Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Via JMG: US Virgin Islands Fall In Line



The Virgin Islands have become the final US territory to comply with SCOTUS.
Governor Kenneth Mapp has announced that he’s currently working on an executive order to direct government agencies and departments to follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. Mapp made the announcement during a Tuesday morning press conference at Government House, stating that upon taking office in January, he swore to uphold the laws of the land. “The Government of the Virgin Islands as a civil society can no longer discriminate on marriage,” Mapp said. “The nation has arrived, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s ruling, at full marriage equality — when two consenting adults appear for a marriage license and apply for that license, civil society is required to respond. And so persons of the same-sex can be married in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” The governor stressed that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling does not force churches and ministers to perform same-sex or any other kind of marriage, however as the territory’s leader, he must abide by the law.
The territory has a population of 106K.


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Bilerico Project Calls It Quits


Long-running LGBT group blog The Bilerico Project has called it quits after eleven years. Founder Bil Browning writes:

Projects are meant to be temporary and so was Bilerico Project. After more than a decade, it's time to wrap up our experiment. The media landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade and so have our lives and the LGBT movement itself. It's time to turn the page and start something fresh in this new environment. My first post in 2004 was a quote from Margaret Meade. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." I think we've done our part to make the world a better place. This will be my last post on Bilerico Project. The site will be archived at bilericoproject.com so that all 31,000+ posts will still be available for readers. It's been a long strange journey and I've loved every single moment of it, but the time has come to end the project and call it a success.
From JMG: "In the early years of this here website thingy, there were only a handful of us doing LGBT news aggregation and commentary before behemoths like Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and other major sites launched LGBT verticals. Bilerico now joins Mike Rogers, Pam Spauding, Andrew Sullivan, and John Aravosis in LGBT blogging history. Hail to the independents."


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 01/07/2015

“A máscara não tem nenhum comprometimento com a verdade. A vítima, por exemplo, sofre muito, mas esse sofrimento não tem nada a ver com sua dor original. É apenas mais um mecanismo de defesa, uma forma de fugir da dor. Esse sofrimento é completamente desnecessário, ele não serve para nada, pois é um falso sofrimento.”

“La máscara no tiene ningún compromiso con la verdad. La víctima, por ejemplo, sufre mucho, pero este sufrimiento no tiene nada que ver con su dolor original. Es solo un mecanismo de defensa más, una forma de huir del dolor. Este sufrimiento es completamente innecesario, no sirve para nada, ya que es un falso sufrimiento.”

"The mask has no commitment to the truth. The victim, for example, suffers a lot, but this suffering has nothing to do with one’s original pain. It's just a defense mechanism to escape the pain. This suffering is completely unnecessary. It serves no purpose since it is a false suffering."

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the day 30/06/2015

“A identificação com a mente agitada gera o estado que conhecemos como ‘loucura’. Muitos acreditam ser “normais” porque não falam sozinhos ou não quebram coisas, mas isso não é sinal de sanidade. Existem estados diferenciados de loucura. Algumas pessoas aparentam ser normais, mas internamente são completamente loucas. Me refiro a uma falta de eixo que se manifesta por não sabermos quem somos. Nesse estado de identificação com a mente, é muito comum tomar o real como irreal e vice-versa. E esse tipo de loucura é muito normal”.

“La identificación con la mente agitada genera el estado que conocemos como "locura". Muchos creen ser "normales" ya que no hablan solos o no rompen cosas, pero esto no es signo de sanidad. Existen estados diferentes de locura. Algunas personas aparentan ser normales, pero internamente están completamente locas. Me refiero a una falta de eje que se manifiesta por no saber quiénes somos. En este estado de identificación con la mente, es muy común tomar lo real como irreal y viceversa. Y esta clase de locura es muy normal”.

“Identification with an agitated mind generates the state that we call ‘madness’. Many people believe they are ‘normal’ because they don’t talk to themselves and they don’t break things, but this is not a sign of sanity. There are different states of madness. Some people seem to be normal, but inside they are completely mad. I am talking about a lack of centeredness which occurs when we don’t know who we are. In this state of identification with the mind, it is very common to mistake reality for something unreal and vice versa. This type of madness is very common”.

Today's Daily Dharma: May I Be of Service

May I Be of Service
May I become an island for those seeking dry land
A lamp for those needing light,
A place of rest for those who desire one,
And a servant for those needing service.
 
