Via JMG: KKK FALLOUT: Activists Call On Catholic Cardinal Francis George To Resign

Activists are calling for the resignation of Catholic Cardinal Francis George after he declared that LGBT activists who protested the church were like members of the KKK. A petition has been launched on Change.org. Several major gay and religious groups have issued statements denouncing the Cardinal.

Human Right Campaign

"Cardinal George's horrific comparison of the LGBT movement to the Ku Klux Klan drives an unnecessary wedge between Catholics and the hierarchy," said Dr. Sharon Groves, Director of HRC's Religion & Faith Program. "This is a sacred time of year for many people of faith, a time when we should be creating and cherishing unity in our communities -- not casting about dangerous and divisive rhetoric. As people of faith we should expect better from our leaders."

Catholics For Marriage Equality

"As a lay Catholic, I am profoundly saddened that Cardinal Francis George defiles his office by comparing our LGBT family, friends and fellow Catholics to the Ku Klux Klan," said Anne Underwood, co-founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality. "His rhetoric rings particularly off-key coming the week before Catholics celebrate the birth of Christ. As a Catholic who responds to our historic Church teachings to stand with all marginalized people, I work for freedom and fairness for my LGBT friends. I feel dismissed and betrayed by our hierarchy, but not by our God, for whom Cardinal George did not speak."

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The Rev. Eric Lee, Executive Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said: "I have spent most of my adult life engaged in the civil rights struggle for African American people who have been terrorized by racist Klan violence," said Lee. "I am insulted by the comparison of the Klan to the current LGBT movement. When we distort the history of terror for cheap political aims, we only inflict pain on those whose lives have been scarred by the Klan."

Truth Wins Out

Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George foolishly compared the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan. He has crossed so far over the line of basic decency that he couldn’t see it with a pair of binoculars. George’s over-the-top remarks were extreme to the point where they shredded his credibility and permanently damaged his ability to serve as a respected voice of reason. This outrageous comparison of the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan was so degrading and hurtful that apologizing will not be sufficient. George’s only road to redemption is handing in his resignation. If he has a shred of dignity and a shard of class he will immediately step down.

Labels: bigotry, Catholic Church, Chicago, gay Pride, HRC, scandal, Truth Wins Out

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 23, 2011

Find a Refuge in Yourself

Without discipline, it’s very difficult to develop stability; that’s why we have a practice. And when we live according to the dharma, when we follow a teacher, when we follow the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, what it really does is bring us stability within ourselves. So, for example, when we have taken refuge, we find a refuge in ourselves; when we need ourselves, we are there for us. So often when we need ourselves, we’re not there.

- Sogyal Rinpoche, "The Stability of Ease"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Gay Poltics Report: A kiss to seal a banner year

• A kiss to seal a banner year
  When U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta walked off the USS Oak Hill this week after a tour of duty, she walked into the arms of her partner and gave her a kiss, becoming the first openly LGBT sailor to carry out the Navy's "first kiss" honor. "This is the first time we can actually show who we are," Gaeta said of her two-year relationship with Citlalic Snell, who also serves in the Navy. The celebration of that kiss, and numerous other examples this year, suggest there is much more support for LGBT equality than most realize, writes Dan Savage. The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) (12/21), The Stranger (Seattle)/SLOG (12/21)   

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 22, 2011

Staying Present with Fear

Let’s say you begin to feel afraid, and out of habit you begin to speed up and get panicked. This thereby strengthens further habits that keep you stuck in a rut. What you find is if you just train in simply staying present even a few seconds with those uncomfortable feelings, like fear, that you can then develop the strength to stay present for a few minutes, and then 10 minutes, then more, and so on. If you can stay present with your own emotional distress in an open space that’s not clouded and keep letting the thoughts about it go, then you always know what will deescalate the heat of the situation.

- Pema Chödrön, "Stepping into Groundlessness"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 21, 2011

Open Yourself to Vulnerability

We have to get to know and be honest about our particular strategies for dealing with vulnerability, and learn to use our practice to allow ourselves to experience more of that vulnerability rather than less of it. To open yourself up to need, longing, dependency, and reliance on others means opening yourself to the truth that none of us can do this on our own. We really do need each other, just as we need parents and teachers. We need all those people in our lives who make us feel so uncertain. Our practice is not about finally getting to a place where we are going to escape all that but about creating a container that allows us to be more and more human, to feel more and more.

