Via JMG: NEW POLLS: Majorities Support Marriage In Oregon, Illinois, New Jersey

Public Policy Polling reports that majorities in Oregon, New Jersey, and Illinois support the passage of same-sex marriage.

Oregon voters are ready to legalize same sex marriage. 77% think they should be able to have a say on the issue, and 54% say they would vote to legalize it with 40% opposed. Independents support it by a 64/33 margin and there are more Republicans (17%) ready to make it legal than there are Democrats (15%) who aren't. Voters under 45 support it by a 68/30 spread.
New Jersey voters think same sex marriage should be allowed in their state by a 53/36 margin, and Illinois voters believe it should be permitted by a 47/42 spread. A few things stand out on the New Jersey numbers. There are more Republicans (21%) who support same sex marriage than Democrats (19%) who oppose it. There's also 54/36 favor for it among independents. 72% of voters in the state think they should be allowed to vote on the issue.
In Illinois even though there's only narrow overall support for same sex marriage the numbers are 58% for and 37% against among voters under 45, another sign that it's just a matter of time given the big generational divide on the issue. Black voters, perhaps following the lead of President Obama, think it should be legal by a 60/16 spread. That's a much wider margin than we see with them nationally.

(Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Labels: Illinois, LGBT rights, marriage equality, New Jersey, Oregon, polls

Reposted from Joe

Via United Nations For a Free Tibet (India) / FB:

It is better to travel well than to arrive - Buddha

Via Go Left / FB:

Chips Tips...

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 9, 2012

To Recognize Emptiness

Every moment of experience is contingent on a vast complex of myriad conditions. Nothing exists in and of itself as 'this' or 'that,' 'self' or 'other.' Everything is what it is only in relation to what it is not. To recognize this emptiness is not to negate things but to glimpse what enables anything to happen at all.

- Stephen Batchelor, "Nagarjuna’s Verses from the Center"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 11th, 2012
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Via FB:

Via Path To Peace & Happiness / FB:

“If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding.” ― Dalai Lama

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 8, 2012

Participating in Divinity

When we make the effort to understand what may seem strange in the religious practices of others, we may find that it opens the door to something beyond the particular case, something quite general: the capacity of humans to participate in divinity.

- Robert Bellah, "The R Word"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 10th, 2012
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BREAKING: Prop 8 Goes to Supreme Court

Via JMG: SCOTUS Reactions

ACLU

Windsor is represented by attorneys from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; the American Civil Liberties Union; the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. While New York and eight other states now give same-sex couples the freedom to marry, DOMA requires otherwise legally married same-sex couples like Edie and Thea to be treated by the federal government as if they had never married,” said New York Civil Liberties Union executive director, Donna Lieberman. “It is time for the Supreme Court to strike down this unconstitutional statute once and for all.”

NY Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell

While I am disappointed that Californians will now have to wait even longer for Marriage Equality to be restored in their state, I am profoundly hopeful that the Supreme Court is taking this opportunity to consider the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. I was proud to help lead New York’s successful Marriage Equality fight, but until the federal government recognizes marriages like mine, we have not achieved true Marriage Equality.

GLAD

DOMA creates a gay-only exception to federal recognition of state-licensed marriages, and we believe that the federal government should stop discriminating against same-sex couples legally married by their states. We know from working with legally married same-sex couples since 2004 in Massachusetts that DOMA undermines their security in every aspect of life and death. GLAD has been leading the fight for marriage equality for two decades, including the historic marriage equality breakthroughs in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That the issue will soon be heard by the Supreme Court is a vindication of our work to achieve equal protection under the law for same-sex couples. This day has been long in the making, and we are committed to the success of this case.

Empire State Pride Agenda

Although marriage equality in New York and the recent wins in Maine, Maryland and Washington were major victories, DOMA currently prevents our marriages from being recognized on the federal level. This means that our commitments are not honored and our families are not protected by the federal government. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will grant all married couples, in New York and other states, the recognition they deserve by upholding the multiple lower court rulings that have already declared sections of DOMA and Proposition 8 unconstitutional. We view these deliberations as necessary to end discrimination and advance full equality for all Americans.

