A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Infamous gay-basher Maxim Martsinkevich is today in the custody of
Russian police after fleeing to Cuba, where local authorities promptly
deported him on the basis of fugitive warrants filed with Interpol by
Russia and Ukraine. Via LGBTQ Nation:
A spokesperson for the Russian Federal Security services told LGBTQ Nation
that Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich, also known by his street nickname
“Tesak” (or, the “Cleaver”) arrived at the Russian capital’s
Sheremetyevo Airport after a direct flight from Havana, and was
immediately detained by Russian law enforcement. Martsinkevich had been
formally charged and arrested in absentia on Dec. 13, 2013, by Moscow’s
Kuntsevskiy court. He is being held on charges of committing a crime
under Art. 282 of the Russian Criminal Code – incitement of hatred or
enmity and human dignity with violence – in connection with videos that
his anti-gay Russian group “Occupy Pedophilia” had posted online.
Martsinkevich fled Russia in November to the Ukraine, where he allegedly
attacked and physically abused a former contestant of the Ukrainian
franchise of the British talent competition, “The X Factor.” Yuvlena
Frolyak, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
in Sevastopol, told LGBTQ Nation that her office had also issued an arrest warrant based on the criminal complaint filed by the victim.
Martsinkevich reportedly faces only three to five years in prison.
"There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there
is nothing that is harder to learn. Of the other arts there are many
teachers everywhere; some of them we have seen that mere boys have
mastered so thoroughly that they could even play the master. It takes
the whole of life to learn how to live, and—what will perhaps make you
wonder more—it takes the whole of life to learn how to die."
Not limited / By language, / It is ceaselessly expressed; / So, too, the way of letters / Can display but not exhaust it.
- Zen Master Dogen, "Non-lying"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 28, 2014 For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
JMG reader Jeff took a stab at creating a map that includes the states
with active marriage equality lawsuits. Embiggen the image or see it at his site.
When Margaret Thatcher died last year, a social media campaign succeeded in pushing Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead to #2 on the British single charts. This week there's a similar campaign after a now-suspended member of Britain's far-right UKIP party declared that God was sending floods because of gay marriage.
A Facebook campaign has been launched
to get 80s classic ‘It’s Raining Men’ to number one in the UK charts
after a UKIP councillor claimed the recent floods were a result of
legalising same-sex marriage. Thousands of people have joined the social
media campaign following UKIP party member David Silvester’s
controversial remarks. "We believe that that show of strength to get a
song to Number 1 will create a huge spotlight on our campaign for
equality as a whole," explains the Facebook group. For decades now, this
song has been used as a gay anthem, we thought it fitted all the better
based on UKIP’s comments regarding storms and floods being caused by
LGBT people and gay marriage. Let’s get It’s Raining Men to Number 1 to
show the power and community of gay people pulling together is stronger
than his idiotic views of us, as well as also celebrating the new laws
being passed on equal marriage in the UK very soon."
According to the Facebook group, online oddsmakers are giving It's Raining Men
a 5/1 shot at being number one in Britain next week. Former Weather
Girls vocalist Martha Wash finds the flap rather amusing. From an email
passed along by JMG reader Wayne:
First of all I don't know anything
about David Silvester, but I did read the article about him and his
comments and concluded that as a straight woman who supports the LGBT
community, he is totally Daft (as the British would say). While he is
entitled to his opinion, I feel he is out of touch with reality. To say
that "storms and floods were caused by LGBT people and gay
marriage".....Really? He sounds like someone living in the 80's when it
was said HIV/Aids was caused by "gay people". I think some people need
to buy a clue and realize that everything wrong or bad or catastrophic
is not caused by gay people. I support same-sex unions or marriages
(depending on where you live) and feel it should be equality for ALL!!!
BTW I'm a Christian also and the God I serve is ALL LOVE for ALL People.
HE knows who he created. In regards to using It's Raining Men to
support this campaign, I have no problem with it. I'm flattered that
after all these years, the song is still relevant (even if it is for
"storms and floods")!! Lol XO Martha Wash
HRC Head Chad Griffin On Nigeria
Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin joined HuffPost Live today to talk about the situation in Nigeria and Goldie Hawn, who yesterday issued a mortified apology after posting a photo of Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan with the caption, "Met the wonderful president of Nigeria." In the clip below, Griffin blasts NOM's Brian Brown and other American Christians for exporting their hate around the world.
The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the sole sponsor of Bostic v. Rainey,
the federal constitutional challenge to Virginia’s discriminatory
Marriage Amendment, issued the following statement regarding U.S.