- Barry Magid, "No Gain"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: Two big court cases coming up soon on Prop 8 and DOMA

Richard Socarides writing in the New Yorker:

After a year in which we saw a number of high-profile gay-rights victories, including the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage in New York, it’s hard to imagine that more big news is on the immediate horizon. But it is. Two highly significant court rulings in gay-rights cases pending in federal appellate courts are expected soon. Moreover, President Barack Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same sex-marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality.

In Perry v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to address a lower court decision striking down California’s voter-approved Proposition 8. If the court upholds the earlier ruling, it would restore same-sex marriage in California, making that right available to a total of almost twenty-five.

Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which is before the First Circuit, asks whether the Defense of Marriage Act should be declared unconstitutional. That law prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legally preformed in states which allow them.

Via AmericaBlogGay: Signorile on how the gay Netroots helped sink AT&T's merger with T-Mobile

 Mike Signorile on HuffPost Gay Voices:

There are many stories to be told about the collapse of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. One of them underscores, once again, the vitality of an advocacy press and bloggers who ask questions and hammer away at the truth in a way that much of the media simply does not. And while there were many involved in that effort, LGBT bloggers and gay media in particular were critical.

The merger blew up for a variety of reasons: AT&T's timing was horrible, with Occupy Wall Street focusing on corporate injustice as President Obama heads into a tough reelection; the promise of massive job creation just didn't add up; and the Justice Department was on a winning streak with antitrust cases.

 But another reason attributed is the backfiring of AT&T's aggressive lobbying, getting nonprofit organizations and civil rights groups to support the merger -- in what looked like an exchange for cold, hard cash.

It was in early June when gay bloggers first got wind of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's endorsement of the merger.

Via JMG: Bring Exiled Couples Home for the Holidays!

Via JMG: Married After 64 Years

Here's the first paragraph from a great New York article, Reasons To (Heart) NY:

When the Columbia Library closed each night at ten, it was the custom of John Spofford Morgan, who was studying for a master’s in international affairs, to hop on the subway and head downtown to the New Verdi on West 72nd. Back then, there were two kinds of bars for gay men, he says: pickup joints and old-friends joints. The New Verdi was the latter, but it turned into the former when at around 10:30 on May 17, 1947, Louis Halsey walked in. “Love at first sight,” says Lou now. “Was it?” John wonders. “For me it was slower.” In any case, Lou and John spent the night together, just as they have spent most nights in the 64 years ensuing. Last month, they got married.

(Via - Boy Culture)

Labels: gay seniors, gay weddings, New York state, NYC

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG:HomoQuotable - Richard Socarides

"Barack Obama’s self-described 'evolution' on same sex marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality. [snip] Having the President publicly endorse marriage equality will be an important symbolic and substantive turning point. It would likely accelerate the pro-equality shift in public opinion, including in minority communities. It will make it easier for federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, to rule in favor of gay rights in the face of arguments that doing so is out of the mainstream of American political thought. And it might just help get President Obama reelected." - Former Clinton adviser Richard Socarides, writing for the New Yorker.

Labels: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Richard Socarides

Reposted from Joe

PGMC goes Gaga for the Holidays

Via JMG: YouTube Names Zach Wahls As Most-Watched Political Clip Of 2011

YouTube says: "Surpassing the President and various presidential hopefuls in views, the #1 video on our list comes from a young man in Iowa speaking candidly to his government. Zach Wahls’ 3 minute speech defending gay marriage has been viewed more than 18 million times."






