Via JMG: HRC Demands US Action On Nigeria

The Human Rights Campaign has written to Secretary of State John Kerry, demanding a "strong and proactive American response to the humanitarian crisis" in Nigeria. From the list of suggested actions:

Directing the U.S. Embassy in Abuja to perform in-country refugee processing for LGBT Nigerians who are being targeted for arrest under the newly passed law. Recommending that President Obama evaluate removing Nigeria from the list of countries currently eligible for assistance under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The law requires the President to determine on an annual basis which countries are eligible based “on progress in meeting certain criteria, including progress toward the establishment of a market-based economy, rule of law, economic policies to reduce poverty, protection of internationally recognized worker rights, and efforts to combat corruption. ”Suspending bilateral engagements between the United States and Nigeria that are of particular importance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, such as suspending Nigeria’s participation in the Young African Leaders Initiative. Using any regulatory, administrative, or statutory means in your arsenal to combat implementation of this law.

Read the full letter.

Labels: Africa, Chad Griffin, Goodluck Jonathan, HRC, John Kerry, LGBT rights, Nigeria, Obama administration, State Department

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Petition Of The Day

Details.

Labels: Indiana, marriage equality, Mike Pence

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Jon Stewart Navigates the Difficult Plumbing of Gay Marriage in Red States - January 16, 2014

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 17, 2014

Changing Views

For, as the Buddhist view has consistently demonstrated, it is the perspective of the sufferer that determines whether a given experience perpetuates suffering or is a vehicle for awakening. To work something through means to change one's view; if we try instead to change the emotion, we may achieve some short-term success, but we remain bound by forces of attachment and an aversion to the very feelings from which we are struggling to be free.

- Mark Epstein, “Shattering the Ridgepole”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 18, 2014
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Via JMG: NIGERIA: Eleven Muslim Men On Trial, Face Stoning To Death For Homosexuality

The BBC reports:

An Islamic court in Nigeria's northern state of Bauchi has put on trial 11 Muslim men accused of being homosexuals in violation of their religion, a religious leader has told the BBC. A 12th person arrested - a Christian - would be tried under secular law, a BBC reporter says. Under Islamic law, a person can be sentenced to death by stoning if convicted of homosexuality. It is also illegal to have gay sex in Nigeria, according to its secular laws. Jibrin Danlami Hassan, the commissioner of Bauchi state's Sharia Commission, said the alleged homosexuals were arrested by residents of Bauchi city. They were handed to the Islamic police force, which interrogated them, he said. "They accept that they are doing that dirty game," Mr Hassan said. Ms Aken'Ova said some of those arrested had been beaten up and tortured, but Mr Hassan denied this. The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Bauchi says the Sharia Commission confirmed to him that a Christian had been arrested with the 11 Muslims, and would be tried in a "conventional court".

There have not yet been any confirmed "death by stoning" executions in Nigeria, although several such sentences have been handed down.

Labels: Africa, homosexuality, Islam, LGBT rights, Nigeria, religion, Sharia Law

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: The Professor Dies At Age 89

Russell Johnson, the professor on Gilligan's Island, has died at the age of 89.

Johnson, who played Professor Roy Hinkley, died of natural causes at his home in Washington. Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann, just posted on Facebook, "My 2 favorite people are now gone. The professor past (sic) away this morning. My heart is broken." The other person who died is Bob Denver, who played Gilligan. He died in 2005. Johnson was on the show from 1964 to 1967. Johnson was not in the original opening of the show. He and Mary Ann were referred to as "The rest." But Denver insisted that they be included and that happened later.

In his later years Johnson became a full-time fundraiser for AIDS research. His son died of the disease in 1994.

Labels: Hollywood, obituary, television

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Judy Garland-I Don't Care

Via TabooJive.com / FB:

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

At the bottom of patience is Heaven. - HimalayaCrafts

 

An Amazing Day! Um pedido de casamento. (legendado)

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 16, 2014

Your Interwoven Self

For a few moments just feel the body’s warmth and strength, its ability to hold itself upright. The vitality and aliveness that you experience in your body require various chemical and mineral substances, a continuous supply of oxygen, the energy of the sun, and the cohesion and conductivity of water. The Buddha instructs us to reflect on the body as composed of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, so that we will see how this life is interwoven with universal processes.

