3/31/12

Zen lesson: "The sacredness of life"


Life is possible. Situations are possible. And anybody can start to gain some kind of insight and appreciation of their lives. That’s what we call 'sacred.' It doesn’t mean something dramatic, but something very simple. There’s a sacredness to everyone’s life.

- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Via Daily Dharma at Tricycle.com

Boys can love boys...even football players


Not taking Buddhism or anything else too seriously


Here I am mooning a friend, during a long retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. Life is to be enjoyed and celebrated!

Watch: British man claims to have become gay after a stroke

Fox News host Mike Huckabee supports the film "Bully", which shows there is some compassion left in the GOP

New Ram commercial captures the zeitgeist of this recession

Major league baseball player allegedly being extorted by his gay lover from high school


This is a complicated and interesting case involving Minnesota Twins pitcher Carl Pavano. Pavano is married to a woman, and they have two kids. It is interesting to note that there is no "out" major league football, baseball, or basketball player, despite all the advancement of gays. Read on.

A mom (who has a gay son) deconstructs Santorum's homophobia, misogyny, and fear of pink bowling balls


At a campaign event at a bowling alley in Wisconsin on Wednesday, Rick Santorum told a young man selecting a bowling ball, “You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera."

Sarah Manley writes:


It is 2012, folks. Color means nothing as far as someone’s future plans or gender or sexuality. It is a color. In the past, pink was a masculine color, but it’s morphed into a feminine one. Therein lies the problem.

Anything feminine is considered weak, inferior, delicate, less than. It may be good enough for your daughters, but it sure as hell isn’t for your sons.

I ask you to consider why? Do you love your daughters less? What about your mothers? Do you consider them to be insubstantial? Do you forget that women make up half of the population? Are you worried that they will take away your power? What is the root of the "pink ball" comment?

I propose it is misogyny, at its simplest form. Pink equals girly, and that is not okay for a boy or a man. But here’s the rub, it is. It is not just okay, but should be embraced and nurtured. Our sons should grow up to be strong and caring men. Our daughters should grow up to be strong and caring women. A gay man is not less of a man. A straight man that likes pink is not less of a man.

Full article

A leader on nuclear non-proliferation: Obama


This man cares for the future that his daughters will inherit. Read about the strategic initiatives of this Admiration and why he fears Iran getting the bomb.

3/30/12

Standing up for ourselves and celebrating our love


Life is beautiful! Three videos that make me smile

Nature meets technology:



The coming age of robots:



More than meets the eye:

Gaga performs a special "The Edge of Glory"

Zen lesson of the day


We have to move from the illusion of certainty
to the certainty of illusion.
- Sam Keen

via Zen Calendar

Jeff Koons' sculpture proposed for NYC's High Line


Given the High Line was originally an intracity train track, Jeff Koons' sculpture seems appropriate for this popular park. Details about the proposal.

Reality vs. rhetoric: which presidents are the big spenders?


UK study suggests that our happiest age is 33. Mine is now




Bullied teenager talks to Anderson Cooper about "Bully" movie

Rachel Maddow interviewed by Terry Gross; two of the media's best interviewers together. Listen to it


GOP claims that they are fighting for your "freedom", unless you are a woman, LGBT, an immigrant, the uninsurable, etc...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy






3/29/12

Our love is beautiful


Harvard student Matthew Vines talks about homosexuality and the Bible. Well-worth watching

One of the coolest things I have seen...