District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen’s order seeking Status
Reports from all parties in the case regarding whether oral argument on
the issues presented is warranted or whether the Court should rule
promptly on the briefs without a hearing: “Every day these
discriminatory laws remain in effect is another day gay and lesbian
Virginians and their families are harmed and treated as second-class
citizens,” said AFER Executive Director Adam Umhoefer. “We urge
Judge Allen to proceed immediately to judgment and find Virginia’s laws
banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples unconstitutional." The
Judge’s order was issued following the compelling Notice from the Office
of the Attorney General of Virginia that the Attorney General concluded
that Virginia's laws denying the right to marry to same-sex couples
violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. If a
hearing is deemed necessary, oral argument will be heard at the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at 9 a.m. ET on
Thursday, January 30, 2014.
Rather
than seeking a sense of peaceful satisfaction with the unfolding of
experience, the goal of [preliminary] practice is to produce a state of
mind that is highly judgmental, indeed judging this world to be like a
prison. This sense of dissatisfaction is regarded as an essential
prerequisite for progress on the Buddhist path. Far from seeking to
become somehow 'nonjudgmental,' the meditator is instructed to judge all
the objects of ordinary experience as scarred by three marks:
impermanence, suffering, and no self.
- Donald S. Lopez, "The Scientific Buddha"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 27, 2014 For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Life is precious, for it is only life—particularly the condition of human life—in which one can attain enlightenment.
- Allan Hunt Badiner, “Is the Buddha Winking at Extinction?”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 26, 2014 For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
Poverty
still persists today because we have lost the moral perspective as the
polestar of public policy. Instead we follow the law of the jungle,
content to abandon the poor to their own devices, demanding that they
marshal resources they simply do not possess. And the reason we have
moved in this direction, drifting away from the high ideals of the Great
Society era, is because the vision and values of corporate capitalism
have gained ascendency over those of human solidarity and mutual
responsibility. To eliminate poverty, this trend must be reversed. The
individualistic vision must give way to one that stresses our essential
unity; competition must be balanced by mutual assistance and respect.
- Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, "The Price of Dignity"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 25, 2014 For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member
"The church accepts people as they are, we condemn homosexuality,
Nigeria is an independent country and we do not beg for food. We have
every right to order our social life in any way we think it should go.
Our social life should not be organised on the basis of what others
think. On this note, I commend our National Assembly and Mr President
for resisting all the pressures and enacting a law against
homosexuality. Signing the bill into law by President Jonathan in spite
of pressures from within and outside the country should be commended by
all and sundry. The world is at crossroads and there is nothing new
under the sun. `We all know that this is not the first time we have
heard about the agitation for gay rights but our position, as a church,
has not changed. Even when some sections of society view same sex issues
as moral disorder acts, homosexuality has not stopped, it still happens
in the open around the world. It doesn’t mean that it should be
accepted." - Cardinal John Onaiyekan, speaking to Nigeria's PM News. Onaiyekan got his red hat from Pope Benedict in 2012. Last July Pope Francis named him the Vatican's Apostolic Administrator (rule enforcer) for the Diocese of Ahaira in southern Nigeria. (Via Bilerico)
"The responses to the attacks on LGBT rights in Russia show that our
lives are global and interconnected. Some responded to the attacks on
LGBT rights in Russia by boycotting Stoli. It’s worth clarifying that
SPI Group, which is in no way affiliated with the Russian government,
has been the owner of the Stolichnaya brand outside of Russia since
1997. The Stolichnaya made in Russia for the local market is owned by a
state-controlled entity. We feel it is important to raise our voice
again and let the LGBT community know we share the same desire for
justice and equality. And we are invested in achieving a brighter
tomorrow for all. We are proud to be working with the L.A. Gay &
Lesbian Center to make our joint vision possible through the Leadership
LAB, which empowers LGBT people to defeat prejudice locally, while
developing leaders in LGBT communities in the U.S. and around the world.
- SPI Group president John Esposito, in an Advocate op-ed announcing a $300,000 donation to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.
In a move which could potentially open the door to more
quickly removing a ban on same-sex marriage, a federal judge
consolidated two lawsuits seeking just that.
A lawsuit filed in October 2013 on behalf of two women in a 30+ year
relationship, and a December lawsuit filed by the American Civil
Liberties Union on behalf of one lesbian and one gay couples were
merged.
Oral arguments were set for the now consolidated cases for 23 April this year by Judge Michael McShane.
An attorney for the October lawsuit opposed the combining of the two,
expressing concern that it might delay the decision, however the
lawyers from the December lawsuit supported the decision.
A 2004 constitutional amendment approved by 57% of voters to 43%, defined marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.
Campaigners have just announced a petition which has over 127,000
signatures towards putting a question on the ballot to reverse the
amendment.
Gay rights advocates commended the two possible channels towards
achieving equal marriage, hoping for the quickest possible outcome.
The question would go on a November ballot for voters.