Shantideva, "May I Become an Island"

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Dad Bikes 545 Miles For Gay Son




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/30/davey-wavey-aids-lifecycle_n_7696946.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000050

Via JMG: White House Lights Planned For Months



Politico reports that the idea to bathe the White House in rainbow lights was conceived months ago.
SPOTTED, at 4 a.m. Sat. at the White House: Jeff Tiller, 32, the White House director of specialty media (includes LGBT outreach) and former press-advance marvel, who had the inspired idea of bathing the North Portico (“The President’s Front Door”) in rainbow lighting. The crowds were gone, sunrise was coming, and the lighting contractors who had installed the rainbow were long asleep. After spending the night at the White House in a lawn chair, Jeff climbed downstairs to the tradesman entrance to unplug the lights that he had conceived of months earlier.
You can thank Tiller on Twitter. (Tipped by JMG reader Mike)


Reposted from Joe Jervis

JMG Headline Of The Day


 
Via Media Matters:
On June 26, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment requires that states issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Conservative media and the National Rifle Association (NRA) quickly seized on the decision to draw a parallel with concealed carry reciprocity, a top federal legislative priority of the NRA. Reciprocity legislation, also known as federally mandated concealed carry, would force states to recognize permits to carry concealed guns issued by other states, regardless of what the issuing state's standards are for issuing permits. Reciprocity legislation has been introduced in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, but conservative media and the NRA view Obergefell as an opportunity to argue that the Constitution extends at least some right to reciprocal permit recognition regardless of whether Congress acts. The problem with that argument, however, is that the 2008 landmark Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller limited the scope of the Second Amendment right to gun possession to people's homes.

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via WAPO: For Obama, rainbow White House was ‘a moment worth savoring’


With a colorful White House backdrop, (L) Kevin Barragan and his partner Adam Smith celebrate as do Kelly Miller (with glasses) and her wife Lindsey Miller. The Millers were married two years ago in Washington state where gay marriage is legal. The White House was lit in multi-colored lights to honor the Supreme Court decision to allow gay marriage, on June 26, 2015. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
 
For Obama. seeing the White House illuminated in rainbow colors Friday night "was a moment worth savoring."

Speaking at a joint news conference Tuesday with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Obama made a point of saying just before leaving that one of the best aspects of last week was viewing the crowds who had gathered in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate the symbol of gay pride on full display.


John Oliver on Gay Pride Legalization and ISIS Flag


Via JMG: 26M Rainbow Their Facebook Profile


Via CNN Money:
Over the past three days, 26 million people have super imposed rainbows over their Facebook profile pictures using a free tool provided by the company. The rainbow filter launched Friday and continued to gain steam over Pride weekend, garnering more than half a billion likes and comments all over the world. Famous people including Russell Simmons, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff changed their profiles. The tool was created by two Facebook interns during an internal hackathon last week. Changing a profile picture is easily dismissed as low-effort activism. But for many people who are not typically political it was a way to quietly show support.

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via : Michael Coren: My unlikely sermon at the Metropolitan Community Church

Former outspoken social conservative Michael Coren found ‘no condemnation, no cynicism, no grudges’ when he recently spoke at a church focused on outreach to LGBT people.

Journalist Michael Coren recently delivered a guest sermon at the Metropolitan Community Church.
Toronto Star / Paulo Marques
Journalist Michael Coren recently delivered a guest sermon at the Metropolitan Community Church.
There she goes: plump, porky and with wings. Yes, pigs can and do fly. Or to put it another way, we now have undeniable proof of climate change because hell has frozen over. Michael Coren, long a public opponent of same-sex marriage and certainly not considered a friend to the gay community, is asked to preach at Toronto’s Metropolitan Community Church

MCC is not exclusively gay but its central theme, its charisma if you like, is outreach to LGBT people and in all of its many international branches it is at the heart of the struggle for full equality. Indeed in Toronto its leader, Brent Hawkes, is one of the most high-profile, visible and eloquent leaders of the gay community.

It was Brent who invited me. I have written before about how in the past two years I have undergone something of a conversion on the road to Toronto, left the Roman Catholic Church, abandoned social conservatism and become one of those liberal Christians I used to mock. It’s been a pilgrimage and one that — while coming with a heavy professional and personal cost — has made me a better person and a better Christian.

I came to realize that anywhere there is love there is God, that judgmentalism is vehemently anti-Christian and that I had, well, got it wrong. In one of those glorious paradoxes my feelings were confirmed by the sweeping, organized and vicious campaign against me by social and Christian conservatives. By their lack of love you will know them. Which is when Brent approached me and asked me to speak. We have known each other for years because we often appeared on opposing sides on television and radio; neither of us ever thought we’d be embracing, close to tears, in front of the altar of his church.

I’ve spoken to hundreds of groups and haven’t felt nervous for decades. Yet suddenly this 56-year-old man who hosted a nightly television show for 16 years was most definitely nervous. How many of these people had I hurt, how many had lives made more difficult by my writing and broadcasting? I’d never hated but I had given an intellectual veneer to the anti-gay movement, had enabled — even unintentionally — some muddy bigotry.