A poetry giant (and lesbian), Adrienne Rich passes away


From "Six Edgelit" by Adrienne Rich

The night of the eclipse the full
moon
swims clear between the flying clouds until

the hour of the occlusion It's not of aging
anymore and its desire
which is of course unending

it's of dying young or old
in full desire

Remember me....O, O, O,
O, remember me

these vivid stricken cells
precarious living marrow
this is my labyrinthine filmic brain
this is my dreaded blood
this is my irreplaceable
footprint vanishing from the air

dying in full desire
thirsting for the coldest water
hungering for hottest food
gazing into the wildest light

edgelight from the high desert
where shadows drip from tiniest stones
sunklight of bloody afterglow

torque of the Joshua tree
flinging itself forth in winter
factoring freeze into its liquid consciousness

These are the extremes I stoke
into the updraft of this life
still roaring

into thinnest air

1993-1994

Our advocates worked with national and state GOP leaders to defeat the repeal of same-sex marriage in NH


From Towleroad:
"Freedom to Marry, which led the campaign against the repeal bill, credits its success in part to inroads it has made nationally with Republicans. Freedom to Marry’s founder, Evan Wolfson, credits conservatives like Ted Olson — who led the challenge to Proposition 8 in California — and former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman with accelerating that trend. Mehlman, newly out a year or two ago, was “very effective,” Wolfson says, in guiding them in New Hampshire. And polling showing an overwhelming opposition to the bill in New Hampshire certainly did not hurt."

Marc Solomon, the national campaign director for Freedom to Marry, writes in the Advocate how they accomplished this:

Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize. Our all-out focus was on how to surpass 133 votes in the House – the number we would need to sustain the governor’s veto. We determined we had nearly all the Democrats, so that meant focusing our entire effort on making the case to Republicans. We had to convince business-oriented and libertarian-minded Republicans to break away from antigay and social-agenda politics to vote down repeal.

Enlisting Right-of-Center Civic and Business Leaders. One element of our strategy was to enlist a who’s who of business and civic leaders, with a focus on right-of-center Granite Staters. Lew Feldstein, the just-retired president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, took on the chairmanship of Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, the campaign that we built along with state partners and the Human Rights Campaign. Lew worked his Rolodex and made the case to dozens of VIPs about joining the campaign. By the time of the vote, we had a nearly 300 person who’s who of New Hampshire, with a strong right-of-center bent: the former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the former chair of the Business & Industry Association, the owners of several of New Hampshire’s best-known businesses, a former GOP House majority leader, Senator Judd Gregg’s former chief of staff, and on and on. Skillfully deploying these local voices to make the case throughout the campaign, our Standing Up campaign won the earned-media battle.

Improvising. Because we couldn’t enlist a traditional Republican lobbyist to work on preserving the marriage law, Freedom to Marry turned over every stone to put together a GOP team. We found a young and openly gay conservative, the secretary of the New Hampshire Young Republicans, who had moved with his partner to the Granite State in 2009 and was now ready to do battle. We paired him up with the operative who had executed our winning Republican strategy in New York. Standing Up for New Hampshire Families also brought onboard the former communications director for the New Hampshire Republican Party. Together, they crafted a GOP-focused lobbying, vote-counting, and media strategy, and they executed it superbly. Later in the campaign, we secured New Hampshire’s best-respected GOP lobbyist, former Senate President Ed Dupont, who helped our team seal the deal.

Good Old Fashioned Field Work. Quite simply, we outworked our opponents. Our Standing Up for NH Families field team ran phone banks and organized meetings between same-sex couples and a targeted list of lawmakers. We built a powerful new media presence. In the end, we generated more than 30,000 constituent contacts to a targeted list of lawmakers, who consistently said they heard more from our side than our opponents’.

National Republican Leader Engagement. Coming off the New York victory, in which we passed the freedom to marry bill through a GOP-led state senate, some of our strong national GOP supporters shared our commitment to ensuring that the right-of-center momentum on our side wasn’t reversed in New Hampshire. Former chairman of the Republican National Committee Ken Mehlman worked relentlessly to make the case to GOP lawmakers, trekking up to Concord, reaching out via email and phone calls, offering strategy guidance, writing a powerful op-ed piece in the Manchester Union-Leader, and always offering to do more. Paul Singer, the hedge fund entrepreneur who was a lead contributor and fundraiser for the New York marriage effort, once again came through with a crucial contribution that enabled Freedom to Marry to powerfully make the case. We enlisted Jan Van Lohuizen, pollster for George W. Bush, to do polling and share with GOP lawmakers his findings that for the vast majority a vote for repeal would be unwise politically.

