Via Gay Politics Report

• New pope blamed devil for marriage equality push
• 
  Pope Francis, elected this week to lead the Roman Catholic Church, once forcefully opposed legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry in his native Argentina, saying the effort was "a move by the father of lies," a biblical reference to the devil. The new pope also once called adoption by gays "discrimination" against children. In 2003, however, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio said the church should speak with "respect" and "understanding" toward individuals when discussing its teachings on sexuality. LGBT advocates have called on the Church under Francis to tone down its anti-gay rhetoric, which they said harshened under Pope Benedict XVI. The Huffington Post (3/13), The Washington Post/The Fix blog (3/14)     

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world. How do you cultivate it? It's very simple. In the first place by realizing clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country are members of one and the same family. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 15, 2013

Keep Your Balance

Just as a person mired in quicksand cannot help another until he has himself reached firm ground, our ability to help others depends chiefly on keeping our own balance.

- Andrew Olendzki, "Keep Your Balance"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 16th, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Real love is not based on attachment, but on altruism. In this case, your compassion will remain as a humane response to suffering as long as beings continue to suffer. - His Holiness the Dalai Lama More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 14, 2013

Recognizing Yourself in Others

Compassion is not condescension, but a leveling of the playing field, a recognition of yourself in others and an acceptance that their stress is your stress, that their happiness is your own. The gulf between us all is imaginary, born of insecurity and fear.

- Stephen Schettini, "What to Expect When You're Reflecting"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 15th, 2013
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Via JMG: Bad News For Southern Baptists

Right Wing Watch reports that a survey just done by the polling arm of the Southern Baptists Convention shows broad support for LGBT rights across multiple issues. LifeWay Research, however, is focusing on the minority of respondents who believe that businesses should be able to turn away gay people.

“Clearly, Americans believe the prerogative exists for individuals such as clergy or photographers to deny services for same-sex marriage,” said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research. “However, the level of agreement changes with scenarios that could be interpreted as more basic rights such as housing and employment.”  Consistent in all scenarios of the survey, men are more likely than women to agree these individuals should have the right to refuse services, rental agreements or employment -- as are Americans calling themselves “born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Christian.”

Hit the second link for the full survey results.

Labels: LGBT rights, religion, Southern Baptists Convention, surveys

posted by Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 10, 2013

The Simplicity of Renunciation

We don't have to let go, we simply have to not hold on.

- Joseph Goldstein, "Empty Phenomena Rolling On"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 11th, 2013
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 9, 2013

What Emotions Reveal

When we meditate with the idea of getting rid of our emotions, we are actually empowering the very forces that we seek to escape. On the other hand, when we can use the arising of emotion to examine our underlying sense of identification, we tap the transformative potential of sublimation.

- Mark Epstein, "Shattering the Ridgepole"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 10th, 2013
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Via JMG: How DOMA "Defends" Marriage

Visit the pro-gay March 4 Marriage page on Facebook.

Labels: DOMA, LGBT rights, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma;

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 6, 2013

How We Speak to Ourselves

The Buddha saw that we are always engaged in relationships, starting with that most significant relationship: the one with ourselves. On the cushion we notice how we speak to ourselves—sometimes with compassion, sometimes with judgment or impatience. Our words are a powerful medium with which we can bring happiness or cause suffering.

- Allan Lokos, "Skillful Speech"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 7th, 2013
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Via Beliefnet - Buddhist Wisdom:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The good shine from afar Like the snowy Himalayas. The bad don't appear Even when near, Like arrows shot into the night. - Dhammapada 21, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: PFLAG China Calls For Marriage

The Chinese chapter of PFLAG has issued a public letter calling for marriage equality. The letter has been sent to members of the National People's Congress. China Daily reports:

"Some of our children have been living with their partners for nearly 10 years. They love each other. But they cannot sign their names legally when their partners need an operation," said the letter, which was written by PFLAG China (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of China) and represented more than 100 gay parents. The organization said it will communicate with deputies from South China's Guangdong province who are able to promote the legalization of gay marriage during the NPC this year.  The letter underlines the problems that gay couples in China face, such as adoption, inheritance and purchasing properties. It calls for early amendment of the Marriage Law to include the right of marriage for gays.

PFLAG China was founded in 2008.

Labels: China, marriage equality, PFLAG

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 5, 2013

Wisdom's Questions

When it’s time to suffer, you should suffer; when it’s time to cry, you should cry. Cry completely. Cry until there are no more tears and then recognize in your exhaustion that you’re alive. The sun still rises and sets. The seasons come and go. Absolutely nothing remains the same and that includes suffering. When the suffering ends wisdom begins to raise the right questions.

