoga: it is the union of the individual soul with the Absolute. This is what I call ‘vertical religion.’ Even though religions have lost their ‘vertical’ traits, they still contain some of their pearls, which are expressions of the eternal truth. One example is the prayer of St. Francis: ‘Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love… O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console… To be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive…’ This is one of the pearls of Christianity."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Liberation. Period. | December 11, 2014 Freedom from desires and passions is not the same as the attainment of 'liberation by mind' and 'liberation by insight' which alone can cut the root of dependent origination: ignorance. Buddhism was not conceived as a means to become liberated from desire, but as a means to become liberated. - Stuart Smithers, "Freedom's Just Another Word"

The Sati Center for Buddhist Studies

The Sati Center for Buddhist Studies supports the study of Buddhist teachings through these venues:
• Daylong Community Classes, Sutta Study, and Study Retreats
• Buddhist Chaplaincy Training
• Compassion Cultivation Training™

Make the jump here to vist the Sati Center website

Via Folha de S.Paulo / FB:

Via Join the Coffee Party Movement / FB:

Top 10 Christian Fails Of 2013 (Waitng for his 2014 list)

 

Flower of the Day: 12/10/14

"There are times when we make others feel guilty for what's really our own inability to love – that's truly malicious. We rob the other’s energy for us to feel more powerful; and this brings us a momentary satisfaction. But the load of taking someone away from their path by putting the blame on them is very heavy. We point the finger at them and say, ‘You are guilty for my misery.’ The person then has to go to hell and back to be accepted by you. The needier the person is, the greater their need will be to please you."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Waiting for American Buddhism | December 10, 2014 Americans tend to be impatient. We think if Buddhism has been here for a hundred and fifty years, of course it should be totally American. But that ignores the fact that in Asia it took centuries for Buddhism to become fully acculturated when it moved to a new cultural region. . . . It will take time. - Charles Prebish, "Pursuing an American Buddhism"

Via Gay Politics Report: Pope Francis calls for church support of LGBT families

Pope Francis calls for church support of LGBT families
Pope Francis on Sunday called on the Catholic Church to provide support for parents with LGBT children. "We come across this reality all the time in the confessional: a father and a mother whose son or daughter is in that situation. ... We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter," Francis said during a discussion of the church's Synod of Bishops in the fall. A day earlier, the pontiff urged his fellow officials to recognize the "signs of the times." 

International Business Times/Independent (London) (tiered subscription model), The (12/8), Advocate.com/LaNacion.com.ar (Argentina) (Spanish-language content) (12/8)

Flower of the Day: 12/09/14

"Competition is at the service of adding value to the idea of ‘me’: we want to be recognized since that makes us feel we have found our place in the world. When we feel isolated and separate, and start competing with others, it’s almost impossible for us to discover our place in the world. I invite you to give up the ‘doer,’ since compulsive doing serves this sense of competition. Each time we do something compulsively, we get further imprisoned in the webs of karma."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The World of Interaction | December 9, 2014 Awakening is not an individual achievement but arises because of and along with the awakening of others. - Rev. Patti Nakai, "The Tie That Need Not Bind"

Flower of the Day: 12/08/14

"Deconstructing the masks, our false identities, implies reliving certain wounds. It means getting in touch with the feelings of abandonment, humiliation, rejection and exclusion that were experienced in the past. This is not easy, but you can only move forward in your evolutionary journey if you can free yourself of denied feelings. Some people believe that it is enough to just focus their awareness on the present moment without paying attention to the past, but this approach can be dangerous precisely because it is suppressing the past. The past cannot be denied: it needs to be transcended. Transcendence is only possible when you understand the past and can be in harmony with it."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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The Care We Share | December 8, 2014

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Like an underground spring that nourishes living things but goes unseen, the care we share is the underpinning of our life, its hidden support.

- Andrew Cooper, "Life's Hidden Support"