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.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Tricycle Daily Dharma February 12, 2012
Inhabit Your Body
As we inhabit our body with increasing sensitivity, we learn its unspoken language and patterns, which gives us tremendous freedom to make choices. The practice of cutting thoughts and dispersing negative repetitive patterns can be simplified by attending to the patterns in the body first, before they begin to be spun around in the mind.
If there’s one lesson that runs through pretty much every Buddhist tradition, it’s this: there are no magic solutions. Our belief in magic solutions that may happen some day in the future keeps us from doing what we really need to do right here and right now.
The moment when we found out Prop 8 was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals on the steps of the court house in San Francisco, February 7, 2012.
The speech was given by Kelly Rivera Hart during a celebration rally that evening at the San Francisco LGBT Center.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Laura, for the wonderful introduction -- the best introduction that a Cubs fan has ever given me. (Laughter.) The rivalry is fierce in Chicago, but I'll make an exception here.
And I want to thank Karen and Nan for opening up their incredible home. (Applause.) To all of you, and to everybody who helped put this together, thank you so much. I am very grateful.
I’m going to be very brief at the top, because I want to -- usually in these things I like to spend most of my time in a conversation. I do want to acknowledge that I have as good a Cabinet as I think any President in modern history has had. And one of the stars of that Cabinet is sitting right here, Kathleen Sebelius. (Applause.)
All of America has gone through an incredibly difficult, wrenching time these last three years. And it doesn’t matter whether you are black or white, whether you are Northern or Southern, rich or poor, gay or straight; I think all of us have been deeply concerned over these last three years to making sure that our economy recovers, that we're putting people back to work, that we stabilize the financial system. The amount of hardship and challenge that ordinary families have gone through over the last three years has been incredible. And there are still a lot of folks hurting out there.
The good news is that we're moving in the right direction. And when I came into office, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month, and this past month we gained 250,000 -- that’s a million job swing. (Applause.) And for the last 23 months, we've now created 3.7 million jobs. And that’s more than any time since 2000 -- or, yes, since, 2005 -- the number of jobs that we created last year, and more manufacturing jobs than any time since the 1990s.
So we're making progress on that front now, but we've still got a long way to go. Today, we announced a housing settlement, brought about by our Attorney General and states attorneys all across the country. And as a consequence, we're going to see billions of dollars in loan modifications and help to folks who are seeing their homes underwater. And that’s going to have a huge impact.
In my State of the Union, we talked about the need for American manufacturing -- companies coming back, insourcing, and recognizing how incredibly productive American workers are; and our need to continue to double down on investments in clean energy; and making sure that our kids are getting trained so that they are competing with any workers in the world, and are also effectively equipped to be great citizens and to understand the world around them.
And we talked about the fact that we've got to have the same set of values of fair play and responsibility for everybody -- whether it's Wall Street or Main Street. It means that we have a Consumer Finance Protection Board that is enforcing rules that make sure that nobody is getting abused by predatory lending or credit card scams. It means that we have regulations in place that protect our air and our water.
And it also means that we ensure that everybody in our society has a fair shot, is treated fairly. That’s at the heart of the American Dream. For all the other stuff going on, one thing every American understands is you should be treated fairly; you should be judged on the merits. If you work hard, if you do a good job, if you're responsible in your community, if you're looking after you family, if you're caring for other people, then that’s how you should be judged. Not by what you look like, not by how you worship, not by where you come from, not by who you love.
And so the work that we've done with respect to the LGBT community I think is just profoundly American and is at the heart of who we are. (Applause.) And that’s why I could not be prouder of the track record that we've done, starting with the very beginning when we started to change, through executive order, some of the federal policies. Kathleen -- the work that she did making sure that hospital visitation was applied equally to same-sex couples, just like with anybody else's loved ones. The changes we made at the State Department. The changes we made in terms of our own personnel policies. But also some very high-profile work, like "don't ask, don't tell."