Building Electoral Power. Given NOM’s involvement in the 2010 elections and their m.o. of threats to bully and bluff Republican lawmakers, we knew our side needed to muscle up. As a result, top local Republican campaign expert Sean Owen created a PAC called New Hampshire Republicans for Freedom and Equality, and committed to raising and spending at least $100,000 to support Republican lawmakers who stood for equality.

Making Our Case, New Hampshire Style. Undergirding every aspect of our campaign was the fact that — thanks to years of investment in local organizing and public education as well as powerful national momentum — New Hampshire residents support the freedom to marry and overwhelmingly oppose repealing the law. “Live Free or Die” is the state slogan for a reason: liberty and freedom are core values in the Granite State. As we made our case on television, the radio, in the press, and in direct mail, we never let New Hampshire lawmakers, or voters, forget that — in the words of Dick Cheney (whom we actually quoted frequently to GOP lawmakers) — “freedom means freedom for everyone.” The campaign introduced Granite Staters to a personification of that value, Craig Stowell, a former Marine and conservative Republican who wanted nothing more than to be the best man in his gay brother’s wedding, just as his brother had been for him. We enlisted Craig as GOP co-chair of Standing Up, and he wowed them.

Quote of the day, on the culture wars


I've said if often and I'll say it again. The "conservatives" in the GOP are not conservative at all but radical religionists who have raided this once Grand Old Party and made it much less grand. They have also made their own religion less grand in the process by combining it with the Republican party and coming up with a form of religion that has foregone its spiritual foundations to take on the earthly contours of political grandstanding.


- Kevin Sessums

3/28/12

Male beauty for Wednesday


Imagine creating this song to propose to your boyfriend!



Towleroad interviews its creator, Danny Rose:

I started writing the song in December and took me a month to complete. Then I prepped the music video for a few weeks and shot it all in one day at the culver studios. I had everything donated from techno crane to cameras and fx. I had a killer director, DP, editor and choreographers all who volunteered their time and amazing talents. I spent about a month in post.

The funny thing. Very funny thing... Is that Aaron was planning to ask me !! He actually beat me to the punch and devised his own proposal adventure for me on Valentines day! I was in the midst of prepping the video! I said yes but told him I was still going to ask him and continue my plan!

I presented the video in the backyard. When he saw the screen he thought I made a slide show of our lives together!

After the video I got down on one knee and asked him to make me the happiest person in the world and spend his life with me! He said of course and it was a great moment. But wanted to watch the video again 30 more times. There are a lot of inside jokes and even some wardrobe choices in there designed to experiences in our history.


RIP: Chilean gay man, beaten by neo-Nazis, dies


Daniel Zamudio dies, 25 days after being severely beaten by neo-Nazis. This is truly a sad event. The Conservative Chilean President promises to pass anti-discrimination law there. We hope so.

Rachel's powerful essay about the politicalization of the U.S. Supreme Court

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Must see TV: Frontline investigates Murdoch's British newspaper scandal and his ethics. Now, I understand the philosophy behind Fox News

Watch Murdoch's Scandal on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

3/27/12

Male beauty


Celebrating our love


At the GLAAD Awards, this journalist remembers Jamey Rodemeyer and his dad's coming out. Inspiring

Quote of the day: on the fear tactics of marriage equality opponents


"NOM’s wedge-strategy memos detail its campaign to funnel money to a handful of African-American clergy in order to attack gay couples and, appallingly, discredit the strong and clear voice of those African-American civil rights champions, such as John Lewis, Julian Bond, and Coretta Scott King, who have stood up for the freedom to marry and the equal civil rights of all people, including gay people of color. These smoking-gun documents show how NOM has sought, in the most cynical ways imaginable, to bait the gay community in hopes of provoking a hurt response that would further divide, all in furtherance of the ugly and cruel anti-gay agenda.

