Via JMG: State Department Announces LGBT Rights Program For Western Hemisphere

Yesterday the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs announced a new program:

Secretary of State John Kerry has committed to advancing the human rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals as a central part of our human rights engagement. Taking into account the Secretary’s commitment as well as the Presidential Memorandum issued December 6, 2011, that directs all federal agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs has developed a regional strategy that strives to eliminate violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Respect for the human rights of LGBT persons in the Western Hemisphere varies dramatically by country. Some countries offer legal protections for LGBT persons, whereas others have laws that criminalize same-sex sexual conduct between consenting adults. Recognizing that violence and discrimination based on a person’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity hinder the prosperity of countries.

The four-part strategy of the new program: 1) Expand public outreach and awareness of LGBT issues; 2) Create and leverage existing partnerships and programs; 3) Collaborate with multilateral partners; and 4) Engage directly with host country governments.

Labels: LGBT rights, Obama administration, State Department

Reposted from Joe

JMG HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"My father was a Catholic deacon, my mother was a lay minister and I thought about becoming a priest. I was in church every Sunday for the first 15 years of my life. Now I spend my Sundays on my bike, on my snowboard or on my husband. I haven’t spent my post-Catholic decades in a sulk, wishing the church would come around on the issue of homosexuality so that I could start attending Mass again. I didn’t abandon my faith. I saw through it. The conflict between my faith and my sexuality set that process in motion, but the conclusions I reached at the end of that process — there are no gods, religion is man-made, faith can be a force for good or evil — improved my life. I’m grateful that my sexuality prompted me to think critically about faith. Pushed out? No. I walked out." - Dan Savage, from his New York Times book review of Jeff Chu's Does Jesus Really Love Me?

Labels: books, Dan Savage, HomoQuotable, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 14, 2013

The Light of Reality 

The sense of self creates a feeling of solidity, like the apparent solidity of the clouds veiling the face of the sun, but at certain moments a gap is opened up, through which we may receive a glimpse of the light of reality.

- Francesca Freemantle, “The Luminous Gap in Bardo”

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 13, 2013

Great Enlightenment

Great enlightenment is the tea and rice of daily activity.

- Dogen, “Tea and Rice”

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 12, 2013

Simple Practice

It’s definitely the case that we can practice at any given moment. We can always try a little more to be kind, to be compassionate and be careful about what we do and say.

- Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Keeping a Good Heart"

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Via JMG: Marriage Equality Nations

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Subhuti asked: "What does buddha mean?" The Buddha answered: "Buddha is reality. One who thoroughly comprehends all the factors of existence is a buddha." - Prajnaparamita More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: Missouri Man Arrested For Refusing To Leave Partner's Hospital Bedside

A gay man in Missouri has been arrested after refusing to leave his partner's hospital beside when the ill man's family demanded that he be ejected from the premises. Via Raw Story:

Roger Gorley [on the right in this photo] told WDAF that even though he has power of attorney to handle his partner’s affairs, a family member asked him to leave when he visited Research Medical Center in Kansas City on Tuesday. Gorley said he refused to leave his partner Allen’s bedside, and that’s when security put him in handcuffs and escorted him from the building. “I was not recognized as being the husband, I wasn’t recognized as being the partner,” Gorley explained. He said the nurse refused to confirm that the couple shared power of attorney and made medical decision for each other. “She didn’t even bother to look it up, to check in to it,” the Lee’s Summit resident recalled.

The arrested man in now under a restraining order and may not enter the hospital grounds at all. A hospital spokesman has issued a statement.

"We believe involving the family is an important part of the patient care process. And, the patient`s needs are always our first priority. When anyone becomes disruptive to providing the necessary patient care, we involve our security team to help calm the situation and to protect our patients and staff. If the situation continues to escalate, we have no choice but to request police assistance."

The arrested man says he and his partner were joined in a civil union five years ago. Civil unions, of course, are not legally recognized by the state of Missouri. (Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)
RELATED: In 2010 President Obama mandated that any hospital that receives federal funding such as Medicare or Medicaid must allow visitation privileges for same-sex partners.

Labels: disgusting, hospital rights, LGBT rights, Missouri

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 11, 2013

See the World in a Moment

It is very important to see your life not only from the narrow view of your egoistic telescope but also from the broad view of the universal telescope called egolessness. This is why we have to practice. Right in the middle of the stream of time, we have to open our eyes there and see the total picture of time. Through spiritual practice we can go beyond our egoistic point of view. We can touch the core of time, see the whole world in a moment, and understand time in deep relationship with all beings.

- Dainin Katagiri, “Time Revisited”

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Via Marriage Equality USA / FB:

Marriage Equality USA

 

 

 

The legislature has until 6/20/13 to approve a bill, or the courts have threatened to instate marriage equality on their own.