And what's been striking over the course of these last three years is because we've rooted this work in this concept of fairness, and we haven't gone out of our way to grab credit for it, we haven't gone out of our way to call other folks names if they didn’t always agree with us on stuff, but we just kept plodding along -- because of that, in some ways what's been remarkable is how readily the public recognizes this is the right thing to do.
Think about -- just take "don't ask, don't tell" as an example. The perception was somehow that this would be this huge, ugly issue. But because we did it methodically, because we brought the Pentagon in, because we got some very heroic support from people like Bob Gates and Mike Mullen, and they thought through institutionally how to do it effectively -- since it happened, nothing's happened. (Laughter and applause.) Nothing's happened.
We still have the best military by far on Earth. There hasn’t been any notion of erosion and unit cohesion. It turns out that people just want to know, are you a good soldier, are you a good sailor, are you a good airman, are you a good Marine, good Coast Guardsman. That's what they're concerned about. Do you do your job? Do you do your job well?
It was striking -- when I was in Hawaii, there is a Marine base close to where we stay. Probably the nicest piece of real estate I think the Marines have. (Laughter.) It is very nice. And they have this great gym, and you go in there, you work out, and you always feel really inadequate because they're really in good shape, all these people. (Laughter.) They're lifting 100-pound dumb bells and all this stuff. At least three times that I was at that gym, people came up, very quietly, to say, you know what, thank you for ending "don't ask, don't tell."
Now, here's the thing. I didn’t even know whether they were gay or lesbian. I didn’t ask -- because that wasn’t the point. The point was these were outstanding Marines who appreciated the fact that everybody was going to be treated fairly.
We're going to have more work to do on this issue, as is true on a lot of other issues. There's still areas where fairness is not the rule. And we're going to have to keep on pushing in the same way -- persistently, politely, listening to folks who don’t always agree with us, but sticking to our guns in terms of what our values are all about. What American values are all about.
And that's going to be true on the issues that are of importance to the LGBT community specifically, but it's also going to be true on a host of other issues where we're just going to have to make persistent steady progress. Whether it is having an energy policy that works for America; whether it is having an immigration policy that is rational so that we are actually both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants; whether it's making sure that as we get our fiscal house in order we do it in a balanced way where everybody is doing their fair share to help close this deficit. It's not just being done on the backs of people who don't have enough political clout on Capitol Hill, but it's broadly applied and everybody is doing their fair share.
On all these issues, my view is that if we go back to first principles and we ask ourselves, what does it mean for us as Americans to live in a society where everybody has a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share, we're playing by a fair set of rules, everybody is engaging in fair play -- then we're going to keep on making progress.
And that's where I think the American people are at. It doesn’t mean this is going to be smooth. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be bumps in the road. It's not always good politics -- sometimes it's not. But over the long term, the trajectory of who we are as a nation, I believe that's our national character. We trend towards fairness and treating people well. And as long as we keep that in mind, I think we should be optimistic not just about the next election, but about the future of this country.
With all due respect to the governor (and today's victory WAS really her doing), that "civil, respectful debate" included many grotesqueries like quotes from Leviticus (abomination!) and all the other insulting Christianist arguments that characterize gay people as less than fully human. But fuck all that noise, really, because WE WON.
Oklahoma state Rep. Constance Johnson (D) tried to sink an anti-abortion "personhood" bill with the above amendment. We bow and giggle at the same time.
A few years ago, national Democrats would have woken up dreading this day. Just as the Presidential campaign really gets going, judges from the 9th Circuit—the circuit conservatives love to hate—overturn the will of the voters of California and declare a ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional? They might as well have wrapped their opinion in a bow and sent it to Karl Rove as an early Christmas present.
But that was then. And this is now, a time when even a major decision like the one that a three-judge panel handed down Tuesday is unlikely to have a major impact on the election. If anything, the political effect of this decision may be limited to showing that the days when same-sex marriage made an effective wedge issue for Republicans are over.