"NOM’s secret memos describe its intention to ‘interrupt [Latinos’] process of assimilation’ by ‘making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity’ and ‘seek to identify glamorous young Latino and Latina leaders’ to reject equal protection for their own family members who are gay. And all of this to be done, fueled by NOM’s shadowy secret funders, in the name of religion -- in flagrant contempt of the Golden Rule of treating others as you would want to be treated. Despicable."

- Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom To Marry

The documentary "Bully" will be released without a rating



The Weinstein Company has decided to release this controversial and moving film without a rating, leaving it to the discretion of theater owners to show this film to minors without accompanying adults. I hope they do...

Zen lesson: Dancing with our challenges


When challenges or obstacles arise for us, we don’t have to get so intimidated; we can say, ‘Yes, it’s an obstacle, but it is not intrinsically bad; it’s not going to destroy me.’ To create a relationship with the obstacle, learn about it, and finally overcome it is going to be a helpful thing to do. It gives us a chance to cultivate wisdom and skillful means. It gives us confidence. We cannot eliminate all of the challenges or obstacles in life— our own or anyone else’s. We can only learn to rise to the occasion and face them.

-Dzigar Kongtrul

via Tricycle.com

This clip from the TV show "What Would You Do?" reminds me that the most powerful argument for equality is about fairness

3/26/12

The joy of life: a puppy pile


A Buddhist perspective on marriage equality

"Change" has come to the U.S. Army...


...a photo from Afghanistan. President Obama does make a difference in the lives of LGBT Americans.

Cartoons of the day



Very moving: A gay man from Morocco writes about the high price of surviving village homophobia and rape


This piece by Abdellah Taia reminds me how I, too, have killed small parts of myself that I considered to be too effeminate for society, and realize now that there is a personal price in authenticity for eradicating these aspects of my boyhood personality -- something that I think many gay men have done. Society's homophobia and strict gender roles are harmful to so many people, both victims and enforcers.

By Abdellah Taia, "A Boy to Be Sacrificed", from the New York Times

The whole neighborhood. The whole world. These men, whom we all knew quite well, cried out: “Abdellah, little girl, come down. Come down. Wake up and come down. We all want you. Come down, Abdellah. Don’t be afraid. We won’t hurt you. We just want to have sex with you.”

...They kept yelling for a long time. My nickname. Their desire. Their crime...

But my brother, the absolute monarch of our family, did nothing. Everyone turned their back on me. Everyone killed me that night. I don’t know where I found the strength, but I didn’t cry. I just squeezed my eyes shut a bit more tightly. And shut, with the same motion, everything else in me. Everything. I was never the same Abdellah Taïa after that night. To save my skin, I killed myself. And that was how I did it.

I began by keeping my head low all the time. I cut all ties with the children in the neighborhood. I altered my behavior. I kept myself in check: no more feminine gestures, no more honeyed voice, no more hanging around women. No more anything. I had to invent a whole new Abdellah. I bent myself to the task with great determination, and with the realization that this world was no longer my world. Sooner or later, I would leave it behind. I would grow up and find freedom somewhere else. But in the meantime I would become hard. Very hard.

Full article

3/25/12

Moving male beauty...from the Cal gymnastics team

I love this "Derek" character from the Catherine Tate show

Because of new GOP-proposed laws on abortion & birth control, many women are angry

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


The election of Tea Party candidates and extreme GOPers in 2010 is having its consequences as they begin to legislate their 18th century view of women. With the recent Komen Foundation assault on Planned Parenthood, many GOP-controlled states introducing medically-unnecessary,"trans-vaginal ultra-sounds" anti-abortion laws, and Santorum as well as Senators Rubio and Blunt speaking out against mandatory contraceptive coverage in medical plans, many women feel under attack.


But I didn't realize how angry they are: I was a little shocked to read the following new poem by Marge Piercy, the highly-acclaimed American poetess, full of rage at the Republicans for trying to control her body:

Ethics for Republicans
by Marge Piercy

An embryo is precious;
a woman is a vessel.

A fertilized egg is a person;
a woman is indentured to it.