- Wes Nisker, "Evolution’s Body"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 17, 2014
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 January 16, 2014

Your Interwoven Self

For a few moments just feel the body’s warmth and strength, its ability to hold itself upright. The vitality and aliveness that you experience in your body require various chemical and mineral substances, a continuous supply of oxygen, the energy of the sun, and the cohesion and conductivity of water. The Buddha instructs us to reflect on the body as composed of the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, so that we will see how this life is interwoven with universal processes.

- Wes Nisker, "Evolution’s Body"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 17, 2014
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John Grant - Glacier

O Budismo te incomoda? Então…

 

… talvez você busque algo que não é budismo…. vamos ver o que a Reva Yvonete Joko tem a nos dizer:

Desfazendo Equívocos

Se você quer milagres, não procure o budismo. O supremo milagre para o budismo é você lavar seu prato depois de comer.

Se você quer curar seu corpo físico, não procure o budismo. O budismo só cura os males de sua mente: ignorância, cólera e desejos desenfreados.

Se você quiser arranjar emprego ou melhorar sua situação financeira, não procure o budismo. Você se decepcionará, pois ele vai lhe falar sobre desapego em relação aos bens materiais. Não confunda, porém, desapego com renúncia.

Se você quer poderes sobrenaturais, não procure o budismo. Para o budismo, o maior poder sobrenatural é o triunfo sobre o egoísmo.

Se você quer triunfar sobre seus inimigos, não procure o budismo. Para o budismo, o único triunfo que conta é o do homem sobre si mesmo.

Se você quer a vida eterna em um paraíso de delícias, não procure o budismo, pois ele matará seu ego aqui e agora.

Se você quer massagear seu ego com poder, fama, elogios e outras vantagens, não procure o budismo. A casa de Buda não é a casa da inflação dos egos.

Se você quer a proteção divina, não procure o budismo. Ele lhe ensinará que você só pode contar consigo mesmo.

Se você quer um caminho para Deus, não procure o budismo. Ele o lançará no vazio.

Se você quer alguém que perdoe suas falhas, deixando-o livre para errar de novo, não procure o budismo, pois ele lhe ensinará a implacável Lei de Causa e Efeito e a necessidade de uma autocrítica consciente e profunda.

Se você quer respostas cômodas e fáceis para suas indagações existenciais, não procure o budismo. Ele aumentará suas dúvidas.

Se você quer uma crença cega, não procure o budismo. Ele o ensinará a pensar com sua própria cabeça.

Se você é dos que acham que a verdade está nas escrituras, não procure o budismo. Ele lhe dirá que o papel é muito útil para limpar o lixo acumulado no intelecto.

Se você quer saber a verdade sobre os discos voadores ou sobre a civilização de Atlântida, não procure o budismo. Ele só revelará a verdade sobre você mesmo.

Se você quer se comunicar com espíritos, não procure o budismo. Ele só pode ensinar você a se comunicar com seu verdadeiro eu.

Se você quer conhecer suas encarnações passadas, não procure o budismo. Ele só pode lhe mostrar sua miséria presente.

Se você quer conhecer o futuro, não procure o budismo. Ele só vai lhe mandar prestar atenção a seus pés, enquanto você anda.

Se você quer ouvir palavras bonitas, não procure o budismo. Ele só tem o silêncio a lhe oferecer.

Se você quer ser sério e austero, não procure o budismo. Ele vai ensiná-lo a brincar e a se divertir.

Se você quer brincar e se divertir, não procure o budismo. Ele o ensinará a ser sério e austero.

Se você quer viver, não procure o budismo, pois ele o ensinará a morrer.

Se você quer morrer, não procure o budismo, pois ele o ensinará a viver.

Nota: Esse texto é de autoria da Rev. Yvonete Gonçalves (Shakuni Joko) qualquer reprodução deve citar o nome da autora.

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

“Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first. And when we want to change our life, we dive into spiritual practice and expect quick results, only to lose focus after the honeymoon has worn off. We return to our state of bewilderment. We're left feeling helpless and discouraged. It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet, and relaxation is a good idea, but why don't we think about training our minds?”
― Sakyong Mipham

 

 

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 15, 2014

Right Judgment

Many Western Buddhists believe that judging runs counter to insight and unconditional compassion, that passing judgment automatically implies a troubling duality, a delusional moral hierarchy. The Buddha, however, warned not against judging, but against being judgmental. The former implies clear comprehension of appropriate action and the latter implies bias and misconception.