As you walk, cultivate a sense of ease. There’s no hurry to get anywhere, no destination to reach. You’re just walking. This is a good instruction: just walk. As you walk, as you let go of the desire to get somewhere, you begin to sense the joy in simply walking, in being in the present moment. You begin to comprehend the preciousness of each step. It’s an extraordinarily precious experience to walk on this earth.
We train the mind to see things as they happen, neither before nor after. And we don’t cling to the past, the future, or even to the present. We participate in what is happening and at the same time observe it without clinging to the events of the past, the future, or the present. We experience our ego or self arising, dissolving, and evaporating without leaving a trace of it. We see how our greed, anger, and ignorance vanish as we see the reality in life.
"Today, unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of California who voted to protect traditional marriage. This decision does not end this fight, and I expect it to go to the Supreme Court. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and, as president, I will protect traditional marriage and appoint judges who interpret the Constitution as it is written and not according to their own politics and prejudices." - Mitt Romney. (Via Igor Volsky @ Think Progress)
With the histori: c decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today, Prop 8 looks to be dismantled. There is still a stay in place on gay marriage while this moves up the chain further, but the limited scope of the case may keep the Supreme Court from taking up the issue.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Prop 8 was unconstitutional today because “the people of California may not, consistent with the federal Constitution, add to their state constitution a provision that has no more practical effect than to strip gays and lesbians of the right to use the official designation that the state and society give to committed relationships, thereby adversely affecting the status and dignity of the members of a disfavored class.”
This case was about the voters taking away the rights of a minority, not about the right to marriage equality in general. While this is a huge win for the people of California (and potentially Washington), this case will probably not have any bearing on the rest of the country. Because of this, the Supreme Court may decide that this case is not worth hearing. Since this case only affects California for now, the Supreme Court may pass on this, which is good for the citizens of California.
A federal appeals court today ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, upholding a federal judge's landmark ruling in a case likely destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Today’s decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stands as a victory for the fundamental American principle that all people are equal, and deserve equalrights and treatment under the law. This is the biggest step that theAmerican judicial system has taken to end the grievous discrimination against men and women in same-sex relationships and should be highly praised. "Proposition 8 has done nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that same-sex couples are inferior to heterosexual couples. These men and women are our firefighters, our paramedics, our law enforcement, our service-members, and to treat their relationships differently is unfair, unlawful, and violates the basic principle of who we are as a nation.
Mayors For Freedom
As Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, we know how important marriage is to our neighborhoods, our cities, and our nation. When committed couples are able to pledge their love to one another and share in the responsibilities and protections of marriage, our communities flourish and our cities are more competitive. Today’s decision by the 9th Circuit reaffirms that the American Dream is possible for everyone and brings us one step closer to ending marriage discrimination once and for all. We look forward to a day when all of our citizens will be able to share fairly and equally in the freedom to marry
Freedom To Marry
This monumental appellate decision restores California to the growing list of states and countries that have ended exclusion from marriage, and will further accelerate the surging nationwide majority for marriage. As this and other important challenges to marriage discrimination move through the courts around the country, Freedom to Marry calls on all Americans to join us in ensuring that together we make as strong a case in the court of public opinion as our legal advocates are making in the courts of law. By growing the majority for marriage, winning more states, and tackling federal discrimination – Freedom to Marry’s ‘Roadmap to Victory’ – we maximize our chances of winning when one case or another finally reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.”
More reactions will be added here as they come in....
Although we are not often taught this, the most skillful way through an impasse in meditation is to become aware of it and of what holds it together and keeps it running. To do this, you need to keep doing the meditation instructions that have gotten you to this point, but instead of following them “harder,” try approaching them in a softer, gentler manner. Do them loosely, and don’t do them all of the time.
Sometimes we're too sensitive. But I'm not buying that this is one of those times. The best homophobes skirt the line expertly. It doesn't change that what they're doing is wrong. I wrote in my other post, linked above, that perhaps it's subtle, the homophobia surrounding mocking men who wear pink or men react positively to homoerotic ad. One of our readers, Soullite, had a great response in the comments:
I don't think it's that subtle, really. Back in my more homophobic tween years, me and most of my friends would have decked anyone who said this to us [meaning, if they made fun of them for wearing pink etc], because we'd know damn well what they were saying. If a 12 year old would know it, I'm not buying that a grown man wouldn't know that this guy is basically pointing and screaming 'fag!'