YouTube's 2011 Political Top Ten:

1. Zach Wahls speaks about family
2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
3. Strong [Rick Perry ad]
4. President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
5. Brother, can you spare a trillion? Government gone wild!
6. Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
7. Rick Perry - Proven Leadership
8. Jon Stewart Goes Head-to-Head Bill O'Reilly
9. Now is the time for action! [Herman Cain ad]
10. President Barack Obama's First Ad of 2012 [NRSC Ad]

Labels: gay families, gay parenting, Iowa, YouTube

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: "Ex-Gays" In Caribbean Newspapers

Igor Volsky reports that the above full-page Exodus International ad appeared this week in newspapers in Trinidad and Jamaica. Embiggen for bullshittery.

Labels: "ex-gay", bigotry, brainwashing, con men, Jamaica, liars, religion, scam artists, still totally gay

Reposted om fJoe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 20, 2011

Meditation Needs Context

The practice of mindfulness-awareness meditation does not take place in a vacuum. It happens within a certain context and point of view. In the Buddhist tradition, meditation is often presented in the context of view, meditation, and action. Each of these three is essential, as a system of checks and balances. If we do not understand the view, the practice of meditation can be more of a trap than means of freeing ourselves from deception. Rather than loosening our ego-clinging, it could further perpetuate our ignorance and grasping. Rather than connecting us to our world, it could draw us away from it. Meditation in and of itself is no magical cure-all. Proper understanding and proper motivation are important. The view informs the practice.

- Judy Lief, "Is Meditation Enough?"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Gay Poltics Report: Obama will make his case to LGBT voters

The re-election campaign of President Barack Obama is set to remind LGBT voters of significant accomplishments achieved during his administration, including the legislative victory ending the military’s ban on gay and lesbian troops, a record number of openly LGBT presidential appointees and a new emphasis on LGBT rights in U.S. diplomacy abroad. But some argue that the president's promise to be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT equality will remain unfulfilled until he embraces marriage for same-sex couples.
 
Politico (Washington, D.C.) (12/19)     

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 19, 2011

Meditation is never one thing

Meditation is never one thing; you’ll experience moments of peace, moments of sadness, moments of joy, moments of anger, moments of sleepiness. The terrain changes constantly, but we tend to solidify it around the negative: “This painful experience is going to last the rest of my life.” The tendency to fixate on the negative is something we can approach mindfully; we can notice it, name it, observe it, test it, and dispel it, using the skills we learn in practice.

- Sharon Salzberg, "Sticking with It"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Me Respeita!

Este filme foi realizado na disciplina de Documentário, do curso de Jornalismo, na Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, durante o 2º semestre de 2011.

NSFW: Top 5 Reasons People Choose 2 B Gay

Top 5 Reasons People Choose 2 B Gay from FCKH8.com on Vimeo.

Via JMG: California LGBT Rights Group Approved To Gather Prop 8 Repeal Signatures

California LGBT rights group Love Honor Cherish has been approved to begin gathering signatures to place a repeal of Prop 8 on the 2012 ballot. They now have until May 14 to collect 807,615 voter signatures.

Love Honor Cherish submitted the proposed initiative in October after Equality California, the state's largest gay rights group, said it was not prepared to lead a campaign to overturn Proposition 8. In 2008, the measure's supporters and opponents spent $83 million campaigning for and against the amendment, making it the most expensive political race on a social issue in the nation's history.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has been reviewing a lower court's decision from last year that struck down Proposition 8 as a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian Californians. Watson said that if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds that ruling and lifts its injunction barring same-sex couples from marrying, the repeal initiative would no longer be needed.

But if neither the 9th Circuit nor the U.S. Supreme Court reinstate marriage rights for same-sex couples early next year and instead seek to keep the ban in place while the case works its way through the legal system, Love Honor Cherish would move forward with trying to qualify the repeal measure and campaign for its passage, Watson said. .

Labels: LGBT rights, Love Honor Cherish, Proposition 8

reposted from Joe

U.S. judge mulls overturning federal marriage law

 

U.S. judge mulls overturning federal marriage law

www.vancouversun.com

 

A U.S. judge appeared sympathetic to a lesbian federal employee's bid to strike down a law denying health-insurance benefits to her spouse, in the first hearing since the Obama administration decided to quit defending the statute.

Share

Viam JMG: Which Ban?