- Seido Ray Ronci, "The Examined Life"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 6th, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	When you are completely clear, there is no subjective distortion; when you are completely pure, there is true perception. But even if you are thus through and through, this is still now the transcendental key. When the wind and waves have died out, the ocean of mind is as is; when you get to the bottom of the ocean of mind, for the first time you see the black pearl. - Tzu-te More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Cut down The forest of desire, Not the forest of trees. From the forest of desire Come danger & fear. Having cut down this forest & its underbrush, monks, be deforested. - Dhammapada, 20, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Gay Poltics Report:

• Nobel Peace Prize winner condemns LGBT elected officials
   
• Former president of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa last week lashed out at openly LGBT elected officials, saying they deserve to be separated from the rest of the national parliament "behind a wall." "They have to know that they are a minority and must adjust to smaller things," Walesa said during a television interview. Parliamentary leaders responded by temporarily moving two openly gay and transgender members to the front row, a position of honor. The Victory Fund’s Chuck Wolfe called the comments, "as sad as they are outrageous," given Walesa’s history as a champion for democracy. The Huffington Post/The Associated Press (3/3), ABC News/The Associated Press (3/4), GayPolitics.com (3/4)     

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 1, 2013

Basic Goodness

When we use this term 'basic goodness' it indicates some fundamental possibility. Life is possible. Situations are possible. And anybody can start to gain some kind of insight and appreciation of their lives. That’s what we call 'sacred.' It doesn’t mean something dramatic, but something very simple. There’s a sacredness to everyone’s life.

- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, "A New Place, A New Time"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through March 2nd, 2013
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Via JMG: New California Marriage Poll

 

Click over to Zack Ford at Think Progress for the rest of the results.

Labels: California, marriage equality, polls, Proposition 8

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Obama To File Prop 8 Brief

Labels: DOJ, Obama administration, Prop 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	What monks, is the world? The eye and shapes, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and tactile objects, the mind and mental objects--these form the world as we know it. When an eye and a shape are there, then the consciousness of seeing arises. From this consciousness comes sensation; that which is sensed is thought over; that which is thought over is projected outward as the external world. So I declare that in this six-foot-long body with its perceptions and thinking lies the world, the beginning of the world, the ending of the world, and the way to the ending of the world. - Majjhima Nikaya More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 28, 2013

Our Shelter Within

When we can be secure in our inner source for true happiness, we don’t expose ourselves to the devastation that comes when outside hopes for happiness and security are dashed. We have our shelter, our place of security, inside. And we needn’t be afraid that this is an escapist shelter. When the basis of our well-being is firm within, we can act with true courage and compassion for others, for we’re coming from a solid position of calmness and strength.

- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “What We’ve Been Practicing For”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 29th, 2013
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Via JMG: 300 Corporations & Cities File DOMA Brief

 

A coalition of almost 300 corporations, cities, and other organizations, some of whom also appear on yesterday's Prop 8 brief, have filed a Supreme Court brief in support of the overturn of DOMA.  The ACLU reports via press release:

Signers include Amazon.com, Apple, Bank of New York, CBS, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Facebook, Google, JetBlue, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Liberty Mutual, Marriott International, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, NIKE, Pfizer, Starbucks, Twitter, Viacom, Walt Disney Company and Xerox and the cities of Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica and Seattle, among others.
Other supporters, including religious leaders, retired military personnel, children’s rights groups and former cabinet secretaries are expected to file their briefs later this week. Some groups will be holding a press conference at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, DC on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. announcing their support for Windsor’s case, as well as the Supreme Court case seeking to repeal California’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

Scanning the full brief, I also see Adobe, Alaska Airlines, Diageo, Intuit, M&M Mars, Pfizer, and REI.  Sorry, haters. It's time to also boycott Flash, booze, spreadsheets, candy, boner pills, and camping tents! Enjoy your sober, flaccid, YouTube-free caves! And no Little Mermaid or Lion King for the kiddies, not that you'll be able to buy an anti-gay TV or cable provider.

Labels: business, DOMA, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	If you seek after truth, you should investigate things in such a way that your consciousness as you investigate is not distracted by what you find, or diffused and scattered; neither is it fixed and set. For the one who is not swayed, there will be a transcending of birth, death, and time. Whether you walk or stand or lie down, Stretch your limbs or draw them in again, Let you do all these things attentively, Above, across, and back again. Whatever your place in the world, Let you be the one who views the movement Of all compounded things with attention. - Itivuttaka Sutta More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 27, 2013

Touching Liberation

Insight can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, “Simply Stop”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 28th, 2013
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Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via JMG: Dozens Of Major Corporations To File Supreme Court Brief Against Prop 8

Later this week dozens of major corporations will file a joint Supreme Court brief in support of the overturn of Prop 8.  The names are huge, people. Fortune Magazine reports:

On Thursday, dozens of American corporations, including Apple, Alcoa, Facebook, eBay, Intel, and Morgan Stanley will submit an amicus brief in the landmark Hollingsworth v. Perry case broadly arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that laws banning same-sex marriages, like California's ballot initiative Proposition 8, are unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.
According to a draft copy obtained by Fortune, the companies argue that such laws "send an unmistakeable signal that same-sex couples are in some way inferior to opposite-sex couples, a proposition that is anathema to amici's commitment to equality and fair treatment to all."
At least 60 companies had committed to signing the brief as of Tuesday evening, according to Joshua Rosenkranz, who is counsel of record on the brief and head of the Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. That number is expected to rise by Thursday, however, according to Rosenkranz. Others who have already committed to sign include AIG, Becton Dickinson, Cisco, Cummins, Kimpton, Levi Strauss, McGraw Hill, NCR, Nike, Office Depot, Oracle, Panasonic, Qualcomm, and Xerox.

An excerpt from the brief declares that Proposition 8 "leaves companies in the untenable position of being compelled implicitly to endorse the second-class status to which their gay and lesbian employees, clients, customers, and business associates are relegated. Until the law no longer relegates same-sex couples to second-class status as inferior 'domestic partnerships,' our adherence to the law compels us to abide by a distinction that stigmatizes and dehumanizes gay men and lesbians."

Labels: business, marriage equality, Prop 8, Supreme Court

posted by Joe

JMG HomoQuotable: Peter Tatchell

"Cardinal [Keith] O'Brien condemned homosexuality as a grave sin and was a long-time opponent of gay equality. He supported homophobic discrimination in law, including the current ban on same-sex marriage. In the light of these allegations, his stance looks hypocritical. He appears to have preached one thing in public while doing something different in private. Several other prominent opponents of equal marriage are guilty of double standards and vulnerable to similar exposure. They include anti-gay clergy and politicians.

"It is estimated that around 40% of Catholic priests in Britain are gay, which makes the church's opposition to gay equality so two-faced and absurd. A significant proportion of all Cardinals worldwide is thought to be gay. Recent revelations in Italy have alleged the existence of a gay mafia within the Vatican, including senior Cardinals and other Vatican officials, and their participation in gay bars, clubs, saunas, chat rooms and male prostitution services. The Vatican is shamelessly championing homophobia and the denial of legal equality to gay people, while hosting a hotbed of secret, guilt-ridden clerical homosexuality." - British activist Peter Tatchell, in a statement posted on his website.

Labels: Catholic Church, HomoQuotable, Peter Tatchell, Vatican

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Pat Robertson Expands His Anti-Gay Rights Campaign To Brazil

Pat Robertson's "legal" group, the American Center for Law & Justice, has long extended its scaly tentacles into other nations such as Russia and Kenya, where they work to inflame anti-gay sentiments.  Now the ACLJ has set up an office in Brazil.  Buzzfeed reports:

The head of the new Brazil office, Filipe Coelho, is a scion of one of Brazil's leading evangelical families, and aims to stop hate crime legislation from becoming law, opposes marriage rights for same-sex couples and speaks strongly about the dangers of employment protections for LGBT people. Same-sex marriage is also legal in some Brazilian jurisdictions. This includes São Paulo state, which has a population of more than 40 million people, roughly the same size as Argentina. But Brazil also has an evangelical movement that most closely parallels the United States. It accounts for about 20 percent of the population and it has serious muscle in election campaigns and the country's legislature.

The ACLJ is headed by Jay Sekulow, who first came to fame for convincing the Supreme Court that Jews For Jesus had the right to harass people at airports.  And his ACLJ gig has earned him tens of millions.

Since 1998, the two charities have paid out more than $33 million to members of Sekulow's family and businesses they own or co-own, according to the charities' federal tax returns. One of the charities is controlled by the Sekulow family — tax documents show that all four of CASE's board members are Sekulows and another is an officer — an arrangement criticized by a nonprofit watchdog group.

Tax-exempt hate, now in Brazil. Praise Jesus.

Labels: ACLJ, Brazil, hate groups, LGBT rights, Pat Robertson, religion, scams

posted by Joe

Via JMG: Edith Windsor Files DOMA Brief

 

Edith Windsor today filed a Supreme Court brief in the DOMA case that bears her name. Chris Geidner has the details:

Specifically, Windsor argues laws like DOMA that classify people based on their sexual orientation should be subjected to "heightened scrutiny" by courts, which demands the government to provide an "important" reason for the law in question. A similar argument was made by the Obama administration in a filing last Friday. In discussing the standards that courts use when determining whether heightened scrutiny should apply, Windsor argues that gays and lesbians have faced a history of discrimination, and that their being gay does not affect their ability to contribute to society. Additionally, she argues that sexual orientation is not, generally speaking, fluid, and that the group "lacks political power" because of prejudice.

Read the full brief here.