There were two services, with a combined congregation of around 700. And as I walked in on that hot, rainy morning I was drenched in love and acceptance. No condemnation, no cynicism, no grudges. As a constipated Englishman I was several times close to weeping as I witnessed a sense of authentic Christian community that I have, with all due respect, seldom found in mainstream church settings. I saw collectives of warmth and support, groups of people from various ethnicities, backgrounds, sexualities and experiences united in acceptance. After three months of abuse, accusations and firings from men and women who claim to be Christian my sense of liberation was exquisite. A dawn of the miraculous after the dark night of the cruel.

I told them that as a straight man who had reversed his position on gay rights and marriage I had recently experienced a glimpse of a shadow of a whiff of what it must be like to be a gay Christian. I said that some of the finest Christians I had ever met had been gay Christians. I said that remaining Christian in the face of hostility and even vitriol was an indication of enormous depth of faith and a living, fleshy example of a glorious mystery. I spoke of unconditional love, of what Scripture actually said about sexuality rather than the popular and misguided caricature of Biblical truth, I said that the only absolutes were grace and love.

The point is that in the 200,000 words of the New Testament perhaps a mere 50 in any way concern same-sex attraction, yet tens of thousands speak of charity, care for the poor, forgiveness, love, empathy, gentleness and kindness. At its best the church has led the way for the state but on this issue the contrary is true, as we witnessed with the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. There is still time to do the right thing however. As I said, pigs can fly and Michael Coren can speak at the Metropolitan Community Church.

Michael Coren can be contacted at mcoren@sympatico.ca 

Today's Daily Dharma: Leave Yourself Alone

 
Leave Yourself Alone

The paradox of our practice is that the most effective way of transformation is to leave ourselves alone. The more we let everything be just what it is, the more we relax into an open, attentive awareness of one moment after another.

Barry Magid, "Five Practices to Change Your Mind"
 

Monday, June 29, 2015

Sacramento churchgoers vary on same-sex marriage decision

Parishioner: The best thing would be to accept gays

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Just days after the Supreme Court’s historic ruling, extending the right to marry to same-sex couples, the faithful headed to church for the first time Sunday with the issue top of mind.

Make the jump here to see the video on KCRA

Via JustaBahai Blog: Can a rainbow be partisan?




There is a flurry of rainbows on facebook, in celebration of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision on June 26, 2015, that 14th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses require states to license same-sex marriages and to recognize same-sex marriages lawfully licensed and performed in other US states.

In a Bahai run group, a Bahai stated that Baha’is publicly supporting gay rights will lead to grave consequences in other countries. It is an argument I have heard many times before, and it holds no water. The fact that our international administration is seated in Israel and that Baha’is believe in a messenger of God after Muhammad are much stronger reasons for any Muslim to be upset at Bahais. 

We do not hear of Bahais saying, we must stop public statements of belief in Baha’u’llah do we? On the contrary, if Bahais were seen as were a source of comfort or safety, in countries where gays and lesbians are oppressed, that would do wonders for our image as a religion that preaches equality and justice. I am not saying Bahais must be defenders for the oppressed, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

Make the jump here to read the full posting

President Obama to Declare 6/26/16 National Equality Day


WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Obama called the Supreme Court decision requiring states to recognize same-sex marriage “a victory for America.” Now the Commander in Chief is set to honor those who fought for marriage equality by issuing an executive order declaring 6/26/16 National Equality Day.

Make the jump here to read the full article



 

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Transgender Rights (HBO)


Via FB Today:

The right for same-sex marriage has been recognized, and the apocalypse didn't happen. Time will show the irrationality of the fears. 

Religious freedom didn't fail. Religious oppression did. People went to church today and worshipped much as they did last week. Church doors were not closed. Police didn't haul ministers of the gospel off to jail. The millions of marriages in America between a man and a woman did not immediately come to an end. 

Only two things in the rights of the LGBTQ community were decided this week. States couldn't block same-sex marriage, and they had to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Some states have chosen to obfuscate. Others wisely accepted the inevitable. But the fight isn't over.
The seeds have been planted for full LGBTQ equality in the secular society of our country. The religious communities must now struggle with how they move forward.

- Richard Errington

Today's Daily Dharma: Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination


Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination
These are like the three legs of a tripod. It is uncertain whether we can accomplish the dharma if one of these three legs is missing. If all three are present, however, we would be more likely to miss the ground with a hammer than we would be to miss enlightenment.
 
Koun Yamada, "Great Faith, Great Doubt, Great Determination"