Via JMG: MINNESOTA: GOP Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch Resigns in Adultery Scandal

Defender of marriage and Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R) has resigned her post in disgrace after allegations of an affair with a Senate staffer. Koch, who is is married with one child, was one of the proponents of Minnesota's 2012 anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. [Update below]

At a Capitol news conference Friday, Sen. Geoff Michel (R-Edina) said Senate staff recently brought up allegations of an “inappropriate relationship between Majority Leader Koch and a Senate staffer.” "We sit here with a lot of humility, sadness, and shock,” Michel said. Michel said multiple staffers reported allegations to Senate leaders. He said he doesn’t know how long the relationship was going on and legally cannot discuss the name of the Senate staffer involved with Sen. Koch. The Edina senator could only specify that it was “inappropriate” a “conflict of interest” and created an “unstable work environment for staff.” On whether or not the relationship was sexual, Michel said "I think there's only two people who could fully characterize that,” but GOP leaders said they never heard the word “sexual” used when the allegations surfaced.

And another anti-gay hypocrite bites the dust! Below is a bit of the May vote to place the anti-gay amendment on the 2012 ballot. UPDATE: Late this afternoon the media learned that while Koch has stepped down as majority leader, she may continue as a state senator. She did say that she will not seek reelection in 2012. Koch was the first female majority leader of the Minnesota Senate and her tenure was the shortest in its history.

Labels: adultery, bigotry, GOP, hypocrisy, liars, Minnesota, sanctity of marriage, scandal

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 17, 2011

True Vision, True Understanding

The mind and the world are opposites, and vision arises where they meet. When your mind doesn't stir inside, the world doesn't arise outside. When the world and the mind are both transparent, this is true vision. And such understanding is true understanding.

- Bodhidharma
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

JMG Asshat Of The Day - Michael Brown

"[Hillary Clinton's] speech, which was hailed by gay activists worldwide, was an exercise in hypocrisy, not to mention an insult to several billion people worldwide. Mrs. Clinton had the audacity to compare religious or cultural objections to homosexual practice to 'the justification offered for violent practices towards women like honor killings, widow burning, or female genital mutilation,' as if the religious and moral objection to men having sex with men is somehow equivalent to the Muslim practice of honor killings or the Hindu practice of burning widows. [snip]

"She stated that 'opinions [on homosexuality] are still evolving', just as opinions evolved over time with slavery, and 'what was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights.' In other words, if you have an issue with the lewd sexual displays at your city’s gay pride parade, or if you’re not comfortable with a man who dresses as a woman using the ladies bathroom, or if you don’t want to see a kid raised by two lesbians and thereby deprived of having a father, or if you believe that God made men to be with women, then you are the moral equivalent of a slave trader or a slave owner." - Michael Brown, writing for Town Hall.

Labels: asshattery, bigotry, Hillary Clinton, LGBT rights, Michael Brown, religion, theocracy

Rerposted from Joe

Via JMG: STUDY: Gay Marriage Improves Health?

A just-published study indicates that gay men who live in states with legalized same-sex marriage may have fewer health problems.

During the 12 months after the 2003 legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, there was a significant decrease in medical care visits, mental health visits and mental health-care costs among gay and bisexual men, compared to the 12 months before the law changed. This led to a 13 percent reduction in health-care visits and a 14 percent reduction in health-care costs. The health benefits were similar for single gay men and those with partners. No reduction was seen in HIV-related health visits by HIV-positive men, which suggests that those in need of HIV/AIDS care continued to use needed health-care services, the researchers said.

Labels: gay health, marriage equality, Massachusetts

reposted from Joe

Via Huffington: Rosie O'Donnell Sounds Off On David Letterman, Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, And More

www.huffingtonpost.com

 

‎"I feel super gay!" says Rosie O'Donnell, bursting with pride and attributing it to the fact that she is newly in love, engaged to Michelle Rounds, and also that she is turning 50 -- the "fuck you 50s" -- and is "not going to lay back and take it anymore" when it comes to speaking out against what s...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/rosie-odonnell-letterman-trump-bachmann-perry_n_1153677.html?ref=gay-voices

 

Why Voting On Gay Rights Is Just Plain Stupid

 

http://front.moveon.org/why-voting-on-gay-rights-is-just-plain-stupid/?rc=daily.share&id=33887-538505-7OWT3zx

Via jMG; Kayak.Com Caves To Florida Hate Group

Right Wing Watch reports that the online travel site Kayak has joined Lowe's in caving to the Florida Family Association.