Human Rights Campaign

Today is a milestone day for equal justice under the law and for millions of loving couples who want to make a lifelong commitment through marriage. The passage of Proposition 8 caused heartbreak for so many Americans, but today’s announcement gives hope that we will see a landmark Supreme Court ruling for marriage this term. As the Court has ruled 14 times in the past, marriage is a fundamental right and I believe they will side with liberty, freedom and equality, moving us toward a more perfect union as they have done in the past. “Proposition 8 has been already been declared unconstitutional in Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Supreme Court has an opportunity to do the same and send a resounding message of hope to LGBT young people from coast to coast that they have the same dignity and same opportunities for the future as everyone else.

Freedom To Marry

By agreeing to hear a case against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, the Court can now move swiftly to affirm what 10 federal rulings have already said: DOMA’s ‘gay exception’ to how the federal government treats married couples violates the Constitution and must fall. When it comes to the whole federal safety net that accompanies marriage – access to Social Security survivorship, health coverage, family leave, fair tax treatment, family immigration, and over 1000 other protections and responsibilities -- couples who are legally married in the states should be treated by the federal government as what they are: married." “Additionally, gay and lesbian couples in California – and indeed, all over the country – now look to the Supreme Court to affirm that the Constitution does not permit states to strip something as important as the freedom to marry away from one group of Americans.

CA Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom

Today marks the beginning of the end for a California journey that started eight years ago when San Francisco issued same-sex marriage licenses. By agreeing to hear the Proposition 8 case the U.S. Supreme Court could end, once and for all, marriage inequity in California. Forty-five years after the Supreme Court ruled that marriages between interracial couples were constitutional in Loving vs. Virginia, Justices can once again reaffirm the basic American principal of equality for all. Today’s announcement starts the clock towards the final decision for California. History will one day be divided into the time before marriage equality and the period that follows. And thankfully, we will be on the side of history worthy of being proud of.

Marriage Equality USA

It’s crystal clear that the United States Supreme Court should rule in favor of the freedom to marry. Our Constitution guarantees every American the fundamental human right to marry the person they love – regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other external characteristic. Proposition 8 targeted lesbian and gay people – and lesbian and gay people alone – to take away their freedom to marry and thus exclude them from the American dream. Proposition 8 cannot stand.

NGLTF

The recent election signaled just how far we’ve come on the path toward treating all families fairly, with landmark statewide victories affirming the right of loving, committed same-sex couples to share in the celebration and responsibilities of marriage. This long road to the high court has been filled with thousands of personal conversations about why marriage matters to us, and of how discrimination hurts our families. The transformative nature of talking about our love and our lives is clear, as we saw with the recent sweeping statewide marriage victories, and in the fact that the majority of Americans now supports the freedom to marry. But the journey is not finished, for as long as DOMA and Prop. 8 remain intact, then true equality remains out of reach. It’s time the Supreme Court strike down DOMA and Proposition 8, once and for all.

More as they arrive....

Labels: ACLU, Daniel O'Donnell, DOMA, LGBT rights, Proposition 8, Protect Marriage, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: BREAKING: Supreme Court To Hear Proposition 8 & Windsor DOMA Cases

SCOTUSblog weighs in:

Trying to sort this all out, it is clear that the Court has agreed to consider the merits case in Prop. 8, because that is what the petition presented as its question, but that it is also going to address whether the proponents had a right to pursue their case. If the Court were to find that the proponents did not have Art. III standing, that is the end of the matter: there would be no review on the merits of Proposition 8, or of the 9th CA decision striking it down.

UPDATE: The decisions have been posted.

Labels: DOMA, LGBT History, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Proposition 8, Supreme Court

Reposted from Joe
 

Via Gay Politics Report:

• LGBT Americans feel increasing acceptance, poll finds
   
• Ninety-one percent of LGBT Americans say people in their communities have become more accepting of them in recent years, a poll finds, but almost as many say discrimination is still a somewhat serious or very serious problem in the U.S. The USA TODAY/Gallup poll also found that 53% of all Americans now say they support allowing same-sex couples to marry, compared with 27% in a 1996 Gallup poll. USA Today (12/5) 

Via FB:

Path To Peace & Happiness shared Buddhism - Path To Peace's photo.

