Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Ordinary life and Buddhahood have no distinction. Great knowledge is not different from ignorance. Why should one seek outwardly for a treasure, when the field of the body has its own bright jewel? - Pao-chih, "The Nonduality of Buddhahood and Ordinary Life" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Brazilians Protest "Gay Cure" Bill

Brazilians Protest "Gay Cure" Bill

EuroNews reports:

In the midst of the biggest nationwide protests against the government in decades Brazilians have taken to the streets to express their anger at a controversial law known as the “gay cure” proposed by the the president of the Brazilian Parliament’s Commission for Human Rights, Marco Feliciano. If passed the change in legislation would permit psychologists to treat “homosexuality” as an illness.

(Tipped by JMG reader Robert)

Labels: Brazil, ex-gay, LGBT rights, protests

Reposted from Joe 

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 23, 2013

What Nature Teaches

Nature teaches us simplicity and contentment, because in its presence we realize we need very little to be happy.

- Mark Coleman, "A Breath of Fresh Air"

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Rudolf Brazda, last of the Pink Triangles, tells his story

Baha'i participation in Springfield Missouri LGBT Civil Rights Survey

Hello friends,

I wanted to share an interesting, yet upsetting situation out of Springfield Missouri's Baha'i community concerning participation in an LGBT civil rights survey.  As always there is something to be learned from such a situation, and of course I had to write the National Spiritual Assembly bringing this to their attention.  A lot has happened in the American Baha'i community as we face this sensitive , yet timely subject.  Much I do not agree with, but any talk is good (voice of optimism).  Progress can only happen if those who remain silent speak up and bring forth a voice of reason, love, acceptance to the table.  I look forward to National's response. 

love,

S R

Palm Springs, CA

____

Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 11:37 PM
Subject: Baha'i participation in Springfield Missouri LGBT Civil Rights Survey

Dear National Spiritual Assembly,

With a heavy heart I write you with news published online and in print concerning a survey that representatives of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Springfield Missouri took part in.  The survey is from a local faith subcommittee task force on faith and gender identity concerning LGBT civil rights and protection in the city of Springfield. As a gay man I am concerned that an LSA would publicly endorse discrimination against LGBT people in light of your recent guidance that has been recirculated this year.  The civil rights of LGBT people (workplace protection, fair and equal housing, and inclusion in being a protected minority class) does not conflict with Baha'i law.  There has been some progress in the American Baha'i community in regards to this topic, discussions are occurring, presentations are being made, LGBT Baha'is are meeting each other for the first time in a spirit of love and support, yet moments like this take our community ten steps back.  The following was the response of the Springfield LSA to the survey:

1. Do you agree that the Springfield City Code should be amended to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance? No
2. Would your answer reflect the majority of members in your congregation? Yes
3. If the task force finds that there is discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity in housing, employment, and/or public accommodations in Springfield, would you support adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance? No
4. Would your answer reflect the majority of members in your congregation? Yes

http://www.springfieldmo.gov/taskforce/sogi/pdfs/faithSubcomRpt.pdf

I do hope that there can be consultation with the LSA of Springfield Missouri regarding this sensitive topic.  I appreciate your continued efforts in addressing this topic, and look forward to your guidance in the future.  

With love always,

S R

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 22, 2013

Imagination vs Fantasy

Imagination confronts desire directly, in all its discomfort and intensity, deepening the world right where we are. Fantasy and reality are opposing forces, but imagination and reality are not in opposition: Imagination goes toward reality, shapes and evokes it.

- Norman Fischer, "Saved from Freezing"

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Via JMG: A Warning From Oda Mae

Image by my pal NYC DJ Corey Craig.

Labels: DOMA, silliness, Whoopi Goldberg

Reposted fromJoe

Via JMG: Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 20, 2013

The Path of Engagement

The starting point is overcoming ignorance. That’s where the Buddha said we should start. We have to make it part of our daily discipline to become better informed about the world we live in. We need to be able to distinguish between truth and falsity such as misinformation from our governments and from mainstream news media. We also have to learn to deal steadfastly and intelligently with suffering.