Yesterday the company, citing concerns about “specific content” (which it didn’t identify) admitted that it had joined Lowe's in pulling ads from the show. Kayak later posted an explanation of its actions, but instead of simply apologizing and reinstating the ads, Chief Marketing Officer Robert Birge decided to keep digging, claiming that the blame should go to TLC, which “wasn’t upfront about the nature of the show.” Since the complaints from the Florida Family Association are that the show portrays Muslims as ordinary, peaceful Americans, it’s hard to take Birge’s explanation seriously. The name of the show is, after all, “All American Muslim.” What exactly did Birge expect? Did he want more stereotypical anti-Muslim caricatures, like the FFA did? Birge goes on to say that he’d never actually watched the show before, but now that he’s seen it, he insists that, “The show sucks.”

Labels: boycotts, Florida, hate groups, religion

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Newt Will Save Your Marriage!

Via JMG: He Messed With The Wrong Lesbian

Via the Bellingham Herald in Washington state.

A 22-year-old man was arrested for an alleged hate crime against a lesbian couple early Sunday, Dec. 11, after he yelled slurs at them and smashed in the window of a victim's car, but was then pinned to the ground by one of the victims, police said. William Adam Lane confronted the couple outside a bar early Sunday in the 200 block of Chestnut Avenue when he saw them embracing, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young. Lane made profane, derogatory comments about the couple's sexuality, but the women "expressed no interest in having a conversation," Young said. Lane then smashed in the rear window of the Toyota they'd arrived in, causing about $600 damage, Young said. One of the women tackled the suspect and pinned him to the ground while she waited for help from a bouncer at the nearby bar.

Lane was charged with malicious harassment. Our hero was uninjured.

Labels: hate crimes, lesbians, Washington state

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: No Good Deed, Etc...

JMG reader Mike wrote to the Tennessee Equality Project to ask why they'd made no mention of our successful fundraising campaign to pay for the funeral of gay bullying victim Jacob Rogers. With Mike's permission, here's the bulk of their response to him.

We generally do not repost such fundraising efforts because they are not within our organization's control. We typically do not have any way of knowing how those funds will be distributed. With regard to Dan Savage, Joe My God and Towleroad we could not in good conscience condone their efforts out of respect for Jacob and his family. That may seem counter-intuitive on the surface. So allow me to explain.

Each of these bloggers pledged to donate part of the contributions received for the funeral to other organizations. Had they pledged to only raise money for the family, we might have considered re-posting their efforts. Dan reports that the goal was to raise $5000 for Jacob's funeral. They raised $9000. That means that $4000 will be divided between GLSEN, the Trevor Project, and the ACLU's LGBT Youth Project. Will these organizations spend that received money to confront anti-LGBT bullying and harassment and advance policy and legislation to support that effort in Tennessee? We simply don't know. We do know the past practice of many national groups and celebrities outside of Tennessee. Without mentioning names, many national organizations in 2011 used the passage of the Don't Say Gay bill in the Senate and the workplace discrimination law we call the "Special Access to Discriminate" Act (HB600/SB632) to raise funds for their organizations. We know of several examples where these organizations and individuals received such funds and did not reinvest in efforts to promote safe schools or workplace equality in Tennessee.

TEP has been very careful about providing a positive way to respond to this tragedy without making an "ask" of contributions to TEP or other organizations. TEP's email alert about our petition to the Cheatham County School Board did not include any of our standard links to donate to our organization. We believe that it is unethical and morally wrong to raise funds for TEP or other organizations following the news of a tragedy. I do believe that Mr. Savage, Mr. Towle, and Joe.My.God have good intentions, but we could not condone their approach in this situation.

Dan Savage responds: "How many schools in Tennessee has GLSEN worked with? How many calls from Tennessee has Trevor taken? How many cases has the ACLU queer youth project taken on in Tennessee? And how many kids in Tennessee have been reached by the It Gets Better Project?"