- Mary Talbot, “No Justice, No Peace”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 16, 2014
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 14, 2014

The Unconditional Love of Bodhisattvas

When we raise a thought for someone’s well-being, and entrust that to our foundation, that underlying mind—Juingong—never disappears and is never used up. This is different from helping people through material things. This is the unconditional love that bodhisattvas have for all beings. This mind is the compassion that rises when all beings and myself are one, when the suffering of others is my suffering. This is the power that leads us to the truth.

- Daehaeng Kun Sunim, "Thinking Big"

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Support for Marriage Equality Sees Huge Jump in Utah: Jan 13 MNW

Via Tricycle Daily Dharm:

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 13, 2014

Grace in Suffering

There is grace in suffering. Suffering is part of the training program for wisdom.

- Ram Dass, "America's Guru"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 14, 2014
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 12, 2014

Challenge Your Standards

When judging the results of your own actions, you can’t simply take your own ideas of ‘what works’ as a trustworthy standard. After all, you can easily side with your greed, aversion, or delusion, setting your standards too low. So to check against this tendency, the Buddha recommends that you also take into consideration the views of the wise, for you’ll never grow until you allow your standards to be challenged by theirs.

- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Lost in Quotation”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 13, 2014
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 11, 2014

Closeness with Every Being

For compassion to develop toward a wide range of persons, mere knowledge of how beings suffer is not sufficient; there has to be a sense of closeness with regard to every being. That intimacy is established either through merely reflecting that everyone equally wants happiness and doesn’t want suffering, or through reflecting on the implications of rebirth, or both, with the one reinforcing the other.

- Jeffrey Hopkins, “Everyone as a Friend”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 12, 2014
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Via JMG: Russian Orthodox Church Calls For Referendum To Criminalize Homosexuality

Days after a similar demand from Russian actor Ivan "Burn Gays Alive" Okhlobystin, the Russian Orthodox Church has called for a public referendum to criminalize homosexual acts.

The Church's abrupt intervention came amid a growing debate over whether the Kremlin should mount a firmer defence of traditional values that many in the overwhelmingly conservative country view as coming under attack from Europe and the United States. Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin pointed to polls showing more than half of Russians viewing homosexuality as either an illness or a crime as a sign that the country was ready to revert to a Soviet-era homosexual ban. "There is no question that society should discuss this issue since we live in a democracy," Chaplin told the online edition of the pro-government Izvestia daily. "For this reason, it is precisely the majority of our people and not some outside powers that should decide what should be a criminal offence and what should not," he said.

A member of Vladimir Putin's ruling party told the news agency Interfax that Russia is bound by international treaties that ban outlawing homosexuality.

Labels: hate groups, homosexuality, Ivan Okhlobystin, LGBT rights, religion, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: 27 GOP House Reps Co-Sponsor Randy Weber's Bill To Ban Federal Recognition Of Out-Of-State Same-Sex Marriages

Yesterday House Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) introduced a laughably doomed bill that would limit the federal government to only recognizing same-sex marriages that are legally conducted in the state where the married couple resides. Since the bill's introduction, 27 GOP members of the House have signed on as co-sponsors. The list so far is a cavalcade of crackpottery: Michele Bachmann, Louis Gohmert, John Fleming, etc. Eleven of the 27 co-sponsors are from Texas.
SWeber, a freshman rep and former air conditioner repairman, has previously only authored one failed House resolution. Therefore I suspect his bill was actually written by the Family Research Council, who jointly announced its introduction yesterday with an appearance by Weber on Tony Perkins' national radio show. Other anti-gay hate groups are today praising the bill, including NOM, which posted the below message today on their blog.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today expressed its support for a bill announced in Congress yesterday, the “State Marriage Defense Act of 2014” (HR 3829), and praised Representative Randy Weber (R-TX) for authoring and introducing “this vitally important legislation.” “Representative Weber deserves praise for this vitally important legislation which will lend clarity to the way states’ marriage laws are dealt with by federal agencies,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s President. “The bill simply reaffirms and strengthens the rights reserved by the states under the US constitution.” Brown also said that the bill is based upon a proper understanding of last summer’s decision by the Supreme Court in the Windsor case that struck down one facet of the law but supported states’ rights to determine their own definition of marriage.