I think the big problem here is we let grown ups hide behind a smile and a fake-ass attitude of 'what, me?' We all pretend not to notice what's really going on out of some misguided politeness or a fear of calling these bastards out. But really, this sh*t isn't too subtle and there ain't a man over 10 who doesn't know what's going on here.
Rallies will be held in San Francisco and Los Angeles tomorrow after the Ninth Circuit Court issues its ruling on Proposition 8. Nothing in my inbox about NYC so far, but check back here later. Hit the links for Facebook event pages.
The long anticipated ruling is expected to address three issues: (1) whether former U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker should have recused himself from hearing the case because he is gay and had a long-time partner with whom he was not married; (2) whether the proponents of Proposition 8 have the right to appeal Walker's decision striking down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional when none of the state defendants chose to do so; and (3) whether, if Walker did not need to recuse himself and the proponents do have the right to appeal, Walker was correct that Proposition 8 violates Californians' due process and equal protection rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
Mental noting takes us in a very different direction from getting lost in a story: “Oh, this anger is so miserable; I am such a terrible person because I’m always angry; this is just how I will always be,” and so on. Instead, we simply say to ourselves, “anger, anger”—and cut through all of that elaboration, the story, the judgment, the interpretation.
The true meaning of life
We are visitors on this planet,
we are here for ninety or one hundred years at the very most.
During this period,we must try to do something good, something useful with our lives.
If you contribute to other people’s happiness,
you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life.
02.03.2012 Ouro Preto – MG - Brasil Amigos – How I wish I could be with you all, but alas… First of all let me begin this rant, by saying how proud I am of all of you, and how much your friendship, mostly via the internet means to me. Laugh, cry, hug, and pray… light a fire this weekend! In September of 1993, I met with a number of Gay and Lesbian Baha’is in Reno, Nevada. When it was over, we had drafted a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly, which they refused to answer. After that meeting I worked alongside other members of the Gay Baha’i Fellowship (GBF) in helping a number of GLBT Baha’is thru their crisis, and even went to so far as to work with Continental Counselor Stephen Birkland at a very powerful reconciliation weekend in Denver sponsored by the LSA of Denver. It was soon after that when Counselor Birkland called me to warn me of a letter from the Universal House of Justice, demanding that we disband. I quickly contacted the rest of the authors and GBF members and we all decided to “abide by their wishes in instant and exact obedience”. Soon after I resigned from the Faith, as it was obvious that my LSA was planning on something, and that my very presence, inactive as I was, was a cause for disunity. But I was missing something. About that time, a pair of neo-Nazi brothers from far Northern California, murdered a gay couple in their ranch home and then drove to Sacramento and set fire to three synagogues. The next day thousands people met in tears with candles in front of the State Capitol Building. On the very spot that Abdul-Baha himself walked and prophesied, religious leaders spoke, without a peep from the Baha’is, if they were there at all. I was soon asked to be part of a unity committee set up by the Rabbi of one of the synagogues and the School District Superintendent of our son’s school district. I accepted and was welcomed as an open gay Baha’i university professor. When we went through our workshop process, we found that we represented a diverse group of people from numerous religions, genders, races. Many of you know my story when the Rabbi called me one day to ask me about my thoughts about whether he should officiate at a wedding of two lesbians in his synagogue, I asked him, “Rabbi what is better a Jewish Lesbian or a non-Jewish lesbian?” (Rabbi Bloom went on to perform the wedding for the couple). Along came 9/11 and I felt very, very alone, away from any spiritual community, so I asked to be reenrolled, a meeting was made with an assistant to the auxiliary board where questions were asked, I was assured that I was welcome, an anonymous person called me one day at work from the National Center and asked me if, and these were her exact words, “can you abide by the Baha’i laws?” I told her would to