- Richard Reoch, "The Path of Complete Engagement"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through June 21, 2013
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 19, 2013

How to Give

An act of giving is of most benefit when one gives something of value, carefully, with one’s own hand, while showing respect, and with a view that something wholesome will come of it.

- Andrew Olendzki, “Dana: The Practice of Giving"

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	[I]ndulge in lust a little, and like the child it grows apace. The wise man hates it therefore; who would take poison for food? Every sorrow is increased and cherished by the offices of lust. If there is no lustful desire, the risings of sorrow are not produced, the wise man seeing the bitterness of sorrow, stamps out and destroys the risings of desire;... - Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Neither nakedness nor matted hair nor mud nor the refusal of food nor sleeping on the bare ground nor dust & dirt nor squatting austerities cleanses the mortal who's not gone beyond doubt. If, though adorned, one lives in tune with the chaste life --calmed, tamed & assured-- having put down the rod toward all beings, he's a contemplative a brahmin a monk. - Dhammapada, 10, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 18, 2013

Respecting the Practice

When people use spiritual practice to try to compensate for feelings of alienation and low self-esteem, they corrupt the true nature of spiritual practice. Instead of loosening the manipulative ego that tries to control its experience, they strengthen it, and their spiritual practice remains unintegrated with the rest of their life.

- John Welwood, “The Psychology of Awakening”

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Via JMG: Pew Research Survey: 48% Of LGBT USAans Have No Religious Affiliation

In another release from the latest survey from Pew Research, we learn the unsurprising news that gays are more than twice as likely to be atheists or religiously unaffiliated.

When it comes to religion, the LGBT population has a distinctly different profile than the general public. Fewer LGBT adults have a religious affiliation. About half of LGBT respondents describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or having no particular religion (48%)─more than double the portion of the general public that is religiously unaffiliated (20%). Young LGBT adults are particularly likely to have no religious affiliation, a pattern that is also found among the general public. However, compared with the general public, a higher share of LGBT adults are unaffiliated across all age groups. For example, among adults ages 18 to 29 in the general public, 31% are religiously unaffiliated, while roughly double that share (60%) are unaffiliated among LGBT adults of the same age. And roughly one-in-eight adults ages 50 and older in the general public are unaffiliated (13%), compared with about four-in-ten (39%) of older LGBT adults.

Labels: atheism, Pew Research, religion, surveys

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Rallies Planned For "Decision Day"

 

Activist groups across the nation are gearing up for celebrations or protests on the day that the Supreme Court hands down its decisions on DOMA and Prop 8.  Go to this interactive map for details on events near you.  The Bay Area Reporter has details on what is planned for San Francisco:

In San Francisco a group of volunteers known as the Day of Decision Committee is planning for a party, hopefully, in the heart of the gay Castro district. Police are expected to shut down the 400 and 500 blocks of Castro Street from 5:30 to 9 p.m. for the event. Drivers are being warned to avoid parking on Castro Street the evening of the decision; cars will not be towed but vehicles could be stuck there until after the event ends. Should Prop 8 be struck down then the plan is to have sound trucks with DJs playing music and speeches by community leaders. Similar events have been held in the past to either celebrate or protest court decisions.

New Yorkers are invited to gather outside the Stonewall Inn at 5:30PM on the day of the ruling.

Labels: activism, DOMA, Prop 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Pew Poll: When Did You Know?

 

The Washington Post reports:

In a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday, nine in 10 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults said society has become more accepting of them and that they expect it to become more so in the years ahead. But only 19 percent said there is “a lot” of acceptance for gays, while 59 percent chose to characterize it more softly, as “some” acceptance, and 21 percent said there was little to none.
More than half said they had been subjected to slurs or jokes about gays, and sizable numbers said they had been rejected by friends or family, threatened with physical attack, or made to feel unwelcome at a house of worship. The Pew survey of 1,197 LGBT adults is the first of its kind by a major polling organization. It asked them when they realized they weren’t straight, when they came out and how they have felt ostracized at times. Compared with the general public, Pew said, gay men and lesbians are more liberal, more Democratic, less religious, less happy with their lives, yet more satisfied with the direction the country is headed.