Colombia: Senate Marriage Equality Debate to Begin Next Wednesday

purpleunions.com

 

After a bumpy start, the Colombia Senate will open its debate on a proposed gay marriage bill on Wednesday, April 17. Colombia Senate President Roy Barreras said in an announcement that LGBT community leaders may choose a spokesman to participate in the debate, the Spanish news agency AFP reported..

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 10, 2013

Beyond the Reach of Stress

We should be intent on cleansing and polishing our hearts so that they can gain release from their worries and preoccupations, the source of pain and discontent. Peace, coolness, and a bright happiness will arise within us, in the same way as when we unshackle ourselves from our encumbering burdens and debts. We'll be free—beyond the reach of all suffering and stress.

- Ajaan Lee, “Sowing the Seeds of Freedom”

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	A monk asked, All of the buddhas and all of the buddadharmas come forth from this sutra. What is this sutra? Qinshan said, Forever turning. - Zens Chinese Heritage More Buddhism Quotes >>

LEVANTA-TE! - Não Aceites o Bullying Homofóbico

Via JMG: CNN Poll: Obama's Approval Ratings Are Highest Regarding LGBT Rights

 

The president's overall approval rating is 51%.  That's up four points since last month but is four points below his all-time high.  When those polled were asked about specific issues, only his "policies towards gays and lesbians" scored over 50%.

Labels: Barack Obama, CNN, LGBT rights, polls

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: We Need An Executive Order On LGBT Employees And Federal Contractors

In 2008 then-Sen. Obama promised to deliver an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  Since then the White House has repeatedly said that a legislative solution that would affect all employers is the goal. But that goal, ENDA, very clearly is out of reach while the GOP controls the House.  So how about that executive order? Chris Geidner reports some new stats at Buzzfeed:

Nearly $250 billion in federal contracts given out in the last fiscal year went to contractors operating in states where the companies could fire a worker solely because the person is gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new report has found. A group of organizations that have been urging President Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers will be releasing the new report Tuesday as a step in increasing pressure on the president to act during tax time.

The report, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed Monday night, also has found that nearly $300 billion in federal contracts were given out in states that have no specific state-level protections against anti-transgender discrimination.

Although federal government employees are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, there is currently no protection for employees of federal contractors against sexual orientation discrimination and protections against gender identity discrimination are unclear. And while most of the top federal contractors have policies against LGBT discrimination, the report aims to draw attention to the limits employees would have in states without legal protections.

While an executive order would only affect companies that do business with the federal government, it's a start. A start with $250B in federal money attached to it.

Labels: employment, ENDA, feds, LGBT rights

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma April 9, 2013

The Ground of Compassion

To be truly and wholly present even for the briefest moment is to be vulnerable, for we have arrived at the point where the obstacle that fear constructs between ourselves and others dissolves. It is here that the heart is drawn out of hiding and the inherent sympathetic response called compassion arises.

- Lin Jensen, “An Ear to the Ground”

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	As a Buddhist monk my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their own happiness or satisfaction. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Oslo, December 1989 More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: REPORT: Gay Couples Will Not Be Included In Immigration Reform Bill

The director of Immigration Equality said today that she does not expect that gay couples will in included in the immigration reform bill about to be introduced in the US Senate. Michael Lavers reports at Washington Blade:

“We are not expecting LGBT families to be included in the Gang of 8 bill,” she told the Washington Blade during a conference call ahead of a rally in support of comprehensive immigration reform on Wednesday that is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the U.S. Capitol. “That in our minds means that of course the bill is incomplete.” Tiven’s comments come roughly three months after President Obama publicly unveiled an immigration reform proposal that includes bi-national gay couples.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler confirmed to the Blade  that "LGBT-specific language will likely not appear in the bill. Nadler: "This is disappointing but not particularly surprising."

Labels: immigration, Immigration Equality, Senate

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: OREGON: Haters Lose Bid To Rewrite Marriage Ban Ballot Measure

Oregon's Attorney General has rejected the "absurd" bid of an anti-gay group to rewrite a proposed 2014 ballot measure to overturn that state's ban on same-sex marriage.

The attorney general's office on Friday announced its final wording on a ballot title -- and it rejected the legal argument from an attorney for the Oregon Family Council that the title should reflect the notion that the initiative would require every governmental agency in Oregon to issue marriage licenses. Basic Rights Oregon, the gay-rights group sponsoring the initiative, has rejected that argument as absurd. It says county clerks would continue to be the only ones issuing marriage licenses if this initiative is approved by voters.

Here is the ballot language approved by the state: "Amends Constitution: Recognizes marriage between couples of same gender; protects clergy/religious institutions' refusal to perform marriages."  Basic Rights Oregon has until July 2014 to collect 116,000 petition signatures.

Labels: 2014 elections, marriage equality, Oregon

Reposted from Joe