the “best of my abilities”. She welcomed me back into the Faith. At no time was I asked about my relationship, my marriage, nor did I volunteer any information that I can truthfully say, Counselor Birkland was in full knowledge of and still is to my understanding. Incidentally, at the Denver meeting, Birkland had given my former partner and I a lovely picture of the Purest Branch that he signed with a very loving message to us as a gesture of love and tolerance… That photo graced my home altar for many years, even when we split up and went our separate ways; which I feel was partly, not entirely, due to the stress this religion caused our relationship. When in 1998, when I was in Brasil as a Fulbright Scholar, I met my husband Milton, who was able to come to California to earn a masters and a doctorate, and where we eventually married. During that time California passed first a domestic partnership law, and later a marriage law. We were both “domesticated” then married, which because Brasil recognizes gay weddings outside of the country, allows for me to immigrate to Brasil. In my enthusiasm over our wedding, I shared a video that my son (our best man) and his girlfriend produced of our wedding on the internet. Soon after, I received a letter from the NSA removing my rights, and accusing me of lying to them about my relationship in the most heinous and degrading of terms. Letters, videos all have been archived on my blog (see links below on revoked) for anyone to study, see, visit, comment and peruse, as I have absolutely nothing to hide or be ashamed of. We are a respected couple, both informally in the community we live in and professionally, we have been together 15 years now, we are both professors at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, and known for our research in ethnomathematics and mathematical modeling. Recently, we have been asked, as a pair, to present work at the British Museum, yet the Baha’i Faith finds us unclean, unworthy, and does not want us, or friends or family in its ranks! I only share this, so that you can gain one more level of the darkness, hate, and absurdity that the homophobia this Faith allows and encourages. Currently, this religious community is so very sick, and it has effectively institutionalized its homophobia that continues to eat at it like a cancer. Because of this accepted hate, is chasing progressives of capacity away from it in droves. For every person it removes, it also disenfranchises hundreds that it needs as well. But in a weird way I am equally grateful to the Baha’is, as all of this set me on a new spiritual quest, it has caused me to question the very veracity of the Faith itself, and left me feeling that Baha’u’llah was a very great man, but to wonder about his claims, as the religion of His followers is constructing is apparently built on sand. This inability to deal effectively, lovingly, and honestly with gay & lesbian issues in a modern, loving and informed manner was the last straw… it was to me, and I can say to many others I know, the canary in the mineshaft. For my own sanity and spiritual health, I moved on. There is no refuge for me, or any gay man in the Baha’i Faith. I became a Buddhist, finding needed love and refuge in a sangha in Sacramento before leaving for Brasil. The Sacramento Buddhist Mediation Group (SBMG) incidentally meets in the very synagogue of the Rabbi I worked with years earlier! When I moved to South America a year ago, I mailed my entire Baha’i library to the LSA of Carmichael, my beloved greatest name woven by a group of non-Baha’i women in Guatemala that I assisted was sent to a Baha’i man that I brought into the Faith when I lived in Guatemala. The photo of the Purest Branch was returned to Counselor Birkland in Haifa, now a Universal House of Justice member. It is noteworthy that only Tim, the colleague I sent my Greatest Name acknowledged the gifts and that only in passing, as if none of them could deal honestly with what they are doing to GLBT people. Many of you have family members who are Baha’i. I was the only member in my extended family, I was alone, and I had no Baha’i support, ever. I taught the Faith, pioneered to Guatemala; home front pioneered, I did it all… alone, even my ex-wife refused to examine the Faith, and my straight son has rejected it outright for its homophobia. All the time withstood the prejudice from my family, and gladly did this for something I had thought was right, was good. But the Baha’is have shown my colleagues, friends, my husband and son, that I was the fool, that by their actions, there is nothing here, no hope, no refuge… that it may indeed be a cult as my parents still think, and that it was all perhaps at best, a very nice utopian dream.