Make you sure visit Pew's fascinating quote farm from the poll's respondents. An interactive graph lets you compare your experiences with your age peers. (Tipped by JMG reader James)

Labels: LGBT culture, LGBT rights, Pew Project

Reposted from Joe

JMG Quote Of The Day - Sen. Max Baucus

"When it comes to the workplace, it is unacceptable for anyone to be fired simply because of their sexual orientation. ENDA will help protect workers from this type of discrimination and I look forward to moving forward on this legislation in the Senate as soon as possible. Members of the LGBT community are our neighbors, brothers, sisters and friends. They are community leaders who bring the kind of diversity to our nation that makes it strong. We all have a role in making sure that Pride Month is not just something we check off on the calendar. 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' for all Americans is what we are called to strive for every day of the year." - Sen. Max Baucus, writing for the Montana Standard. (Tipped by JMG reader Mike)

 

Labels: ENDA, LGBT rights, Max Baucus, Senate

Reposted from Joe

Via GayPolitics Report: Olympics officials are concerned about Russian anti-gay law

The International Olympic Committee expressed concern this week after the Russian parliament advanced by unanimous vote legislation that would punish those convicted of "promoting homosexuality." The 2014 Winter Olympics are to be held in the Russian resort town of Sochi, where officials previously denied establishment of a Pride house for LGBT athletes in the Olympic village. Some out athletes have expressed alarm about the law, saying it could put them at risk of arrest. FoxNews.com/The Associated Press (6/11), Gay Star News (6/12), GayPolitics.com (6/12), Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.) (6/12)

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness. - Heart Sutra More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 14, 2013

The Truth about Suffering

I once thought Buddhism would save me from suffering. That was before I started to grow older and wiser. And it isn’t so much the wisdom that changed my mind about the end of suffering as it is the aging.

- Wes Nisker, “The Question”

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Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Speak not harshly to anyone. Those thus addressed will retort. Painful, indeed, is vindictive speech. Blows in exchange may bruise you. If, like a cracked gong, you silence yourself, you have already attained Nibbana: no vindictiveness will be found in you. - Dhammapada 133-134 More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 13, 2013

The Virtue of Great Compassion

Just as when you want to win people’s hearts you first love their children, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas consider all living beings their children, so if you love all living beings equally, all the Buddhas will be moved to respond.

- Zen Master Torei, "Great Compassion"

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Via JMG: Sen. Patrick Leahy Intro's LGBT Couples Amendment To Immigration Reform Bill

Shortly after the Senate voted to debate the immigration reform bill written by the so-called Gang Of Eight, late this afternoon Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) again introduced an amendment that would allow LGBT citizens to sponsors their spouses for permanent residency. Politico reports:

“Seeking equal protection under our laws for the LGBT community is the right thing to do,” Leahy said in a statement Tuesday. “I withheld my anti-discrimination amendment during the Senate Judiciary Committee markup. As the entire Senate turns to debate the immigration bill, the fight for equality must go on.” It is unclear whether Leahy’s proposal will get a vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have yet to reach an agreement on amendments. And the political dynamics for Leahy’s amendment are different on the floor. In the committee, the amendment would have required just a simple majority for it to pass. On the floor, it will almost certainly need 60 votes.

Republicans had previously threatened to torpedo the entire bill if LGBT spouses were attached. Late last month Democratic members of the Senate reluctantly agreed that such an imperfect bill was better than no immigration reform at all and Leahy withdrew his amendment. It's not yet clear why Leahy is now trying again.
DOMA Project founder Lavi Soloway reacts via press release:

With this bold move, Senator Leahy has carved out an exception to the Defense of Marriage Act for lesbian and gay binational couples that will provide access to existing marriage-related family unification provisions of our immigration law. The Leahy amendment does not actually amend any current provision of our immigration law, but simply removes the extrinsic barrier caused by DOMA that prevents lesbian and gay Americans from filing petitions for their spouses, fiance(e)s and stepchildren. The implication of Senator Leahy's focus on equality is that LGBT families are no different than any other American families comprised of citizens and non-citizens. We must have access to the same immigration law protections that ensure that no family is torn apart. No band aid solution will ever make us equal.  