Wonkette today posted a typically fabulous reaction.

Given that even Utah briefly recognized gay marriage, we are pretty sure that this legislation isn’t going to go anywhere, let alone have a chance in hell of passing the Senate with Harry Reid being the badass that he is. However, it is a good reminder that there has always and forever been only one form of marriage which is between a man with a PENIS and a woman with governmentally regulated LADYPARTS the GOP continues to hate on the gays in new and inventive ways. We have no idea if this bill deals with age-of-marriage laws, which also differ between states, but we guess that so long as that 12-year-old GIRL is marrying a 40-year-old MAN, Weber and his ilk are probably totes cool with it, because that is WAY MOAR BETTERER than two consenting adult menfolk doin’ it in the butt.

Labels: assholery, Brian Brown, Christianists, crackpots, DOJ, feds, FRC, GOP, hate groups, John Fleming, Louie Gohmert, marriage equality, Michele Bachmann, NOM, Randy Weber, religion, teabaggers, Tony Perkins

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: State Department Issues Security Warning To Americans Traveling To Sochi Olympics

The U.S. State Department today issued an updated travel advisory for Americans planning to attend the Sochi Olympics. An excerpt:

MEDICAL CARE: The Olympics are the first large-scale event to be held in Sochi and medical capacity and infrastructure in the region are untested for handling the volume of visitors expected for the Olympics. Medical care in many Russian localities differs substantially from Western standards due to differing practices and approaches to primary care. Travelers should consider purchasing private medical evacuation and/or repatriation insurance.
TERRORISM: Large-scale public events such as the Olympics present an attractive target for terrorists. Russian authorities have indicated that they are taking appropriate security measures in Sochi in light of this. Acts of terrorism, including bombings and hostage takings, continue to occur in Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus region. Between October 15 and December 30, 2013, there were three suicide bombings targeting public transportation in the city of Volgograd (600 miles from Sochi), two of which occurred within the same 24-hour period. Other bombings over the past 10-15 years occurred at Russian government buildings, airports, hotels, tourist sites, markets, entertainment venues, schools, and residential complexes. There have also been large-scale attacks on public transportation including subways, buses, trains, and scheduled commercial flights, in the same time period.

The warning goes to say that the State Department is presently unaware of any threat specifically aimed at Americans. Today's message includes a special warning to LGBT travelers.

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) ISSUES: In June 2013, Russia’s State Duma passed a law banning the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors. The U.S. government understands that this law applies to both Russian citizens and foreigners in Russia. Russian citizens found guilty of violating the law could face a fine of up to 100,000 rubles ($3,100). Foreign citizens face similar fines, up to 14 days in jail, and deportation. The law makes it a crime to promote LGBT equality in public, but lacks concrete legal definitions for key terms. Russian authorities have indicated a broad interpretation of what constitutes “LGBT propaganda,” and provided vague guidance as to which actions will be interpreted by authorities as “LGBT propaganda.” LGBT travelers should review the State Department’s LGBT Travel Information page.

Read today's advisory in full.

 

Labels: Russia, Sochi Olympics, State Department, terrorism

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Coming Out Spiritually: The Next Step by Christian de la Huerta

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 10, 2014

Learning to Fall

We all suffer the limitations of our humanness: not just our aches and pains but our fear, our anger, our pettiness, our grief. Fact is, we do practice being human in every waking moment. And the more mindfully we practice, the more often our conflicts dissolve, the more easily we create new possibilities for relationship and community.

- Philip Simmons, “Learning to Fall”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 11, 2014
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Via JMG: MARYLAND: Bill Introduced To Ban "Ex-Gay" Torture Of LGBT Youth

Maryland Del. Jon Cardin has introduced a bill to ban the "ex-gay" torture and brainwashing of minors. Via Washington Blade:

“There are numerous gay conversion therapy providers as well as organizations like the infamous International Healing Foundation located right here in Maryland advocating for what I consider very harmful conversion therapies,” said Cardin, noting Prince George’s County Public Schools last year stopped using an anti-bullying curriculum that included references to the Bowie-based organization and other “ex-gay” groups. “To me it is incredibly repulsive.” International Healing Foundation Director Christopher Doyle criticized Cardin and others who seek to ban conversion therapy to minors in Maryland. “This is not being fueled by mental health advocates,” Doyle told the Blade on Tuesday. “This is being done by political organizations that are more interested in promoting a political ideology as opposed to clients’ rights.”