An embryo is sacred until birth.
After that, he/she is on their own.

Abortion is murder. Rape,
incest are means to an end:

that precious fertilized egg
housed in an expendable body.

Let us make babies and babies
and babies; chlldren are something

else, probably future criminals,
probably welfare cheats whose

education hikes taxes. You
can freely dispose of them.


Pollsters are seeing a political cost for all this GOP women-bashing and Tea Party over-reach on social issues. Look at the latest polls in Virginia, after the GOP introduced the infamous trans-vaginal ulta-sound law in that state's legislature. Women are pissed...


I understand this. For decades, gays have been bullied by social conservatives, who now make up over 50% of GOP voters. That's why I argue that gays, women, and other minorities must stick together -- our collective independence and freedom threaten the prevailing social order created by conservative mostly heterosexual men. Together, we are winning these culture wars...but often it is messy and ugly work.

And it is okay to be angry!

3/24/12

Celebrating life and our bodies


The amazing humanitarian that soon will head the World Bank

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


W. nominated neo-con and Iraq war monger Paul Wolfowitz for this post, who later had to resign over ethics charges. Obama nominates Jim Yong Kim. This says it all.

Beautiful: Florence + The Machine

Watch these firemen in drag put out a truck fire



In Padua, Minn., the annual St. Patrick's Day parade was about to get under way when a pickup truck burst into flames. Luckily two firefighters were nearby, dressed in drag for their appearance in the parade.

The sounds of silence for the last 24 hours


Having been off technology for the last 24 hours, I have had time to hear the rain fall as I finished a painting project, at my place, witnessing my thoughts, feelings, and sensations. All in all, this technology sabbath has been a terrific experience, reminding me of the silent meditation retreats which I have participated in over the years. Everything seems to be happening slower than normal, and my mind is less reactive. I might do this again, maybe once a month or more.

I love social media but appreciate it even more as I come back from this technology break.

3/23/12

I am observing the National Day of Unplugging, from tonight at sunset for 24 hours. Good-bye twitter, google, tumblr, Facebook. See you again on Saturday night, sane & fresh


You are welcome to join me.

Buster is back!


Celebrating male sexiness on a Friday


Quote of the day


“No one deserves to be bullied, harassed, or victimized because of who they are, how they worship, or who they love.”
- Attorney General Eric Holder at the White House’s conference on LGBT bullying, where Valerie Garrett also spoke.

President Obama: "If I Had A Son, He Would Look Like Trayvon"

Rove says he is not impressed with Obama. History isn't likely to be impressed with Rove. America isn't either


This is rich: Karl Rove -- the man who helped W. invade Iraq, divide the country, crash the economy -- says he isn't impressed with Obama. Mr. Rove is clearly envious of Mr. Obama's leadership. He, on the other hand, aided and abetted one of the most unsuccessful presidents in the last 100 years.

Read about Mr. Rove's comments here.

Zen lesson: noticing arising emotions as they appear


The crucial point is to maintain constant vigilance over and awareness of our mental state so that, at the moment that afflictive emotions rise up, they will not trigger a chain of deluded thoughts. Thus, we neither let desire overwhelm our mind, nor do we repress it while leaving it intact in a hidden corner of the mind. We simply become free from its alienating power.

- Matthieu Ricard

Via Tricycle.com

More Neil DeGrasse Tyson







3/22/12

Using facts, Rachel Maddow makes a convincing case that Romney has a problem in telling the truth

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Profile in courage: a Georgia high school student council president dismissed for advocating a gay-friendly prom

Following Hillary's example, the U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon equates gay rights with human rights. Thank you!

Obama plays the long game -- with patience and discipline



Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero) and David Corn (Mother Jones, Showdown)

The changing face of the American family


In this case, Ricky Martin's.

Male beauty


Omar Sharif's half-Jewish and all gay grandson, Omar Sharif, Jr.

Lavender history: this gay couple went down with the Titanic



Read about the Butts-Millet relationship here.