Labels: DOMA, immigration, immigration reform, Lavi Soloway, LGBT rights, Patrick Leahy, Senate

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again. - Dhammapada More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 12, 2013

Not About Being Good

Just as Buddhist shila [ethical conduct] refers not to some imaginary static state of virtue but to an ongoing test of volition, so too is this true of enlightenment. Since there is no abiding personhood in any of us, rather than speaking of an enlightened person, let’s speak of enlightened conduct.

- Bodhin Kjolhede, "Pain, Passion, and the Precepts"

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Via JMG: Pope: There ARE Gays In The Vatican

Pope Francis has confirmed the presence of a "gay lobby" in the Vatican.

Back in February Italian media claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating the leaks included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay Vatican clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships."In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption," the pope is quoted as having said during an audience last week with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women).

"There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists. We have to see what can be done," the 76-year-old pontiff is quoted as saying on the Reflection and Liberation website, which was flagged up by religious news agencies on Tuesday. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP: "It was a private meeting, I have no comment to make." The secret report compiled by a committee of three cardinals for the pope's eyes only was the result of a broad inquiry into leaks of secret Vatican papers last year -- a scandal known as "Vatileaks".

Sounds like a witch hunt is coming.

 

Labels: Catholic Church, Pope Francis, religion, Vatican

Reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report

Can same-sex couples save marriage?
Liza Mundy writes about same-sex couples' approach to marriage, and wonders whether it can be a model for opposite-sex couples, many of whom have struggled to adapt their marriages to the realities of modern life. "[I]f a genderless marriage is a marriage in which the wife is not automatically expected to be responsible for school forms and child care and dinner preparation and birthday parties and midnight feedings and holiday shopping, I think it's fair to say that many heterosexual women would cry 'Bring it on!' " Mundy writes. A 2006 study found that heterosexual divorce rates dropped in European countries that granted legal status to same-sex partnerships. The Atlantic online (5/22)

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Colin & Joe - Binational Couple Fights Uncertainty Brought on by DOMA gaybinationals

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	It is through not understanding, not penetrating four things that we have run so erratically, wandered on so long in this round of existence, both you and I. What are the four? Goodness, concentration, wisdom, and liberation. When these four things are understood and penetrated, craving for superficial existence is rooted out and that which leads to continued return to the same conditions is ended. There is no more constant journeying. - Digha Nikaya More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma / FB:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 11, 2013

A New Approach

What disintegrates in periods of rapid transformation is not the self, but its defenses and assumptions. Self-protection restricts vision and movement like a suit of armor, making it harder to adapt. Going to pieces, however uncomfortable, can open us up to new perceptions, new data, and new responses.

- Joanna Macy, "The Greatest Danger"

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Via JMG: Google Salutes Maurice Sendak

Today's Google Doogle pays tribute to gay author Maurice Sendak, who died last year.  Sendak came out in 2008 at the age of 80 and revealed a 50-year relationship with his partner.

For what would have been his 85th birthday on Monday, Google has drawn up a wonderfully imagined Google Doodle as a tribute to the beloved illustrator and children’s book author Maurice Sendak. It begins, of course, with Max sailing to the land of Where the Wild Things Are, but soon also ventures to the surreal cityscape of In The Night Kitchen and ends, appropriately, with the birthday party from Sendak's 2011 book Bumble-Ardy. Happy birthday, Mr. Sendak.

Labels: gay writers, Google, Maurice Sendak

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: No Marriage Rulings From SCOTUS Today

 

The Supreme Court has released its regular Monday rulings and the same-sex marriage cases do not appear on the list.  Most do not expect the DOMA and Prop 8 rulings to be issued until the end of the month, but there is a chance they could come sooner.  There will be another round of rulings issued later this week in a rare Thursday release.

