Thursday, October 1, 2015
Via LGBTQ Nation: A gay dad’s note to the Pope: You snubbed us for Kim Davis? Really?
Pope Francis
Last week, I invited the pope to join my family for dinner. It was largely a symbolic gesture, although I had a housecleaning action plan and menu picked out in case he accepted.
It wasn’t that I wanted him to meet my family specifically. I wanted him to simply sit face to face with a family like mine. My two sons were adopted out of foster care and were both in situations that were life-threatening and dire. Our family in the world of LGBT parents is not unique. A great number have stories about kids who’ve gone from lives of potential abuse and neglect to homes where their parents love and honor them.
My point to the pope was simply: Before you judge us, you can at the very least sit with us and see what we are about.
The pope covered a lot of ground during his visit to America. But one thing he didn’t do is meet with any LGBT families. To his credit, while he was here, he didn’t overtly bash of us either.
At least, not until he was on his way out.
Like a kid who’s been an absolute angel all afternoon, only to totally prank out at the end, the Pope shot a spit-wad to the LGBT community as his parting gift:
He secretly met with Kim Davis and put his seal of approval on her behavior.
Dear Pope Francis,
We sat staring at the empty chair at our dinner table. We had hoped it would be filled by you. True, the chance that you’d accept our invitation was a long shot.
It turns out it was an even longer shot than we thought while in America, you gave plenty of moving speeches. You talked of family and how you wished young people would be inspired to start one. You talked of love and bonds and principles that I agree with.
As you were leaving, we could have walked away with the feeling that some common ground had been met. Instead, you disappointed and betrayed us.
The issue isn’t simply that you met with Kim Davis. It’s that you embraced her behavior and encouraged it. Following your “secret” meeting, you said, “Conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right.”
What you neglected to say is that you can’t expect to conscientiously object without consequences. As with the right to free speech, you have the right to speak freely without fear of imprisonment or jail, but it doesn’t preclude others from speaking back or reacting harshly to what you said.
Anyone who believes the Bible legitimizes racism and/or slavery can state their conscientious objections to anti-discrimination protections, but it doesn’t give them the right to discriminate. A firefighter who believes flames are “the will of God” doesn't have the right to let houses burn down. Your right to object doesn’t give you the right to demean others.
The most honorable objections are done with willing sacrifices.
Kim Davis reports that you thanked her for her “courage.” It makes me sad that your idea of “courageous” is someone who humiliates loving families.
If you want to understand conscientious objection and bravery, I ask you to look instead to LGBT activist Corporal Evelyn Thomas:
“I served in the Army National Guard and The U.S. Marine Corps prior to the enactment of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; during a time when “homosexuality was prohibited” under the Uniform Code of military Justice (UCMJ).
I survived my military career with damages. I survived a corrective rape. I was raped by four Marines; in which a pregnancy was the result. I carried the child of my rapists. I reported the crimes. Although it was traumatic and terrifying time, I survived the physical, mental, and emotional abuse… Too many innocent lives have been lost in this war against inequality and injustice…
Many people have viewed the iconic photo. It feels strange to think of that moment in the LGBT Movement. My comrades and I stood along the White House fence with our hands handcuffed to the metal bars, as a drastic and imperative plea for President Barrack Obama to end the oppressive, barbaric, and archaic practices of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. This is our Civil Rights Movement. Each time I look at that photo, I see 6 heroes — humans that risked their professional careers and some cases personal relationships to perform a brave act. We did not perform this act for fame or money. We did it so that the women and men serving in our military know and understand they are of value, and “their lives do matter.” We will not allow any man, woman, or government determine our worth.”
Evelyn Thomas and her comrades were brave. They made a statement for their beliefs and they understood the consequences. They didn’t want to be made comfortable. They wanted to be heard.
Kim Davis is not Evelyn Thomas. She’s asking for the world around her to conform to her narrow-minded point of view. The fact that you apparently share her worldview still doesn’t make it right for her to impose those beliefs on other people.
The afterglow of your trip is gone. Long gone. The tears Bernie Sander shed over your seemingly forward-thinking principles have dried. It wasn’t that you snubbed LGBT families and didn’t speak out for our rights. It’s who you decided to see and support instead of us. Salt, meet wound.
We look at your empty chair at our dinner table and realize it’s small compared to the emptiness you left in our hearts. When you were told that you had been a “star” on this trip, you replied, “How many stars have we seen go out and fall?”Point taken.