Similar bills have been approved in New Jersey and California. In November the anti-gay Liberty Counsel lost a court battle to overturn New Jersey's ban.
Truth Wins Out reacts via press release:

If Delegate Cardin's bill passes, it will render a blow to the "ex-gay" industry nationwide, as one of the worst organizations advocating for such "therapy," the International Healing Foundation, is based in Maryland. IHF Executive Director Richard Cohen was banned from the American Counseling Association for life in 2002 after multiple ethics violations, and advocates "therapeutic practices" which involve beating pillows with tennis rackets in order to heal anger toward one's mother, followed by sessions where he cuddles his male patients in order to recreate a father's love. IHF Director Christopher Doyle admitted that he tried to molest little girls in his mother's daycare when he was ten, a disturbing fact considering IHF's focus on youth and Doyle's status as an ill-credentialed counselor. Another "ex-gay" activist, Greg Quinlan of the Maryland-based PFOX, claims to heal LGBT people, but when he's around like-minded people, is more inclined to practice verbal gay-bashing than healing, telling an anti-gay conference in 2010 that he was never a "limp-wristed, flaming faggot," a statement revelatory of his true feelings about the LGBT community.

Labels: brainwashing, Christopher Doyle, Democrats, ex-gay, LGBT youth, Maryland, religion, torture

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: GOP House Rep. Randy Weber Introduces Bill To Ban Feds From Recognizing Out-Of-State Same-Sex Marriages

Freshman U.S. House Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), a former HVAC repairman who won the seat vacated by retiring fellow crackpot Ron Paul, has introduced a bill he calls the State Marriage Defense Act. The bill appears to limit the federal government to only recognizing same-sex marriages that are conducted legally in the state where the married couple resides. From Weber's website:

The State Marriage Defense Act will simply require federal agencies to look to a person’s legal residence when determining marital status and application of federal law. The 10th Amendment was established to protect state sovereignty and individual rights from being seized by the Federal Government. For too long, however, the Federal Government has slowly been eroding state’s rights by promulgating rules and regulations through federal agencies. I drafted the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014 to help restore the 10th Amendment, affirm the authority of states to define and regulate marriage, as well as, provide clarity to federal agencies seeking to determine who qualifies as a spouse for the purpose of federal law. By requiring that the Federal Government defer to the laws of a person’s state of legal residence in determining marital status, we can protect states’ constitutionally established powers from the arbitrary overreach of unelected bureaucrats.

KKK-affiliated hate group leader Tony Perkins is cheering:

Family Research Council strongly supported the Defense of Marriage Act, and disagreed with the Court's decision in Windsor. However, if the federal government is required to defer to state determinations of which of their residents are "married," it must defer to those determinations in all fifty states – not just those that have redefined marriage. The State Marriage Defense Act is consistent with the ruling in Windsor, which reiterated that states have the "historic and essential authority to define the marital relation." The current Obama administration policy is doing the very thing which the Court condemned – "creating two contradictory marriage regimes within the same State."  The State Marriage Defense Act serves to protect state definitions of marriage against what the Court called efforts "to put a thumb on the scales and influence a state's decision as to how to shape its own marriage laws."

I can't yet quote from Weber's bill as it hasn't yet been posted to the House website. The only previous House legislation authored by Weber is a failed 2013 resolution which declared that "extensive scientific studies" have found the Keystone pipeline to be "environmentally sound." Which means, of course, that the FRC surely had a hand in writing today's bill. Weber has a 100% approval rating from the virulently anti-gay Heritage Foundation. He will appear tonight on Tony Perkins' nationally syndicated radio show.

UPDATE: The Family Research Council just published a petition for their supporters to call on other members of the House to co-sponsor Weber's bill.

