Saturday, July 4, 2015
Via JMG: SCOTUS Fallout: Decade-Old Pride Image Spawns Death Threat For Photographer
More than a decade ago, photographer Ed Freeman set out to capture the gay rights struggle in a photograph for the cover of Frontiers, a gay magazine. To do so, he relied on an image — the flag-raising at Iwo Jima — that has been imitated and adapted countless times since it was captured in the midst of one of America’s bloodiest battles. [snip] More than a decade after his adaptation of the photograph was published, it circulated on social media following the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to allow same-sex marriage in all 50 states. That prompted a backlash against Freeman — including a death threat he says he reported to the FBI. “He said if he ever saw me, he’d kill me,” Freeman said in a phone interview. “I got swamped with vitriolic hate mail.” Freeman said there is “no way in hell” that he meant his adaptation of the Iwo Jima image to be provocative. “This picture was just a flashpoint for a lot people who are looking for a reason to lash out, so I guess I get to be the whipping boy,” he said. “I’m fine with that if that’s what it takes.Haters are going nuts on Twitter.
Via JMG: POLL: Majority Backs SCOTUS Rulings
The opposition to legal same-sex marriage is both partisan and generational. Two-thirds of Republicans oppose same-sex marriage, as does a majority of those 65 and older. Two in three Democrats and adults under 30 are in favor. Some of the opposition is clearly religious: 57% of those who say religion is very important to them oppose the ruling (a third approve). Among Catholics, there is a close division with nearly half approving. There is more support in the Northeast and West than there is in the Midwest and South.46% of all Americans say they'd attend a same-sex wedding.
But same-sex marriage has already become part of the American landscape. 44% say they know a gay or lesbian married couple. More than half of those with higher incomes and half of women do, but only 29% of African-Americans say they know a gay or lesbian couple that is married. Those who know a same-sex married couple approve of the Court’s ruling by two to one. While many people know a same-sex married couple, only 7% have attended a same-sex wedding. Three times as many Democrats (11%) as Republicans (3%) and eight times as many liberals (16%) as conservatives (2%) have done so.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Via Tricycle: May I Become an Island
To the Buddhas residing in all directions
With my palms pressed together I make this request
Please continue to shine the lamp of Dharma
For living beings lost and suffering in the darkness of ignorance.
May I become an island for those seeking dry land
A lamp for those needing light,
A place of rest for those who desire one,
And a servant for those needing service.
From Guide to the Bodhisattiva's Way of Life by Shantideva, © 2002 by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and New Kadampa Tradition. Reprinted with permission of Tharpa Publication, www.tharpa.com.With my palms pressed together I make this request
Please continue to shine the lamp of Dharma
For living beings lost and suffering in the darkness of ignorance.
May I become an island for those seeking dry land
A lamp for those needing light,
A place of rest for those who desire one,
And a servant for those needing service.
Image: Buddha statue in the town of Akurala, on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, after the tsunami. Photo by contributing editor Jeff Greenwald who is in Sri Lanka working with the Mercy Corps relief agency.
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 02/07/2015
“Nosso destino é construído através de cada pensamento, cada palavra e
cada atitude - tanto o destino pessoal quanto o destino coletivo. Nossas
ações determinam nosso futuro. A cada instante temos a chance de
escolher entre ações que nos afastam ou ações que nos aproximam da nossa
própria liberdade.”
“Nuestro destino se construye a través de cada pensamiento, cada palabra y cada actitud - tanto el destino personal como el destino colectivo. Nuestras acciones determinan nuestro futuro. A cada instante tenemos la oportunidad de elegir entre acciones que nos alejan o acciones que nos acercan a nuestra propia libertad.”
“Nuestro destino se construye a través de cada pensamiento, cada palabra y cada actitud - tanto el destino personal como el destino colectivo. Nuestras acciones determinan nuestro futuro. A cada instante tenemos la oportunidad de elegir entre acciones que nos alejan o acciones que nos acercan a nuestra propia libertad.”
“Our destiny is created through every thought, word and action. This
can be said for both our personal and collective destiny. Our actions
determine our future. Every moment, we have the opportunity to choose
between actions that will either take us further away from or bring us
closer towards our own freedom.”