So it is I humbly offer you a few questions for your consultation: 1. When so many of our friends, colleagues, family who are members in other religions, with equal if not similar teachings on homosexuality are brave and stand up, and demand inclusion, why are GLBT Baha’is so afraid, so dysfunctional, and so incapable of being out and proud in this religion? What is it about the Baha’i Faith that so effectively terrorizes its GLBT members so? That either drives them underground or away? 2. Why is it that this religion cannot find a decent way in which to love and embrace their GLBT brethren, as so many other religious communities have done? Why is it that GLBT people are allowed to be discriminated against? Why is it that homophobes are not sanctioned? 3. How is it that after so many years, the questions asked of the NSA by the GBF are left largely unanswered? 4. Why is it that the leadership of the Faith cannot see the damage they created to the image of the Faith in the eyes of the progressive community around them? 5. Why are progressive people of capacity – straight and gay – being chased out of this Faith? Could it be that this religion that once held so much promise for many of us that now seems by this very homophobia is bankrupt, and false? Again, it breaks my heart to even contemplate this. So I ask again, “Rabbi, what is better…?” All my respect, admiration, support, light and energy from Brasil!
I'm just going to give you one paragraph from Rolling Stone's excellent long-form piece on bullying and suicide in Michele Bachhmann's home district.
"This isn't something you kid about, Brittany," her mom scolded, snatching the kitchen cordless and taking it down the hall to call the Johnsons. A minute later she returned, her face a mask of shock and terror. "Honey, I'm so sorry. We're too late," she said tonelessly as Brittany's knees buckled; 13-year-old Sam had climbed into the bathtub after school and shot herself in the mouth with her own hunting rifle. No one at school had seen her suicide coming. No one saw the rest of them coming, either.
We often hear the phrase "The War on Christianity" loudly bandied about by politicians, pundits and religious groups. Generally speaking, it's a Conservative call declaiming the dissolution of Christian values in mainstream discourse and governance.
An article submitted by member, Rev. G. Jude Geiger. "This is the true War on Christianity in our country. It's not about prayer in schools, or soccer trumping Sunday school. It's about groups of pundits, politicians and "American"-centric groups redefining the teachings of Jesus to suit their economic, social or political agenda. You know it's working when those spouting the anti-Christian rhetoric rile people into anger and hatred. You know it's working when Christians are confused into believing that the the health of their neighbor is not their concern. That individual freedom is radically more important than community well-being."
We are not called upon as Buddhists to deny the world, and certainly not to escape from it. We are called to live with it, and to make our peace with all that is. The world of worries we wish to escape from in the beginning of Buddhist practice is found to be enlightenment itself in the end.
Anger, annoyance, and impatience deplete energy. Patient effort strengthens our resources. We need to practice cooling emotional fires and alleviating fierce disruptions from our lives. The benefits of developing greater patience will be felt in all our relationships: intimate, casual, professional, as well as that all-important relationship, the one we have with ourselves.
The American Family Association's campaign against JC Penney and Ellen DeGeneres has earned the AFA scornful media attention from around the world. For their part, JC Penney says they are proudly "standing behind our partnership with Ellen DeGeneres." Here's how E! covered the story last night.
RELATED: GLAAD is wisely capitalizing on the situation to point out that LGBT people can be fired just for being who they are in 29 states across the nation. ENDA!
When gay marriage finally becomes widespread, how quickly (if at all) will we act to correct each other when we identify someone's significant other?
"There goes David and his husband."
"Oh, they aren't married, just living together."
Will we do that? Will we give those who choose not to marry a verbal downgrade to "just living together", to "just boyfriends"? Gay people have traditionally operated fast and loose with the rules of defining and naming our relationships.
Will there be a sense of relief then, as we convert to straight society's hierarchy of relationships and start identifying couples as: dating, living together, or married? I think that the implied legitimacy of a legal marriage will tempt many of our people to begin resorting relationships into those separate categories. And I don't know how I feel about that.
It took almost seven years, but this very thing happened to me last night as I was rather archly informed that the couple I'd referred to as "husbands" were not married. They've just lived together for 22 years.