Labels: DOMA, Prop 8, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Prop 8 Ruling is Just Days Away: June 10 Marriage News Watch

Via JMG: Californians Back Marriage By 22 Points

The Los Angeles Times reports on their latest poll:

The poll found that 58% of the state's registered voters believe same-sex marriage should be legal, compared with 36% against, a margin of 22 points. When the same pollsters asked that question three years ago, 52% favored gay marriage and 40% opposed it, a 12-point spread.
Most national polls this year have found majority support, but only one of those surveys reported it as high as 58%. The average was roughly 51% in favor of gay marriage. As in the rest of the country, more women (63%) than men (52%) in California favor same-sex marriage.
Younger California voters also support gay marriage by larger margins than older voters, the poll found. Whereas 76% of voters ages 18 to 29 support legalizing the unions, only 52% of those ages 50 to 64 agree.
Still, the shifts among older voters are dramatic. Voters 65 and older are now almost evenly divided — 46% in favor, 47% against — compared with just three years ago, when seniors opposed gay marriage by 19 percentage points.

If Prop 8 is upheld and marriage ends up returning to the ballot in California, at least we have this as a starting point. For now.

Labels: California, marriage equality, polls, Prop 8

Reposted from Joe

Via The Buddha's Face / FB:

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is itself to succumb to the violence of our times. Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
~Thomas Merton

Via Today.com: How Gay Married Couples get Shortchanged

How gay married couples get shortchanged

June 9, 2013 at 10:32 AM ET

 

Jason DeCrow / AP

 

Patrick Plain, left, and Seong Man Hong, both of New York, celebrate after getting married at the City Clerk's office in New York Sunday, July 24, 2011. 

 

More than 1,000 federal rights and securities are denied to couples in same-sex marriages not legally recognized by Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, says Vickie Henry, senior staff attorney at Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD. GLAD is a leading advocacy group in the campaign to strike down DOMA.

"Few of those benefits are more important than Social Security," says Crosby Burns, policy analyst of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan educational institute based in Washington, D.C.

"This program forms part of the bedrock of our nation's safety net," Burns says. "With full and equal access to this social insurance program, families headed by same-sex couples would finally have access to the economic safeguards they need, intended to keep them out of poverty and afloat during hard times."

Chief among them, Henry says, are the spousal benefit, the spousal disability benefit, the lump-sum benefit and the survivors benefit. The children of same-sex parents would also be affected.

Read on to see how the Social Security system works in favor of heterosexual married couples and against same-sex married couples. If DOMA is struck down, gay couples stand to gain more Social Security benefits.

Make the jump here to read the full article courtesy of today.com

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Eventually we will find (mostly in retrospect, of course) that we can be very grateful to those people who have made life most difficult for us. - Ayya Khema, "When the Iron Eagle Flies" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 10, 2013

Here and Now

Heaven and hell are not some places I’m going to go to later on. Heaven and hell are here right now, and I create them for myself with my own choices.

- Hae Doh Gary Schwocho, "Beneath Belief"

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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 9, 2013

Nowhere to Stay

Pleasure isn’t a place for you to stay. Pain isn’t a place for you to stay. Pain wears away. Pleasure wears away. Our foremost Teacher said that all fabrications are inconstant.

- Ajahn Chah, “The Last Gift”

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Via JMG:POLL: Parents Chill About Gay Kids

 

More from Pew's latest study:

In 1985, a Los Angeles Times survey found that 64% of the public said they would be “very upset” if their child told them he or she was gay or lesbian. By 2004, that number had fallen by almost half (33%). Since then, it has declined another 14 points, to 19%. Instead, a majority (55%) now says they would not be upset if they learned their child was gay or lesbian, a 19-point increase since 2004 and a 46-point increase since the mid-1980s. Again, this has been an across-the-board shift in attitudes.

Yet the change has been more dramatic among some groups than others. In 2004, fully 82% of those 65 and older said they would be upset if their child told them they were gay, and 50% said they’d be very upset. Today, only about half (47%) say they’d be upset and just 24% say they’d be very upset.Among Republicans, the percentage saying they’d be very upset if they learned their child was gay or lesbian also has fallen by half – from 44% to 22% – since 2004.

Labels: homosexuality, parenting, polls

Reposted from Joe