Refuge in the Night
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Sunday, October 4, 2015
Today's Daily Dharma: Refuge in the Night
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 04/10/2015
“Movidas pelo medo e pelo ódio inconscientes, as pessoas se encontram,
mas não sabem o que de fato querem umas das outras. Elas estão buscando
algo, mas não sabem o que é. Elas ignoram que estão procurando uma parte
de si mesmas no outro, e se iludem com a ideia de que o outro é a fonte
da felicidade. Mas essa ideia é a fonte do sofrimento nas relações.”
“AMAR E SER LIVRE - As bases para uma nova Sociedade.”
“AMAR E SER LIVRE - As bases para uma nova Sociedade.”
“Movidas por el miedo y por el odio inconsciente, las personas se
encuentran, pero no saben lo que realmente quieren unas de otras. Ellas
están buscando algo, pero no saben qué es. Ignoran que están buscando
una parte de sí mismas en el otro, y se ilusionan con la idea de que el
otro es la fuente de la felicidad. Pero esta idea es la fuente del
sufrimiento en las relaciones.”
“AMAR Y SER LIBRE - Las bases para una nueva Sociedad.”
“Motivated by fear and unconscious hatred, we interact with one another without even knowing what we truly want from each other. We are all searching for something, but we don’t know what it really is. We forget that we are actually looking for a part of ourselves in the other, and we delude ourselves into thinking that the other is our source of happiness. This very idea is the source of suffering in our relationships.”
LOVE AND BE FREE: The Foundations for a New Society
“AMAR Y SER LIBRE - Las bases para una nueva Sociedad.”
“Motivated by fear and unconscious hatred, we interact with one another without even knowing what we truly want from each other. We are all searching for something, but we don’t know what it really is. We forget that we are actually looking for a part of ourselves in the other, and we delude ourselves into thinking that the other is our source of happiness. This very idea is the source of suffering in our relationships.”
LOVE AND BE FREE: The Foundations for a New Society
Today's Daily Dharma: Embrace Imperfection
Embrace Imperfection
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Saturday, October 3, 2015
Via Salon: Pope Francis met with openly gay couple — and unlike Kim Davis, who ambushed him, he did so intentionally
(Credit: Reuters/Aristide Economopoulos)
Pope Francis met with a gay couple the day before he met with same-sex marriage opponent Kim Davis, CNN’s Daniel Burke reports.
Yayo Grassi and his partner, Iwan — old friends of the pope from Argentina — visited the pontiff and were greeted with warm hugs. In an interview with CNN, Grassi said that “three weeks before the trip, he called me on the phone and said he would love to give me a hug.”
Unlike the publicity stunt manufactured by Kim Davis, her lawyers, and elements within the church hostile to Francis’ agenda, this meeting was both deliberate and purposive.
Referring to the Vatican’s statement about Davis, in which Reverend Federico Lombardi said that “the only real audience granted by the Pope at the nunciature was with one of his former students and his family,” Grassi said “that was me.” Pope Francis taught him at Inmaculada Concepcion high school in Flores, Argentina, from 1964-1965.
Make the jump here to read the original article
Yayo Grassi and his partner, Iwan — old friends of the pope from Argentina — visited the pontiff and were greeted with warm hugs. In an interview with CNN, Grassi said that “three weeks before the trip, he called me on the phone and said he would love to give me a hug.”
Unlike the publicity stunt manufactured by Kim Davis, her lawyers, and elements within the church hostile to Francis’ agenda, this meeting was both deliberate and purposive.
Referring to the Vatican’s statement about Davis, in which Reverend Federico Lombardi said that “the only real audience granted by the Pope at the nunciature was with one of his former students and his family,” Grassi said “that was me.” Pope Francis taught him at Inmaculada Concepcion high school in Flores, Argentina, from 1964-1965.
Make the jump here to read the original article
Friday, October 2, 2015
Via JMG: BREAKING: Vatican Distances Pope Francis From Kim Davis, “Meeting Should Not Be Seen As Support”
This morning the Vatican formally
distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis in a statement which declares
that his meeting with her “should not be considered a form of support.”
The Associated Press reports:
NOTE: Also complicit here, in my mind, is ABC News. It was their reporter who lobbed that “conscientious objector” question on the papal plane as the Pope departed Philadelphia. And then the next day it was ABC News who somehow had the exclusive interview with Kim Davis. This was probably not a coincidence.
UPDATE: Here is Reuters’ take on today’s bombshell.
After days of confusion, the Vatican issued a statement Friday clarifying Francis’ Sept. 24 encounter with Davis, an Apostolic Christian who has become a focal point in the gay marriage debate in the U.S. In a statement, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Francis met with “several dozen” people at the Vatican’s embassy in Washington just before leaving for New York. Lombardi said such meetings are par for the course of any Vatican trip and are due to the pope’s “kindness and availability.” He said the pope only really had one “audience” in Washington: with former students and his family members. “The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” Lombardi said.
Davis said earlier this week that she and her husband met briefly with the pope at the Vatican’s nunciature in Washington and that he encouraged her to “stay strong.” She later told ABC: “Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we’re doing and agreeing, you know, it kind of validates everything.” The Vatican statement made clear the pope intended no such validation. News of the audience sent shockwaves through the U.S. church, with Davis’ supporters saying it showed the pope backed her cause and opponents questioning whether the pope had been duped into meeting with her and truly knew the details of her case. Initially the Vatican only reluctantly confirmed the meeting but offered no comment. On Friday, Lombardi issued a fuller statement to “contribute to an objective understanding of what transpired.Last night CBS News reported that a Vatican insider says the Pope was “blindsided” by the meeting.