‎"Through our practice of mindfulness we become aware of the feelings which arise when we make sense contacts. Feelings happen all the time and need to be recognised so that we can change our instinctive way of living to a deliberate way of being alive. Instinctively we are a constant reactor; deliberately we become an actor."

- Ayya Kema

‎

"Through our practice of mindfulness we become aware of the feelings which arise when we make sense contacts. Feelings happen all the time and need to be recog

nised so that we can change our instinctive way of living to a deliberate way of being alive. Instinctively we are a constant reactor; deliberately we become an actor."
- Ayya Kema

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Delight in heedfulness. Watch over your own mind. Lift yourself up from the hard-going way, like a tusker sunk in the mud. - Dhammapada, 327, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Path To Peace & Happiness / FB:

‎"Whenever the energy of anger comes up, we often want to express it to punish the person whom we believe to be the source of our suffering. This is the habit energy in us. When we suffer, we always blame the other person for having made us suffer. We do not realize that anger is, first of all, our business. We are primarily responsible for our anger, but we believe very naively that if we can say something or do something to punish the other person, we will suffer less. This kind of belief should be uprooted. Because whatever you do or say in a state of anger will only cause more damage in the relationship. Instead, we should try not to do anything or say anything when we are angry."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 7, 2012

Acts of Universal Generosity In a profoundly interdependent world, generosity is fundamental to the entire economy of life. Even the simplest biological function involves receiving something from others (nutrients, oxygen, life), processing it in some unique way, and then passing it on to all other members of the matrix of life. We all do this whether we want to or not, and whether or not we are aware of it. The practice of giving becomes perfected when we align ourselves very deeply with this truth, by consciously and mindfully offering everything we do or say—even everything we think—as an act of universal generosity. - Andrew Olendzki, "Dana: The Practice of Giving" Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 9th, 2012 For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Today on Tricycle Sponsored Links

Via General Sherman's March To The Sea / FB:

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Don't associate with bad friends. Don't associate with the low. Associate with admirable friends. Associate with the best. - Dhammapada 78, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 6, 2012

Transforming Anger

Perhaps the most important reason for getting to know our anger is that anger is actually a precious energy that becomes anger only when it is caught up in complex egoic patterns. Those patterns include my stories about anger’s cause and object as well as many deluded beliefs, not the least of which is the delusion of separation. This energy needs to be freed and transformed rather than distorted or destroyed.

- Nancy Baker, "Precious Energy"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 8th, 2012
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Via JMG: REPORT: Openly Gay Banker Under Consideration For Obama Cabinet

According to an unnamed source, openly gay Export-Import Bank head Fred Hochberg is under consideration to join President Obama's cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. If chosen, Hochberg would be the first openly gay cabinet member in history. Chris Johnson reports at Washington Blade:

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Blade that Hochberg is under consideration for various positions within the administration, although commerce secretary is the role for which he’s seen as most fit. “What I’ve been told is Fred very well regarded, he’s done a great job at the bank, and he’s one of the folks that they are looking at carefully for Commerce,” the official said. But the official said Hochberg hasn’t been involved as of Monday in direct talks with the White House about the position, nor could the official offer any timeline for when the administration would make an announcement.

RELATED: Shortly after last month's election, the Human Rights Campaign began advocating for the president to consider adding an LGBT person to his cabinet.

Labels: Commerce Department, Fred Hochberg, Obama administration, Obama cabinet

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Belief:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Overcoming attachment does not mean becoming cold and indifferent. On the contrary, it means learning to have relaxed control over our mind through understanding the real causes of happiness and fulfillment, and this enables us to enjoy life more and suffer less. - Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate" More Buddhism Quotes >>

God's Diary is Embarrassing

Via JMG: URUGUAY: Lower House To Vote On Same-Sex Marriage Bill Next Week

Uruguay's Chamber of Deputies, that nation's lower legislative body, will vote on same-sex marriage on December 11th.