As noted on all three blogs that day, our donation buttons were yanked once we reached the goal of $5000. But due to the overwhelming response, a total of $9000 had flooded in by the time we updated our posts. Through the accounting office of Seattle's Stranger, $5000 was delivered to the Tennessee funeral home hired by Jacob's grandmother, whom he'd been living with after reportedly being kicked out for being gay. The remainder was divided equally to the above four organizations, also as promised that morning.

Labels: Dan Savage, JMG, Tennessee, Towleroad

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: San Francisco Asks Appeals Court For Advance Notice On Prop 8 Verdict

Via Ian Millhiser at Think Progress, we learn that the city of San Francisco has sent an unusual request to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Clearly, they fear civil unrest in the event of a decision against equality.

In several prior instances when decisions have been issued relating to the marriage rights of same-sex couples, there have been large gatherings, including protesters, at the courthouses and in the Civic Center area of San Francisco. . . . In any instance where crowds of protesters gather, and particularly where the issue is as emotional and contested as this one, it is helpful for the San Francisco Police Department to be aware of the gathering in advance to plan for and deploy an adequate number of officers to the areas where protests are likely to occur. We would therefore be grateful if the Court could provide advance notice of its intention to issue its decision in this case.

View the letter.

Labels: Ninth Circuit Court., Proposition 8, San Francisco

Reposted from Joe

JMG Asshat Of The Day - Joe Dallas

"Satan’s strategy is leading humans astray, whether the arena is doctrinal or moral, is to deceive an individual into thinking that what God has forbidden is not really wrong or destructive, but is, in fact, life enhancing. So it was I the garden when Satan tempted Eve; so it may well be with your loved one. The sin of homosexuality is human nature, but the belief that sin is not really sin comes not from human nature alone but from an ancient and evil messenger. [snip]

"And as you know, if you took the Bible hard enough you could make it say whatever you want it to, cults can do that, Nazis did that and I’m afraid it’s being done today under the guise of civil rights and gay liberation." - Former Exodus International leader and alleged former homosexual Joe Dallas, who says he wants to be "nowhere near" openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson when God judges him.

RELATED: You can learn more about "gays are from Satan" and "gays are like Nazis" by reading the loving Christian website of Joe Dallas.

Labels: "ex-gay", asshats, brainwashing, con men, Exodus International, liars, religion, scam artists, still totally gay, torture

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: You Thought You Were Second Class? Romney Has A Third Class For Gays

After suffering national embarrassment at the hands of a gay-married Vietnam veteran, Mitt Romney has issued his new plan for marriage in which gays aren't just second class, some of us are third. The Boston Herald notes:

[Romney] expressed support for a constitutional amendment that could create a complex three-tier system of marriage — maintaining marriage rights for straight couples, allowing gays who have already married to remain married, but barring future same-sex marriages. "I think it would keep intact those marriages which had occurred under the law but maintain future plans based on marriage being between a man and a woman,” Romney said.

He's talking out of his ass, of course, as this sort of federal plan would never be instituted. Maybe he thinks this makes him look like less of a meanie after that takedown by Bob Garon.

Labels: GOP, marriage equality, Mitt Romney

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Gingrich Signs NOM's Hate Pledge

Gingrich joins Romney, Santorum, Perry, and Bachmann in vowing to thwart the civil rights guaranteed to LGBT Americans by the U.S. Constitution. The only remaining holdout is Ron Paul.

Labels: adultery, bigotry, Catholic Church, hate groups, hypocrisy, NOM, religion, theocracy

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 16, 2011

Bowing is Just Bowing

Bowing is just bowing. You do it mindfully, in a particular way, aware of the body and mind in the doing of it. The so-called meaning of it is extra. It’s not a symbolic or conceptual act. It’s just another form of sitting practice. You sit, you walk, the bell rings, you get up and bow. To just do what you do with full attention and without much worry is an important part of the method in Zen.

- Norman Fischer, "Why do we bow?"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

I wrote more on bowing here 

Via Kate Clinton: Tough Love