Labels: DOMA, Edith Windsor, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Who would have thought that all things are the manifestation of the Essence of Mind! - The Sutra of Hui Neng More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 26, 2013

Unmasking the Self

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, not knowing what is next and not concerned with what was or what may be next, a new mind is operating that is not connected with the conditioned past and yet perceives and understands the whole mechanism of conditioning. It is the unmasking of the self that is nothing but masks—images, memories of past experiences, fears, hopes, and the ceaseless demand to be something or become somebody.

- Toni Packer, "Unmasking the Self"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 27th, 2013
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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	The pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on the eye: this is the gratification in the eye. That the eye is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change: this is the danger in the eye. The removal and abandonment of desire and lust from the eye: this is the escape from the eye. - Buddha, "The Connected Discourses of the Buddha" More Buddhism Quotes >>

JMG Afternoon View: Gay Historical Marker:

The above sign was posted in 2005 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Visit Philly, the city's official tourism organization, has some details:

Pennsylvania erected Philadelphia’s first LGBT marker to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first Annual Reminder, a demonstration led by pioneering gay activists on July 4 from 1965 to 1969. Standing directly across the street from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center at 6th and Chestnut Streets, the marker serves as a reminder of the city’s open and progressive history. Also adding to Philadelphia’s LGBT appeal are nearly 70 rainbow street signs that adorn the lively and popular Gayborhood. The street signs, along with the blue-and-yellow markers provide great backdrops for LGBT travelers in search of interesting photo opportunities.

A second LGBT-related marker was installed in late 2011 to honor Giovanni's Room, which some consider to have been the first (and is certainly the oldest still-running) gay bookstore in the nation.  We saw both today in a very entertaining Visit Philly trolley tour of Philadelphia's most historic sites and its most-popular gayborhood.
RELATED: Read more about the Annual Reminder.

Labels: Afternoon View, LGBT History, Philadelphia

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 24, 2013

Our Innate Wisdom

All of the 'words of wisdom' are in your own heart, so why waste time listening to someone else speak them? The Buddhadharma is the same. The principles in the sutras come from our own hearts. The wisdom and happiness of all buddhas comes from our own minds.

- Heng Ch'au, "Bowing"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 25th, 2013
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JMG Tweet Of The Day: Better Midler

Labels: Bette Midler, Catholic Church, gay icons, Vatican

Reposted from Joe

Suze Orman Discusses DOMA's Economic Harms

By On Top Magazine Staff
Published: February 22, 2013

Financial whiz Suze Orman appeared on CNN to discuss the economic harms the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) causes.

DOMA is the 1996 law which prevents federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples.

Make the jump here to  read the full article

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 23, 2013

Meeting Life with Grace

When we face the limitations of our power and control, all we can skillfully do is bow to that moment. The conceit of self is challenged and eroded not only by the circumstances of our lives but also by our willingness to meet those circumstances with grace rather than with fear.

- Christina Feldman, "Long Journey to a Bow"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 24th, 2013
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Obama Reiterates Gay Marriage Support In Discussing Prop 8 Case

BEN IVORY - THE RIGHTEOUS ONES (Official Music Video)

Thanks to JMG for this

You can close your eyes if you want to
Lock your doors and hide if we haunt you
Get your guns tonight if we scare you
But we ain’t goin’ nowhere, no we ain’t goin’ nowhere

You can pass a law if you need to
Punch us in the jaw when we beat you
Use your shock and awe if you dare to
But we ain’t goin’ nowhere, no we ain’t goin’ nowhere

Via JMG: AP Issues Style Guide On Husband/Wife

Joe says:

For the last week the LGBT blogosphere has been battling the Associated Press over a direction to  their reporters that they should not automatically refer to people in legal same-sex marriages as "husband" or "wife."  I left the story alone because I figured the AP would immediately correct such as obviously wrong position. Today they finally did. Here's the new policy.

husband, wife Regardless of sexual orientation, husband or wife is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally recognized marriage. Spouse or partner may be used if requested.

The AP adds: "The AP has never had a Stylebook entry on the question of the usage of husband and wife. All the previous conversation was in the absence of such a formal entry. This lays down clear and simple usage. After reviewing existing practice, we are formalizing 'husband, wife' as an entry."

Labels: Associated Press, journalism, language

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Gallup's LGBT Survey: Colorized

 

Somebody over at Buzzfeed colorized Gallup's survey.

Labels: Gallup, maps, surveys

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Nate Silver Handicaps The Oscars

Details.

Labels: 2013 Oscars, Hollywood, Nate Silver

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 22, 2013

Only the Present Moment

Every moment in life is absolute in itself. That's all there is. There is nothing other than this present moment; there is no past, there is no future; there is nothing but this. So when we don't pay attention to each little this, we miss the whole thing.

- Charlotte Joko Beck, "Attention Means Attention"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 23rd, 2013
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