Five months ago, the government approved the recognition of same sex marriage legalized in other countries. The law was supported by the Constitution Committee and the Codes of the House including two opposition legislators.  Frente Amplio legislator Julio Bango, a supporter of the law, said the law would pass the Senate in 2013 after the summer recess. He noted the dispute about name order for children of same sex marriages but said that issue would be resolved in the next week. The law reads, “the institution of marriage will mean the union of two parties, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation thereof at the same terms with the same effects established in the Civil Code”. The law will extend to include homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals.

In 2007 Uruguay became the first South American nation to legalize civil unions.

Labels: marriage equality, South America, Uruguay

Reposted from Joe

Via NEB - International Network of Engaged Buddhists

Deer Park Monastery A holiday letter from Thay Phap Dung, Abbot of Deer Park Monastery: Dear Beloved Thầy, Dear Sanghas throughout the World, Dear Dharma Brothers and Sisters, Our loving Mother Earth is still there for us, right beneath our two feet. She is a miracle, a jewel in the cosmos, refreshing and healing. She has shown unlimited patience throughout human history and an uncanny ability to transform just about anything with equanimity and acceptance. She is now calling us for help. She is suffering from our human activities based on our craving, discrimination, fear, and despair. The Gift of Practice - This holiday season, we have a chance to express our love and care for Mother Earth by the way we care for our self, our family and our environment. We can practice mindfulness to care for our inner environment, our feelings and our emotions so that we do not lose ourself in worries about the future or regrets about the past, or lose ourself with our feelings and thinking in the present moment. We practice in such a way that we are peaceful, free and happy right in the here and now. We can practice to be more relaxed in our body and mind as we drive our car to work, or cook for our family, or play with our friends, or even rest when we return home. We can look deeply into our relationships with our loved ones, with our environment, our neighborhood, and our workplace and find skillful ways to care, to renew and to improve them. Care is a priceless gift. Having Enough – Concretely this Holiday Season, we invite you to make an effort to find ways that you can give a gift that does not require you to spend a lot of money or even any at all. The greatest gift is, of course, our practice, our true presence, our understanding and love. The giving of this gift will require more effort, more creativity, and deeper looking into your beloved. You can make something. You can surprise him or her with a message that has been waiting for so long. “Dear Father, I know you are there and I am happy.” “My son, I am here for you completely.” “My dear, I am sorry; let us begin a new chapter.” “Dear Mother Earth,I take refuge in you and bow down deeply.” A reminder, a memory, a simple attention with skillfulness in expression can touch and transform. Understanding and compassion cannot be bought. This is an invitation to all practitioners throughout the world to join us this Season for a silent resistance – to the mass pressure to consume, to the forces that cause us to run away from ourself in forgetfulness. Let us change the way we spend our Holiday Season this winter. Let us show our care for the planet in concrete ways. Let us say to Mother Earth that She can have trust in us. And please share this with the larger community by writing about your priceless gift: your gift of practice; your gift of transformation, with by messaging us here at the Deer Park Facebook page, or by commenting below. With trust and confidence, Brother Pháp Dung for the Plum Village Community

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 5, 2012

Generosity of the Heart

Genuine happiness in relationships comes forth naturally when it’s no longer blocked by all the conditions that we normally add—our agendas, our needs, our expectations. When we’re more able to refrain from indulging our self-centered motivations, we no longer look at our relationship in terms of what we will get. Instead, as we move toward the generosity of the heart, we naturally want to give.

- Ezra Bayda, "Giving Through Relationships"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 7th, 2012
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US Continues Marching Toward Social Justice On Gay Marriage (Dec. 4, 2012 - MSNBC)

Via Cartazes & Tirinhas LGBT / FB:

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Whenever you hear that someone else has been successful, rejoice. Always practice rejoicing for others--whether your friend or your enemy. If you cannot practice rejoicing, no matter how long you live, you will not be happy. - Lama Zopa Rinpoche, "Transforming Problems Into Happiness" More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via JMG: France's First Lady: I Can't Wait To Take Part In My First Same-Sex Wedding

France's First Lady says she is looking forward to being part of the wedding party of gay friends once marriage is legalized.