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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 01/10/2015
“As pessoas às vezes estão tão distraídas, entretidas e encantadas com o
próprio sofrimento, que nada além da oração pode ajudá-las. Por isso eu
lhe convido a orar pelo outro. Por onde quer que passe, afirme
internamente: ‘Acorde. Que o amor desperte em você. Que Deus desperte em
você. Que você seja feliz.’ Permita-se emanar essa onda de luz e
compaixão, esse querer bem sem saber a quem. O amor não tem endereço
para se corresponder - ele é para todos.”
“Las personas a veces están tan distraídas, entretenidas y encantadas
con el propio sufrimiento, que nada más allá de la oración puede
ayudarlas. Por eso te invito a orar por el otro. Por donde quiera que
pases, afirma internamente: ‘Despierta. Que el amor despierte en ti. Que
Dios despierte en ti. Que seas feliz.’ Permítete emanar esa ola de luz y
compasión, ese querer bien sin saber a quién. El amor no tiene
dirección para corresponderse – él es para todos.”
“Sometimes people are so distracted, entertained and enchanted with their own suffering that nothing but prayer can help them. For this reason, I have been inviting you to pray for the other. Wherever you go, affirm internally: ‘Awaken. May love awaken in you. May God awaken in you. May you be happy.’ Allow this wave of light and compassion to emanate around you without needing to know towards whom this goodwill is directed. Love doesn’t need a delivery address – it is for everyone.”
“Sometimes people are so distracted, entertained and enchanted with their own suffering that nothing but prayer can help them. For this reason, I have been inviting you to pray for the other. Wherever you go, affirm internally: ‘Awaken. May love awaken in you. May God awaken in you. May you be happy.’ Allow this wave of light and compassion to emanate around you without needing to know towards whom this goodwill is directed. Love doesn’t need a delivery address – it is for everyone.”
Today's Daily Dharma: Life's Sacredness
Life's Sacredness
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Today's Daily Dharma: Right Attitude
Right Attitude
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Via Sri Prem BabaFlor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 30/09/2015
“Tenho dito que o principal veneno do ser humano é a negação. Ela é um
mecanismo de defesa muito complexo que usa todo o repertório da mente
para encobrir partes da nossa personalidade que não aceitamos e queremos
esconder. Isso é o que nos mantém nos círculos da ignorância -
brigando, disputando, competindo, acusando e defendendo. É isso que nos
mantém na guerra.”
“Como he dicho otras veces, el principal veneno del ser humano es la negación. Ella es un mecanismo de defensa muy complejo que usa todo el repertorio de la mente para encubrir partes de nuestra personalidad que no aceptamos y queremos esconder. Esto es lo que nos mantiene en los círculos de la ignorancia – peleando, disputando, compitiendo, acusando y defendiendo. Es esto lo que nos mantiene en la guerra.”
“Como he dicho otras veces, el principal veneno del ser humano es la negación. Ella es un mecanismo de defensa muy complejo que usa todo el repertorio de la mente para encubrir partes de nuestra personalidad que no aceptamos y queremos esconder. Esto es lo que nos mantiene en los círculos de la ignorancia – peleando, disputando, compitiendo, acusando y defendiendo. Es esto lo que nos mantiene en la guerra.”
“The primary
poison human beings take is denial. It is a very complex self-defense
mechanism that uses the mind’s whole repertoire to cover up the parts of
our personality that we don’t accept and that we want to hide. This is
what imprisons us in circles of ignorance; fighting, disputing,
competing, accusing and defending. This keeps the war alive inside of
us.”
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Via Bilerico: How Homosexuality Stopped Being a 'Disease'
We had been jointly planning our
tactics over the past month. I and my compatriots of the Gay Liberation
Front and Gay May Day collective, friends from the Mattachine Society,
and members of the newly formed Gay Activists Alliance were to gather on
this bright morning during the first week of May in 1971, and carpool
up Connecticut Avenue in northwest Washington, DC to the Shoreham Hotel.
Also uniting with us were people from out-of-town who joined us as part
of "Gay May Day" as we attempted to shut down the federal government
for what we considered as an illegal and immoral invasion into Vietnam.
We parked about a block away since we didn't want hotel security and attendees at the annual American Psychiatric Association conference to notice a rather large group of activists sporting T-shirts and placards announcing "Gay Is Good," "Psychiatry Is the Enemy," and "Gay Revolution." Half the men decked themselves in stunning drag wearing elegant wigs and shimmering lamé dresses, glittering fairy dust wafting their painted faces.