The Washington state Senate voted 28-21 in favor of a marriage equality bill Wednesday night, sending the legislation to the House of Representatives, where it's broadly supported. The bipartisan vote came after a speech by openly gay state Sen. Ed Murray, who promised to invite his colleagues -- including those who oppose the bill -- when he weds his partner of 20 years. "Those of us who support this legislation are not, and we should not be accused of, undermining family life or religious freedom. ... Marriage is how society says you are a family," Murray said. House passage of the bill is expected soon, and Gov. Christine Gregoire has vowed to sign it into law.
Whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, gross or subtle, every sensation shares the same characteristic: it arises and passes away, arises and passes away. It is this arising and passing that we have to experience through practice, not just accept as truth because Buddha said so, not just accept because intellectually it seems logical enough to us. We must experience sensation’s nature, understand its flux, and learn not to react to it.
MLK ally Bayard Rustin at 100
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Nicholas Glenn | Communications Coordinator |312- 799-2161 glenn@chicagohistory.or
Bayard Rustin at 100
Rediscovering a Forgotten Hero
Known as the "invisible man" of the civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Artfully bringing Gandhi's techniques of nonviolence from India to America; Rustin organized the 1963 march on Washington D.C., the largest demonstration to date in American history. Rustin set the stage for a movement that captured the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. Yet despite his pivotal contributions, Rustin was expunged from history largely for being openly gay.
Beginning its 9th year, the Out at CHM series explores the contributions LGBT communities have made to Chicago and the nation. On Thursday, February 9, 2012, Chicago Urban League President Andrea L. Zopp moderates a discussion on Rustin’s enduring legacy with filmmaker Bennett Singer, co-director of the acclaimed documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, and Rustin's surviving life partner Walter Naegle.
The evening will also explore how Rustin is being rediscovered by a new generation of Americans committed to social and economic justice. During the conversation, film clips from Brother Outsider will be shown to add context to the life of this unknown hero. For more information please visit chicagohitory.org
Citing yesterday's JMG post about the AFA's attack on Ellen DeGeneres, GLAAD has launched a campaign to thank JC Penney for selecting a popular openly gay spokesperson. Hit the link for a Change.org petition and for JC Penney contact details.
Freedom To Marry and the Human Rights Campaign have launched a board coalition of organizations who are uniting in the battle to repeal DOMA. Here's the list so far.
Alliance for Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Democratic Action, Anti-Defamation League, Association of Flight Attendants, Center for American Progress, Coalition of Labor Union Women, COLAGE, Courage Campaign, Communications Workers of America, Family Equality Council, Feminist Majority, Freedom to Marry, GLAD, Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality, Interfaith Alliance, International Union, UAW, Lambda Legal, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Log Cabin Republicans, MALDEF, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women’s Law Center, People for the American Way, PFLAG, Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), Service Employees International Union, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Stonewall Democrats, Third Way, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and USAction.
Last fall the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a repeal of DOMA, but the bill was not advanced to the full chamber because it would not pass there. A House version of a DOMA repeal bill would likely not survive its committee. However there is some hope that Democrats may improve their position in Congress this fall.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is suing the federal government on behalf of a disabled lesbian veteran and her partner.
Tracey Cooper-Harris served her country for 12 years in the U.S. Army. She received more than two dozen medals and commendations. She was honorably discharged in 2003. In 2010, Cooper-Harris was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a disabling disease that attacks the brain and central nervous system. The Department of Veterans Affairs denied Cooper-Harris’ request for benefits for her partner, even though their same-sex marriage was recognized by California. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Cooper-Harris and her partner, charging that the Department of Veterans Affairs discriminated against them by denying these benefits but granting them to spouses in heterosexual marriages. It also charges the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional because it bans federal agencies from recognizing such same-sex marriages, denying these couples benefits available to couples in heterosexual marriages
It is important to sit with the clear intention to be present. At the same time, we need to let go of expectations. In a very real sense, what happens when we sit is none of our business. The practice is to accept whatever arises instead of trying to control our experience. What we can control is our wise effort to be present with what is.