Labels: assholery, Christianists, FRC, GOP, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Randy Weber, religion, teabaggers, Texas, Tony Perkins, U.S. House

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via the Other 98% / FB:

'Define Me' - Ryan Amador (featuring Jo Lampert)

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

"Silence is an empty space, space is the home of the awakened mind." - Buddha

 

 

Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 9, 2014

How Ignorance Causes Suffering

This is what we call ignorance: not recognizing the void nature of phenomena and assuming that phenomena possess the attribute of true existence although in fact they are devoid of it. With ignorance comes attachment to all that is pleasant to the ego as well as hatred and repulsion for all that is unpleasant. In that way the three poisons—ignorance, attachment, and hatred—come into being. Under the influence of these three poisons, the mind becomes like a servant running here and there. This is how the suffering of samsara is built up. It all derives from a lack of discernment and a distorted perception of the nature of phenomena.

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “An Investigation of the Mind”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 10, 2014
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Via JMG: German Soccer Star Comes Out

Via BBC Sports:

Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has revealed he is gay. The 31-year-old, who won 52 caps for Germany and also played for West Ham and Everton, made the announcement in newspaper Die Zeit. He is the most prominent footballer to publicly reveal his homosexuality and said it was "a good time" to do so. "I'm coming out about my homosexuality because I want to move the discussion about homosexuality among professional sportspeople forwards," he added. The midfielder said he has only realised "in the past few years" that he would "prefer to live together with another man", adding: "I've never been ashamed of the way I am."

Hitzlsperger retired last year due to injuries. (Tipped by JMG reader John)

Labels: coming out, gay athletes, Germany, sports

posted by Joe Jervis

The DOs and DON'Ts of PRAYER

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 8, 2014

The Self’s Misconception

In Pali, the language of the oldest written Buddhist teachings, the belief in some core notion of self is called sakkaya-ditthi; this is sometimes translated as ‘personality belief.’ It’s said to be the most dangerous of all the defilements, more dangerous than greed or even hatred, because these are rooted in this mistaken belief. This wrong view of self is central to how we go about in the world, and all kinds of unskillful actions come out of it. The aim of the practice, central to everything we’re doing, is to free the mind from this misconception.

- Joseph Goldstein, “Everyday Meditation”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 9, 2014
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Probably Gay, the Homophobia Song - Katie Goodman's Broad Comedy

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

"The man who conquers himself is superior to him who conquers a thousand men in battle." - Buddha

 

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 7, 2014

Dualistic Divisions

We divide our world into me/you, friend/enemy, desirable/ undesirable, fulfilling/frustrating, and so on. It’s a natural process, but a very arbitrary, utterly subjective one. Somehow we’re able to ignore this last fact. We’re in dualistic division mode, and we act on that; all sorts of emotions come into play, and we act on them. We reinforce the tendencies—Buddhists might say, we create or compound karma—that make the illusion thicker, stickier, more solid. And the further we are from truth, the more elusive happiness becomes.

- Pamela Gayle White, “The Pursuit of Happiness”

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Via Gay Proud / LGBT INCLUSIVE / FB

JMG Editorial Of The Day

From the editors of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Same-sex attraction, far from being unnatural, has been around since the dawn of time, and in recent decades mainstream America has come to accept it as something other than deviant. The American Psychiatric Association has considered homosexuality a normal sexual variation, not a mental disorder, since 1973. The Supreme Court in 2003 made same-sex sexual activity legal in every state, and then last June the court took that step of saying same-sex couples have a due-process right to marry. Younger people by and large take a more libertarian view of same-sex relationships, and that is what has fueled the nation’s shift since Utah passed its ban in 2004.
There are 32 states with laws still in effect banning gay marriage, but only one state has passed such a law since 2006. Since that time seven state legislatures have passed laws to allow same-sex marriage, and three more states did so through popular vote. Court decisions have struck down the laws in another seven states, including Utah. One of those states is California, where state officials stopped defending their same-sex marriage ban when it became obvious where the future lies. Utah’s ban passed with 66 percent of voters approving it, but it’s a legitimate question whether it would pass today if another election were held. Even the LDS Church has gone from actively participating in the marriage wars to simply explaining its own beliefs and practices.
The tide has turned. It’s time for Utah to turn with it.

(Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Labels: marriage equality, Salt Lake City, Utah

Reposted from Joe Jervis