A year before, activists demonstrated outside the APA conference held in San Francisco. As a result, conference organizers conceded to permit a panel to lead a discussion workshop at this year's annual conference in DC under the title "Lifestyles of Nonpatient Homosexuals." The panelists included Dr. Franklin Kameny, Director of Mattachine DC; Barbara Gittings, Director of the Philadelphia office of Daughters of Bilitis; and Jack Baker, first "out" U.S. student body president at the University of Minnesota.
In their capacity as official conference panelists, they were granted inside access to all proceedings, including admission to the annual Convocation of Fellows, in which all attendees were to hear U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark deliver the keynote address in the hotel's over-the-top Regency Ballroom. Earlier in the week, some of us checked out the hotel's layout. The day before, a comrade placed a wedge in a doorway coming from the Rock Creek Park woods into the hotel, where we gained access.
All along, the panelists were to serve as our Trojan Horses. After the Convocation was called to order, and half-way through Clark's address, our insiders opened the doors and in we poured, chanting, waving, shouting. On stage, we witnessed a stunned Attorney General surrounded by similarly stunned and also upset APA officials, and seated in the front rows we noticed elderly men who wore gold medals around their necks. When they saw us, they stood and began beating us with their medals while shouting "Get out of here. We don't want any more people like you here!" Others yelled: "You're sick, you're sick you faggots, you drag queens!" Other psychiatrists stood up from their seats and attempted to push us physically from the hall. I was able to escape their grasp, and I sat locking arms with a contingent on the floor just beneath the stage.
Then Frank Kameny rushed the stage and grabbed the microphone, his booming voice cracking through the pandemonium even after the technician cut the power. "Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate," he yelled, the anger seemingly oozing from his pores. "You may take this as a declaration of war against you!"
And this was, indeed, our intent: to declare war on the psychiatric profession for the atrocities, the colonization, the "professional" malpractice it had perpetrated over the preceding century in the name of "science," the biological and psychological pathologizing of sexual and gender transgressive people. From the so-called "Eugenics Movement" of the mid-nineteenth century though the twentieth century and beyond, medical and psychological professions have often proposed and addressed, in starkly medical terms, the alleged "deficiencies" and "mental diseases" of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2015/06/how_homosexuality_stopped_being_a_disease.php#OdSvVVyPJOZj9vLh.99
We parked about a block away since we didn't want hotel security and attendees at the annual American Psychiatric Association conference to notice a rather large group of activists sporting T-shirts and placards announcing "Gay Is Good," "Psychiatry Is the Enemy," and "Gay Revolution." Half the men decked themselves in stunning drag wearing elegant wigs and shimmering lamé dresses, glittering fairy dust wafting their painted faces.
A year before, activists demonstrated outside the APA conference held in San Francisco. As a result, conference organizers conceded to permit a panel to lead a discussion workshop at this year's annual conference in DC under the title "Lifestyles of Nonpatient Homosexuals." The panelists included Dr. Franklin Kameny, Director of Mattachine DC; Barbara Gittings, Director of the Philadelphia office of Daughters of Bilitis; and Jack Baker, first "out" U.S. student body president at the University of Minnesota.
In their capacity as official conference panelists, they were granted inside access to all proceedings, including admission to the annual Convocation of Fellows, in which all attendees were to hear U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark deliver the keynote address in the hotel's over-the-top Regency Ballroom. Earlier in the week, some of us checked out the hotel's layout. The day before, a comrade placed a wedge in a doorway coming from the Rock Creek Park woods into the hotel, where we gained access.
All along, the panelists were to serve as our Trojan Horses. After the Convocation was called to order, and half-way through Clark's address, our insiders opened the doors and in we poured, chanting, waving, shouting. On stage, we witnessed a stunned Attorney General surrounded by similarly stunned and also upset APA officials, and seated in the front rows we noticed elderly men who wore gold medals around their necks. When they saw us, they stood and began beating us with their medals while shouting "Get out of here. We don't want any more people like you here!" Others yelled: "You're sick, you're sick you faggots, you drag queens!" Other psychiatrists stood up from their seats and attempted to push us physically from the hall. I was able to escape their grasp, and I sat locking arms with a contingent on the floor just beneath the stage.
Then Frank Kameny rushed the stage and grabbed the microphone, his booming voice cracking through the pandemonium even after the technician cut the power. "Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate," he yelled, the anger seemingly oozing from his pores. "You may take this as a declaration of war against you!"