Today's Daily Dharma: The Acknowledgment of Suffering Is a Gift
The Acknowledgment of Suffering Is a Gift
|
As the early Buddhist teachings freely admit, the predicament is that the cycle of birth, aging, and death is
meaningless. They don't try to deny this fact and so don't ask us to be
dishonest with ourselves or to close our eyes to reality. As one
teacher has put it, the Buddhist recognition of the reality of
suffering, so important that suffering is honored as the first noble
truth, is a gift, in that it confirms our most sensitive and direct
experience of things, an experience that many other traditions try to
deny.
|
|
|
Thursday, July 2, 2015
JMG Quote Of The Day - Evan Wolfson
"I always believed we would win, but what a joy and relief it was when
our victory came. As I read the Supreme Court opinion, as I followed the
stories across the country of couples getting married, and as so many
people wrote me with wonder, attaching pictures of their families, their
kids, their weddings ... well, I cried and cried again.
"We won. We did it. The freedom to marry is now the law of the land throughout our whole country. At long last, loving and committed same-sex couples are able to share in the joy, the protections, the vocabulary, and the institution of marriage.
"We've been fighting this campaign for decades, and not a single step has come easily. To overcome the obstacles and to seize the opportunities, with stumbles and then successes, we built a machine that could guide and leverage a movement, driving a strategy — and machines take fuel. Without your support, this transformation and triumph would not have happened.
"And our win is America's win. Love won. We all did.
"Now — as Freedom to Marry prepares to wind down — we must remember that there's still much work to do in our own LGBT movement and in the broader movements we are part of.
"I am grateful to my incomparable Freedom to Marry team, our close movement colleagues, the entire family of supporters and partners in the work, our allies, and our country. How lucky we are to see our work rewarded with the change and victory we sought and deserved.
"All that's left is to say, with all my heart, is congratulations — mazel tov! — and thank you." - Freedom To Marry founder Evan Wolfson, via email.
"We won. We did it. The freedom to marry is now the law of the land throughout our whole country. At long last, loving and committed same-sex couples are able to share in the joy, the protections, the vocabulary, and the institution of marriage.
"We've been fighting this campaign for decades, and not a single step has come easily. To overcome the obstacles and to seize the opportunities, with stumbles and then successes, we built a machine that could guide and leverage a movement, driving a strategy — and machines take fuel. Without your support, this transformation and triumph would not have happened.
"And our win is America's win. Love won. We all did.
"Now — as Freedom to Marry prepares to wind down — we must remember that there's still much work to do in our own LGBT movement and in the broader movements we are part of.
"I am grateful to my incomparable Freedom to Marry team, our close movement colleagues, the entire family of supporters and partners in the work, our allies, and our country. How lucky we are to see our work rewarded with the change and victory we sought and deserved.
"All that's left is to say, with all my heart, is congratulations — mazel tov! — and thank you." - Freedom To Marry founder Evan Wolfson, via email.
Labels: activism, American history, Evan Wolfson, Freedom To Marry, LGBT History, LGBT rights, marriage equality, SCOTUS
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 02/07/2015
“Nosso destino é construído através de cada pensamento, cada palavra e
cada atitude - tanto o destino pessoal quanto o destino coletivo. Nossas
ações determinam nosso futuro. A cada instante temos a chance de
escolher entre ações que nos afastam ou ações que nos aproximam da nossa
própria liberdade.”
“Nuestro destino se construye a través de cada pensamiento, cada palabra y cada actitud - tanto el destino personal como el destino colectivo. Nuestras acciones determinan nuestro futuro. A cada instante tenemos la oportunidad de elegir entre acciones que nos alejan o acciones que nos acercan a nuestra propia libertad.”
“Nuestro destino se construye a través de cada pensamiento, cada palabra y cada actitud - tanto el destino personal como el destino colectivo. Nuestras acciones determinan nuestro futuro. A cada instante tenemos la oportunidad de elegir entre acciones que nos alejan o acciones que nos acercan a nuestra propia libertad.”
“Our destiny is created through every thought, word and action. This
can be said for both our personal and collective destiny. Our actions
determine our future. Every moment, we have the opportunity to choose
between actions that will either take us further away from or bring us
closer towards our own freedom.”
No
Senado, projeto cria lei semelhante à determinação do CNJ garantindo a
conversão de união estável entre pessoas do mesmo sexo em casamento
civil. Opine sobre a proposta http://bit.ly/1HsEoD4
Veja um breve histórico sobre a regulamentação do casamento civil entre pessoas do mesmo sexo no Brasil http://bit.ly/1JoK3JK
Veja um breve histórico sobre a regulamentação do casamento civil entre pessoas do mesmo sexo no Brasil http://bit.ly/1JoK3JK
Today's Daily Dharma: Liberation Through Suffering
Liberation Through Suffering
|
It
is very hard to extract some sort of enduring positive gain from dharma
practice without taking a really thorough look at your own mind. The
first step is a very close look at the nature of suffering: seeing what
suffering is and getting to know our own suffering. It is through that
deep intimacy with our own suffering that there is liberation.
|
|
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)