Saturday, June 27, 2026
Via Daily Dharma: Tasks for Suffering
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VIa FB \\ Bil Browning - Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act in the middle of the night.
September 21, 1996. No big ceremony. No cameras. No triumphant East Room photo op. Just a quiet signature on a law that told gay couples the federal government would never recognize their marriages, even if a state did.
Then Clinton’s reelection campaign ran ads on Christian radio bragging about it.
“One thing that Bill Clinton has done is to support the Defense of Marriage Act,” the ad said. It promised he was protecting “the sanctity of marriage.” Imagine being a gay Democrat in 1996 hearing that while Republicans were already calling you a threat to civilization. It felt like getting shoved out the back door by your own people.
And at the time, DOMA was popular. Massively popular. The Senate passed it 85 to 14. Democrats lined up for it. Joe Biden voted for it. Dianne Feinstein voted for it. Ted Kennedy voted for it. Everybody suddenly became very concerned that Hawaii might legalize same-sex marriage and unleash lesbian chaos upon the republic.
The panic sounds ridiculous now because it was ridiculous then.
But here’s the wild part. DOMA accidentally helped create the movement that destroyed it.
The law had two big sections. One said states didn’t have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. The other defined marriage, for every federal purpose, as one man and one woman. Taxes, immigration, Social Security, veterans benefits, hospital rights - more than 1,000 federal protections, gone with a stroke of the pen.
That cruelty made the inequality impossible to ignore.
Couples started telling their stories publicly because they had to. People learned about partners getting deported, widows losing homes, and survivors getting taxed on inheritances straight couples received automatically. The abstract argument became painfully personal.
Then the country changed fast. Faster than almost anybody predicted.
In 2004, George W. Bush ran for reelection supporting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage nationwide. Eleven states passed anti-marriage ballot measures that same year. Conservatives thought they had found a permanent political weapon.
Instead, they lit a fuse.
By 2012, even Barack Obama had evolved publicly on marriage equality. Joe Biden accidentally nudged him there early after endorsing it on Meet the Press. Suddenly Democrats were racing to catch up with voters instead of the other way around.
Then came Edith Windsor.
An 83-year-old lesbian widow from New York who got hit with a $363,000 federal estate tax bill after her wife, Thea Spyer, died. A straight spouse would have paid nothing. Windsor sued the federal government wearing giant scarves and speaking with the energy of somebody who had absolutely run out of patience.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the core of DOMA in United States v. Windsor.
Two years later came Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down the rest. Marriage equality became the law of the land nationwide.
And then, after decades of screaming that gay marriage would destroy civilization, Republicans quietly attended gay weddings, posted rainbow logos every June, and pretended none of this had happened.
The final twist came in 2022. Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed DOMA officially and required the federal government and states to recognize legal same-sex marriages.
President Joe Biden signed that bill into law 26 years after he voted in favor of DOMA.
It wasn't easy, it wasn't certain, but we forced that change through sheer determination, grit, and telling our stories for all to hear.
Friday, June 26, 2026
Via FB \\ Ecclesiasticus Cor Iesu Sacratissimum \\ 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗔𝗨𝗟, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆𝗿𝘀
𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟲
𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗔𝗨𝗟, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆𝗿𝘀
The Roman brothers John and Paul distributed to the poor the wealth they had been left by Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, whom they had served justly and faithfully.
Invited by Julian the Apostate to join the members of his household, they boldly declared that they did not wish to live in the house of a man who had abandoned Jesus Christ.
They were therefore given ten days in which to be persuaded to sacrifice to Jupiter.
As they steadfastly refused to commit this sin, they were beheaded in their home, at the command of Terentian the judge, thus meriting the palm of martyrdom.
The news of their glorious death was spread abroad by unclean spirits, who began tormenting the bodies of many persons, among them the son of Terentian.
He was freed of his diabolical tormentor at the tomb of the Martyrs. This miracle led both him and his father, Terentian, to believe in Christ; and the latter is said to have written the life of the holy Martyrs.
𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁
Quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut nos geminata laetitia hodiernae festivitatis excipiat, quae de beatorum Joannis et Pauli glorificatione procedit; quos eadem fides et passio vere fecit esse germanos. Almighty God, fill us, we beseech thee, with the twofold gladness which doth flow down upon this bright day from the glory of thy blessed servants John and Paul, whom one faith and one suffering made to be brothers indeed.Via White Crane Institute \\\ Obergefell v Hodges
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| This Day in Gay History | |||
June 26 | |||
2015 -
The Supreme Court of the United States, in a landmark 5-4 decision, Obergefell v Hodges, rule that the Constitution of the United States assures the right to MARRIAGE EQUALITY FOR LGBT PEOPLE and that every state in the union must recognize and respect same-sex marriages. Heterosexual marriages begin crumbling…oh wait…that didn’t happen. Nevermind.
In the last two years, since SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade, we have been put on notice that the radical right wing justices have Marriage Equality in their sites.
Just a few days ago, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the fundamental rights of married couples on Friday in an important and ominous immigration case, Department of State v. Muñoz. Justice Amy Coney Barrett held—over the dissent of all three liberals—that American citizens have no constitutional “liberty interest” in living with their foreign spouses, denying them the most basic protections against arbitrary government discrimination. Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s fierce dissent condemned Barrett’s opinion as, among other things, an unsubtle assault on marriage equality for LGBTQ+ Americans.
As assessed by lawyer, writer, and journalist Dahlia Lithwick, "The court could easily say, just down the road, that it already called Obergefell into question, and overruling it is the next logical step. I think that’s why Sotomayor also hinges her dissent on Dobbs, pointing to false assurances that the court would overturn abortion rights but go no further. We all knew that was bogus at the time. And remember, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson signed on to this dissent in full. I think all three liberals are ringing this alarm so everyone can see that overturning marriage equality is very much on the table at this Supreme Court."
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via White Crane Insitute \\ James Melville "MEL" WHITE
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| This Day in Gay History | ||||||||
June 26James Melville "MEL" WHITE, born on this date, is an American clergyman and author. White was a behind-the-scenes member of the Evangelical Protestant movement through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, writing film and television specials and ghostwriting autobiographies for televangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham. After years of writing for the Christian right, he came out as gay in 1994 and devoted himself full-time to minister to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people, also writing extensively on the subject of gay Christians. After their marriage, White admitted to his wife that he had always been attracted to men. He embarked on a long process of attempted cures for his homosexuality, including psychotherapy, prayer, electroconvulsive therapy, and exorcism. Shockingly, none of these techniques changed his attraction to men, and after he attempted suicide, he and his wife agreed to an amicable divorce. His son, producer, writer Mike White is bisexual (and married to a man) and is the writer, producer, showrunner of the wildly successful White Lotus streaming series. In 1984, White began dating Gary Nixon. In 1994, White wrote his autobiography, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay And Christian In America, which detailed his former career in the Religious Right and his struggle coming to terms with his sexuality. His ex-wife wrote the foreword to this book. His latest book, Holy Terror: Lies the Christian Right Tells To Deny Gay Equality was released in hardback as Religion Gone Bad: Hidden Dangers from the Christian Right. After coming out, White transferred his clergy credentials to the gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church. In 1997, White was awarded the American Civil Liberties Union's National Civil Liberties Award for his efforts to apply the "soul force" principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to the struggle for justice for sexual minorities. He founded Soulforce, a gay advocacy group, in 1998. In June 2008, White and Nixon were the first same-sex couple legally married at All Saints Episcopal Church (Pasadena, California) following the May 16, 2008 action of the Supreme Court of California overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage. They lived in Palm Springs, CA. Nixon, passed away in 2024
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Via White Crane \\\ Feast Day of SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL,
 2018 - It is the Feast Day of SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL, martyred lovers According to their Acts, which are of a legendary character and without recorded historical foundation, the martyrs were eunuchs (Galli) of Constantina daughter of Constantine the Great, and became acquainted with a certain Gallicanus, who built a church in Ostia. At the command of Julian the Apostate, they were beheaded secretly by Terentianus in their house on the Cælian, where their church was subsequently erected, and where they themselves were buried. Galli (singular Gallus) was the Roman name for castrated followers of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, which were regarded as a third gender by contemporary Roman scholars, and are in some ways like transgendered people in the modern world. The chief of these priests was referred to as a battakes, and later as the archigallus. | ||
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 | ||
Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via Daily Dharma: Fuel for Awakening
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Thursday, June 25, 2026
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