And this was, indeed, our intent: to declare war on the psychiatric profession for the atrocities, the colonization, the "professional" malpractice it had perpetrated over the preceding century in the name of "science," the biological and psychological pathologizing of sexual and gender transgressive people. From the so-called "Eugenics Movement" of the mid-nineteenth century though the twentieth century and beyond, medical and psychological professions have often proposed and addressed, in starkly medical terms, the alleged "deficiencies" and "mental diseases" of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2015/06/how_homosexuality_stopped_being_a_disease.php#OdSvVVyPJOZj9vLh.99
Via Subhi Nahas: Help Save LGBTI Refugee Lives
Neil Grungras
campaign leader
'I was sure I’d be raped or killed. I was terrified': My life as a gay Syrian refugee who had to flee Isis
I first escaped to Turkey, but I wasn't even safe there – a childhood friend who had joined Isis threatened to kill me through a mutual friend
By Subhi Nahas
Originally published by the Independent.
Growing up in my small city Idlib, Syria, I always knew I was different. I didn’t know what the difference was or what it was called, but I knew I had a secret to guard. That was a decade ago. Even in my worst nightmare, I didn’t dream that one day my beautiful country would implode. And I couldn’t possibly imagine that one day I would address the UN Security Council on behalf of all refugees including LGBT people like me.
Once my family and community in Idlib found out that I was gay, they confirmed my worst fears. I was “abnormal” and “sick.” Most of them believed – and probably still do – that gay people like me should be hospitalized, imprisoned and even killed. I felt desperately alone.
The internet saved me. I was hungry for information about who I was, and I learned there were others like me who were able to live happily – with careers, travel, and even love. Many were free to tell the truth about who they are.
When I was 15, before I came to terms with my identity, my parents suspected something was “wrong” with me and sent me to a therapist. Breaching rules of confidentiality, he told them I was gay.
From that time, I became a prisoner in my home and my town. My father watched my every move. Authorities of the Syrian government and Jabhat al Nusra, a branch of al-Qaeda, raided cafes and parks where LGBT people secretly gathered. Militants promised the townspeople to cleanse our town of gender nonconforming people. Many people were arrested and tortured. Some were never seen again.
Then I became a target of the militants. In 2012, I was on a bus heading to university. We were stopped. The young people, including me, were taken to a remote house where we were all physically assaulted and harassed. The militants took special notice of me. They called me “sissy,” “faggot,” and other insulting Arabic epithets. I was sure I’d be raped or killed. I was terrified. In the Idlib of 2012, there was no law — only people with guns. Miraculously, they let me go.
The terror followed me home, where my father and I had our last fight. The scar on my chin is a constant reminder of his violent reaction to my being different.
My only hope was to flee. I escaped first to Lebanon and then to Turkey, where I lived for three years and began to advocate for other LGBT people and refugees like myself. I co-founded a group, LGBT Arabi, to bring LGBT refugees and non-refugees together. I wrote a blog about LGBT rights.
Read More>>> www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-was-sure-id-be-raped-or-killed-i-was-terrified-my-life-as-a-gay-syrian-refugee-who-had-to-flee-isis-10484304.html
I first escaped to Turkey, but I wasn't even safe there – a childhood friend who had joined Isis threatened to kill me through a mutual friend
By Subhi Nahas
Originally published by the Independent.
Growing up in my small city Idlib, Syria, I always knew I was different. I didn’t know what the difference was or what it was called, but I knew I had a secret to guard. That was a decade ago. Even in my worst nightmare, I didn’t dream that one day my beautiful country would implode. And I couldn’t possibly imagine that one day I would address the UN Security Council on behalf of all refugees including LGBT people like me.
Once my family and community in Idlib found out that I was gay, they confirmed my worst fears. I was “abnormal” and “sick.” Most of them believed – and probably still do – that gay people like me should be hospitalized, imprisoned and even killed. I felt desperately alone.
The internet saved me. I was hungry for information about who I was, and I learned there were others like me who were able to live happily – with careers, travel, and even love. Many were free to tell the truth about who they are.
When I was 15, before I came to terms with my identity, my parents suspected something was “wrong” with me and sent me to a therapist. Breaching rules of confidentiality, he told them I was gay.
From that time, I became a prisoner in my home and my town. My father watched my every move. Authorities of the Syrian government and Jabhat al Nusra, a branch of al-Qaeda, raided cafes and parks where LGBT people secretly gathered. Militants promised the townspeople to cleanse our town of gender nonconforming people. Many people were arrested and tortured. Some were never seen again.