While it remakes its stores and offerings, JCPenney is masterfully using Ellen to reshape its image



No surprise here: Ron Johnson, the new CEO of JCPenney created the Apple Stores with Steve Jobs and remade Target into a contemporary discounter.

Racism in America: the shooting and death of Trayvon Martin

Zen lesson on arrogance -- in the form of a tweet


The power of social media in creating dialogue between the people of antagonistic nations, like Israel and Iran


Check out this innovative Facebook campaign meant to create direct dialogue between Israelis and Iranians.

The "Etch A Sketch" candidate's "pro-choice" position in 2002

Wall Street, this is what corporate integrity looks like: Starbucks' CEO standing up to anti-gay bigotry

The Catholic Church goes after the priest abuse victims' group, SNAP. Shame on the American Catholic bishops!


More shameful and anti-family behavior from the Roman Catholic Church. Read the NYTimes article.

The good ole boys of the Catholic Church protect their hides and assets before taking care of the victims of their neglect or willful protection of child-abusing priests. I am appalled!

A deaf student recounts meeting the president today, and is touched by his humanity. Me, too



Stephon Willams:

The moment I will never forget was when he looked at me. He gave me a chance to talk to him. It was like he was waiting for me to say something. I took the moment and signed “I am proud of you,” and his response was “Thank u” in sign language back! Oh my gosh! I was like wow! He understood me after I said I was proud of him. It was so amazing…I was just speechless. Right after he thanked me, he smiled at another deaf lady who signed “I love you.” When I shook his hand it did not feel like he was superior to me. He was just a humble man. I am just impressed by him and know that he will have my vote and he will win second term without a doubt. Yeah, I feel safe to have him for another term.

3/21/12

Exploding iceberg in Antarctica

Some things get better with age: Ryan Gosling, for example


As a teenager


Now

All-American: two young men get married in Iowa

Zen lesson of the day: "We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness"


We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.

- Marcel Proust

Quote of the day: conservative lawyer Ted Olson calls Prop 8 battle the "highlight of his life." Glad that he is on our side


“This is the most important thing we’ve done in our lives. It’s not just become a legal challenge, but it’s about the hearts and minds of a country changing.”

- Ted Olson, co-lead of the Olson-Boies legal team that is fighting Prop 8 in federal courts

Neo-cons & liberals alike ask "who's the real Mitt Romney?"

A leader for Civil Rights, Bayard Rustin, was a gay man


Rustin on the right, and one of MLK's most trusted advisors



From Steve Walker of the Obama campaign on March 17th, the 100th anniversary Rustin's birth:

Bayard Rustin’s life embodied the core principles of community organizing: to empower community members, strengthen connectedness and fight for equality. He prioritized the greater good of the community over the promotion of any one individual. But what makes Rustin’s achievements truly remarkable is his personal story.

Bayard Rustin would have turned 100 years old today. He lived his life as an unapologetically proud African-American gay man, neither hiding from nor minimizing his identity despite pressure to do so. The fact that he organized between the 1940s and 1960s, a time when racism, racial segregation, and homophobia were rampant, is a testament to his courage.

Rustin championed several causes, including economic rights, education, health, school integration and labor organizing. His skills were renowned, and he was a sought after advisor who worked with civil rights leaders like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and A. Philip Randolph. In 1947, he planned the first “freedom rides” to the South, which drew attention to Jim Crow practices and drove the formation of the Congress of Racial Equality.

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, Rustin was a vocal organizer who called the country to directly engage in HIV prevention programs, treatment, and education programs.

For these and many reasons, it’s an honor to work for the same Democratic Party as Rustin did some 50 years ago. Democrats, under President Obama’s leadership, continue to fight for the issues Rustin sought to change during his illustrious career.

Without question, I owe much of my ability to work, live, and love as an openly gay African-American man to Bayard Rustin. The progress people of color and the LGBT community have seen couldn’t have happened without his life-long activism. Happy 100th birthday Bayard Rustin; your work is the foundation we’re using to create an America that’s built to last.