Valerie Trierweiler, the girlfriend of French President Francois Hollande, has given plans to legalise gay marriage with her personal seal of approval by announcing she will be a witness at one of the first ceremonies. While her partner's commitment to proposed legislation allowing same-sex marriages has been questioned in recent weeks, Trierweiler revealed she had accepted an invitation to participate in the wedding of gay friends. "I'm delighted that I'm going to be a witness at one of the very first marriages for all," Trierweiler said. A law providing for same sex couples to wed and adopt children is expected to be on the statute book by the middle of next year. Its passage through parliament is likely to be stormy however given strong opposition from sections of the opposition right, Catholic bishops and other religious leaders.

France's national legislature begins debate on the draft version of the bill in three months.

Labels: France, marriage equality, Socialist Party

Reposted from Joe

Via 2012 Healing the Planet 2012 & Buddha's Teaching / FB:

 

On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property ---The Buddha

Via Global Awakening / FB:

 

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others...
~Gandhi

Via Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented / FB:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 4, 2012

Valuing the Here and Now

Goal-seeking activity is always the enemy of real peace and contentment. The idea that what is here and now is less valuable than what’s over there just past the finish line prevents us from ever being truly content and happy right where we are. No matter what your ultimate goal is, it’s always off in the distance. This goes for any goal at all, even the goal of attaining ultimate inner peace or saving all beings.

- Brad Warner, "Goalless Practice"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 6th, 2012
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JMG HomoQuotable - Frank Mugisha

"If the law is passed the way it is right now, I would go to jail, and I would be killed. The bill says anyone who commits the offense [and speaks out] against this legislation more than once is a serial offender. And the fact that I’ve already said in Uganda that I’m gay, and that I’m an advocate for LGBT rights, that means I’m promoting homosexuality in Uganda, according to this bill. This legislation, if passed into law, it would automatically make me a serial offender and I would be sentenced to death." - Ugandan activist Frank Mugisha, speaking on Michelangelo Signorile's SiriusXM radio show.

NOTE: There is a chance that the Ugandan Parliament will recess before hearing the Anti-Homosexuality Act due to a ferocious unrelated battle over a bill regarding oil drilling rights.

Labels: activism, gay death penalty, HomoQuotable, LGBT rights, religion, Sharia Law, Uganda

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NORWAY: Princess Secretly Traveled To India To Care For Gay Staffer's Newborns

Reuters reports that Norway's Princess Mette-Marit secretly traveled to India to care for the newborn twins borne by the surrogate mother hired by a gay palace staffer who was unable to get a visa to go himself.

Armed with a diplomatic passport that granted her immediate access, the future queen jumped on a plane in late October when the employee, who is also a friend, and his husband were unable to travel to care for their newborns. "For me, this is about two babies lying alone in a New Delhi hospital," Mette-Marit said in a statement. "I was able to travel and wanted to do what I could." She did not alert Indian authorities and spent several days with the babies at the Manav Medicare Centre, where staff assumed the wife of Norway's Crown Prince Haakon was a nanny. While the princess was away, her name continued to appear in the official palace calendar and her absence from a parliamentary dinner was not explained. A relative of the two fathers eventually took over from Mette-Marit and the fathers received a visa in November, when they brought the babies back to Norway, the palace added.

Norway legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, but the above-linked story notes that paying for surrogacy is a highly controversial topic there. (Tipped by JMG reader Carol)

Labels: gay families, good work, India, Norway

Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

	Daily Buddhist Wisdom
	Hands restrained, feet restrained speech restrained, supremely restrained-- delighting in what is inward, content, centered, alone: he's what they call a monk. A monk restrained in his speaking, giving counsel unruffled, declaring the message & meaning: sweet is his speech. - Dhammapada, 25, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. More Buddhism Quotes >>

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 3, 2012

Gifting What is Precious

When we give, we need to do so with the awareness that our gift will be both appropriate and helpful. It is not an act of generosity, for example, to give money to a wealthy person or alcohol to a child. We also give what we can afford; we don’t jeopardize our own health or well-being. At the same time, we can give what is precious to us, what is difficult to give, because of our attachment to it.

- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, “Generosity (and Greed) Introduction"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 5th, 2012
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Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 2, 2012

Integrating Realization into our Lives

Spiritual realization is relatively easy compared with the much greater difficulty of actualizing it, integrating it fully into the fabric of one’s daily life. Realization is the movement from personality to being, the direct recognition of one’s ultimate nature, leading toward liberation from the conditioned self, while actualization refers to how we integrate that realization in all the situations of our life.