Then I became a target of the militants. In 2012, I was on a bus heading to university. We were stopped. The young people, including me, were taken to a remote house where we were all physically assaulted and harassed. The militants took special notice of me. They called me “sissy,” “faggot,” and other insulting Arabic epithets. I was sure I’d be raped or killed. I was terrified. In the Idlib of 2012, there was no law — only people with guns. Miraculously, they let me go.
The terror followed me home, where my father and I had our last fight. The scar on my chin is a constant reminder of his violent reaction to my being different.
My only hope was to flee. I escaped first to Lebanon and then to Turkey, where I lived for three years and began to advocate for other LGBT people and refugees like myself. I co-founded a group, LGBT Arabi, to bring LGBT refugees and non-refugees together. I wrote a blog about LGBT rights.
Read More>>> www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-was-sure-id-be-raped-or-killed-i-was-terrified-my-life-as-a-gay-syrian-refugee-who-had-to-flee-isis-10484304.html
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 29/09/2015
“Todas as separações que existem em relação ao mundo exterior são por
conta das separações que existem dentro de nós mesmos. Tem sido muito
difícil criar união fora simplesmente porque tem sido difícil criar
união dentro.”
“Todas las separaciones que existen en relación al mundo exterior son por culpa de las separaciones que existen dentro de nosotros mismos. Ha sido muy difícil crear unión afuera, simplemente porque ha sido difícil crear unión dentro.”
“Todas las separaciones que existen en relación al mundo exterior son por culpa de las separaciones que existen dentro de nosotros mismos. Ha sido muy difícil crear unión afuera, simplemente porque ha sido difícil crear unión dentro.”
“All the separateness we see in the outside world comes from the
separateness that exists inside of us. Creating union externally has
been so incredibly difficult simply because we have not yet been able to
create union within ourselves.”
Today's Daily Dharma: The Path, Simply Put
The Path, Simply Put
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Monday, September 28, 2015
Via WGB: Obama: Religious Freedom No Excuse to Deny Rights to Others
Freedom of religion isn't reason enough to deny any American their
constitutional rights, President Barack Obama said Sunday as he
addressed members of the LGBT community, one of his major sources of
political and financial support.Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser, Obama said it's important to recognize that some parts of the country remain uncomfortable with same-sex marriage and that it will take time for them to catch up to the majority of Americans who support such unions.
But while Americans hold dear the constitutional right to practice their religion free from government interference, he said that right can't be used to deny constitutional rights to others. Full story here!
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 28/09/20
“A grande maioria das pessoas escolhe sofrer através do isolamento. Por
isso esse mecanismo de defesa precisa ser melhor compreendido. Você
pode ser uma pessoa absolutamente silenciosa e não estar isolada. O
isolamento é um estado de fechamento interno. São muros que você
constrói a partir de crenças. Sair por ai tentando conversar e agradar o
outro não significa que você está aberto. Enquanto não entra em contato
com aquilo que sustenta esses muros, você segue culpando o outro pelo seu sofrimento e se isolando cada vez mais.”
“La gran mayoría de las personas elige sufrir a través del
aislamiento. Por eso este mecanismo de defensa necesita ser comprendido
mejor. Puedes ser una persona absolutamente silenciosa y no estar
aislada. El aislamiento es un estado de cierre interno. Son muros que
construyes a partir de creencias. Salir por ahí, intentando conversar y
agradar al otro no significa que estás abierto. Mientras no entras en
contacto con aquello que sustenta esos muros, sigues culpando al otro
por tu sufrimiento y aislándote cada vez más.”
“Most people choose isolation as their preferred form of suffering, so this self-defense mechanism really deserves to be better understood. We could be completely silent and yet not be isolated. Isolation happens when we shut down, building walls around us due to our beliefs. Attempting to converse with and please the other doesn’t mean that we are open. Until we are able to get in touch with the beliefs that sustain these walls, we will continue blaming the other for our suffering and isolate ourselves more and more.”
“Most people choose isolation as their preferred form of suffering, so this self-defense mechanism really deserves to be better understood. We could be completely silent and yet not be isolated. Isolation happens when we shut down, building walls around us due to our beliefs. Attempting to converse with and please the other doesn’t mean that we are open. Until we are able to get in touch with the beliefs that sustain these walls, we will continue blaming the other for our suffering and isolate ourselves more and more.”
Today's Daily Dharma: Shining the Light
Shining the Light
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Sunday, September 27, 2015
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