A highly placed source inside the Vatican claims the Pope was blindsided. It is a meeting some charge was orchestrated by the man who lived there, the Pope’s representative here, Carlo Maria Vigano. Not even the Papal Spokesman Federico Lombardi knew about it ahead of time. Nor did the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which would have opposed it. Others claim the Pope knew about the meeting and had ordered Vatican diplomats, perhaps even Vigano, to set it up. CBS 2’s Vatican source doesn’t think so. A close advisor to Pope Francis tweeted that the Pope was, in his words, “exploited” by those who set up what the CBS 2 source says was a “meeting that never should have taken place.” Some call it an attempt by highly placed church leaders in the U.S. to diminish the impact of the Pope’s visit.Also yesterday Esquire Magazine speculated that Pope Francis was “swindled” into the meeting by his own enemies within the Vatican. That story also blames Vigano and notes that he participated in NOM’s hate march earlier this year.
The man is a real player within the institutional church. He first came to prominence as a whistleblower during one of the several investigations of the Vatican Bank, which may be what got him exiled to this godless Republic in the first place. Despite that fact, Vigano is well-known to be a Ratzinger loyalist and he always has been a cultural conservative, particularly on the issue of marriage equality. In April, in a move that was unprecedented, Vigano got involved with an anti-marriage equality march in Washington sponsored by the National Association For Marriage. (And, mirabile dictu, as we say around Castel Gandolfo at happy hour, one of the speakers at this rally was Mat Staver, who happens now to be Kim Davis’s lawyer.) In short, Vigano, a Ratzinger loyalist, who has been conspicuous and publicly involved in the same cause as Kim Davis and her legal team, arranges a meeting with Davis that the legal team uses to its great public advantage.It will be VERY enjoyable to watch the Liberty Counsel attempt to spin today’s bombshell from the Vatican, which will surely set off a firestorm of inquires about who actually set up the meeting.
NOTE: Also complicit here, in my mind, is ABC News. It was their reporter who lobbed that “conscientious objector” question on the papal plane as the Pope departed Philadelphia. And then the next day it was ABC News who somehow had the exclusive interview with Kim Davis. This was probably not a coincidence.
UPDATE: Here is Reuters’ take on today’s bombshell.
Pope Francis did not ask to meet a Kentucky county clerk who had been jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and did not offer her unconditional support, the Vatican said on Friday. Looking to limit controversy after last week’s meeting in Washington between the pope and Kim Davis, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said she was one of “several dozen” people who had been invited by the Vatican ambassador to see Francis. A senior Vatican official, who declined to be named, said there was a “sense of regret” within the Holy See over the encounter, which sparked widespread debate in the United States, overshadowing almost all other aspects of the pope’s visit. He added that Davis had been in a line of people the pope had met at the Vatican embassy in Washington before he left for New York. “The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature (Vatican embassy) was with one of his former students and his family,” the statement said.
Today's Daily Dharma: Rest in Lovingkindness
Rest in Lovingkindness
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Via Towleroad: Dan Savage on Kim Davis and the Pope: Homophobia ‘Unites People Across Different Christian Faiths’
On All In with Chris Hayes last night, Dan Savage spoke about why Kim Davis’ secret meeting with Pope Francis is troubling and how it contradicts his message that the Catholic Church should focus less on social issues.
Said Savage of the meeting,
“I think it’s very revealing. You know,
the Pope has said the church needs to de-emphasize social issues, needs
to not just talk about gay marriage and abortion, but this secret
meeting where he encouraged this woman to continue to discriminate
against LGBT couples and then framed her as a conscientious objector….I
think it really reveals what goes on with the Catholic church under the
Pope, which is that this de-emphasizing of these social issues is – I
don’t want to call it a racket or a scam, but it’s kind of a smoke
screen that the Pope still believes these things, the church – the
church said it is not going to change its position on same sex marriage,
but then for the Pope to turn around and meet with someone like Kim
Davis, and tell her – and encourage her to keep it up, keep
discriminating against LGBT couples, it just shows that the church
wishes it could engage in this activity.”
Make the jump here to read the full article and see the video
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 02/10/2015
“O homem é uma semente, um potencial que pode ser manifestado ou pode
ser desperdiçado. A colheita espiritual é sempre um mistério: plantamos
pensamentos, palavras e ações, mas não sabemos quando vamos colher os
grãos. Nosso trabalho é plantar pensamentos, palavras e ações que
estejam alinhados com a Verdade maior. Em outras palavras, é plantar o
bem para colher o bem. Mas, muitas vezes estamos colhendo coisas que não
lembramos quando plantamos.”
“El hombre es una semilla, un potencial que puede ser manifestado o
puede ser desperdiciado. La cosecha espiritual es siempre un misterio:
plantamos pensamientos, palabras y acciones, pero no sabemos cuándo
vamos a cosechar esos granos. Nuestro trabajo es plantar pensamientos,
palabras y acciones que estén alineados con la Verdad mayor. En otras
palabras, es plantar el bien para cosechar el bien. Pero muchas veces
estamos cosechando cosas que no recordamos cuándo las plantamos.”
“A human is a seed, a potential that can be manifested or wasted. The spiritual harvest is always a mystery: we plant thoughts, words and actions, but we don’t know when we are going to harvest the grain. Our work is to plant thoughts, words and actions that are aligned with a higher truth. We strive to plant the good in order to harvest the good. But oftentimes we end up harvesting things that we don’t even remember having planted.”
“A human is a seed, a potential that can be manifested or wasted. The spiritual harvest is always a mystery: we plant thoughts, words and actions, but we don’t know when we are going to harvest the grain. Our work is to plant thoughts, words and actions that are aligned with a higher truth. We strive to plant the good in order to harvest the good. But oftentimes we end up harvesting things that we don’t even remember having planted.”
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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Make the jump here to read the original posting
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.”
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