- John Welwood, "The Psychology of Awakening"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 4th, 2012
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More stars!

http://makeitequal.org/

Via JMG: West Point Hosts First Gay Wedding

A West Point graduate got married today in the first same-sex wedding ever held on the legendary military academy's campus.

Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in a ceremony conducted by a senior Army chaplain. The ceremony comes a little more than a year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving. The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 but had longed hoped to formally tie the knot. The brides both live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage. "We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton said. Guests at the wedding posted photos on Twitter while it was underway and afterward. Fulton said Cadet Chapel on the campus at West Point was a fitting venue.

Fulton (left) is the communications director for the military LGBT advocacy group OutServe and I've met her at several grassroots events. She's also the head of Knights Out, an organization for West Point's LGBT alumni. Congratulations to the happy couple!

RELATED: All the right people are already pissed off.

Labels: army, DADT, gay weddings, LGBT History, marriage equality, military, New York state, West Point

Reposted from Joe

Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Frank Bruni

"Dear President Clinton,  What a year you’ve had, the kind that really burnishes a legend. At the Democratic National Convention, on the campaign trail, in speeches aplenty and during interviews galore, you spoke eloquently about what this country should value, and you spoke unequivocally about where it should head. Such a bounty of convictions, such a harvest of words, except for one that’s long overdue: Sorry.

"Where’s your apology for signing the Defense of Marriage Act? And why, amid all the battles you’ve joined, and with all the energy you’ve been able to muster, haven’t you made a more vigorous case for same-sex marriage, especially in light of your history on this issue? You fret about your legacy, as any president would. For turning a blind eye to the butchery in Rwanda, you struggled through a mea culpa of sorts, and after Barack Obama seemed to lavish higher praise on Ronald Reagan than on you, you seethed.

"Well, DOMA, which says that the federal government recognizes only marriages of a man and a woman, is one of the uglier blemishes on your record, an act of indisputable discrimination that codified unequal treatment of gay men and lesbians and, in doing so, validated the views of Americans who see us as lesser people. If our most committed, heartfelt relationships don’t measure up, then neither do we. If how we love is suspect, then so is who we are. No two ways to interpret that. No other conclusion to be drawn." - Frank Bruni, writing for the New York Times.

Read the full essay.

Labels: Bill Clinton, DOMA, Frank Bruni, HomoQuotable

Reposted from Joe

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/12/01/1267231/open-thread-plus-cartoon-of-the-week-12/

"X-Men and Lord of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellen has recorded a video for a New Zealand equal marriage campaign.

"...The New Zealand Marriage Amendment Bill, which would legalise equal marriage, passed its first reading on 22 August, with a majority of 80 votes to 40 in parliament in support of the change.

"In the video, Sir Ian said: 'New Zealand gave women the vote before every other country in the world, the rest of the world has looked towards New Zealand for social advance and here we are again- this time at the exciting prospect of two people of the same gender being able to get married and to join the rest of the population.

"'It will be a popular move, I know, and I’m glad your major political parties have embraced it, supported too by the younger generation who see things a lot more clearly than people of my age.

"'My support is with you and I hope that by the time I return to Middle-earth I might even be able to get married there.'..."

 

Via JMG: Matt Barber: People With AIDS Are Sinners Who Deserve Their Gruesome Deaths

 

Just when you think God's Gentle People™ could not possibly behave more repulsively, Christian leader Matt Barber proves you wrong.  Deliberately timed for World AIDS Day, obviously.

Labels: AIDS, Christian Love, disgusting, God's Gentle People, hate groups, horrible, Liberty Counsel, Matt Barber, pigs, religion, Sharia Law, theocracy, World AIDS Day

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 1, 2012

The Key to Happiness

Grace is the key to happiness. When bad things happen, if we have confidence in grace, then we can remain grounded in that and not be overwhelmed by the soap opera of life. And grace is a circular blessing. The more grace enters your life, the more grateful you are. The more grateful you are, the more easily grace seems to enter.

- Dharmavidya David Brazier, "Let Grace In"

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through December 3rd, 2012
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