8/31/12
8/30/12
A reparative "therapy" survivor talks about his experience with this form of psycho-quackery
About California's landmark bill to end this abuse of minors:
Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) proposed the measure based on concern by medical groups involving psychologists and psychiatrists that the therapy is not based on sound scientific principles. "The entire house of medicine has rejected this phony and sham therapy. It really is junk science,’’ Lieu told his fellow Senators. "The American Psychiatric Assn. says it poses great risk to individuals including feelings of guilt, self-hatred, shame. Some people commit suicide having gone through this.’
Ayn Rand for Dummies. That sounds redundant
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Chiat on the GOP's denial problem
Jonathan Chait:
The meta-message of the Bush administration for its critics was: We don’t care what you think. What climate scientists or budget crunchers or intelligence experts said didn’t matter. The Republicans had their own people who assured them that carbon emissions weren’t necessarily warming the planet and tax cuts wouldn’t lead to deficits, and these truths would reverberate on Fox News and other friendly media. In that mental state, a Republican can confidently say or do anything, and — as long as he stays true to conservative dogma — he will be hailed as virtuous and true by the only parties whose standing matters to him.
8/29/12
Yesterday the California Assembly passed SB 1172, bringing this anti-gay "therapy" ban one step closer to reality
Watch the above speech by the Speaker of the Assembly, John Perez
From EQCA:
The California Assembly today voted 52-21 in favor of a bill that will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth from dangerous and abusive treatments by mental health practitioners who falsely claim to be able to change their sexual orientation or gender expression. Authored by Senator Ted Lieu, Senate Bill 1172 is co-sponsored by Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gaylesta, Mental Health America of Northern California, Lambda Legal, and the Courage Campaign. The bill will return to the Senate for a vote to concur in amendments made in the Assembly before proceeding to Governor Jerry Brown’s deskPlease add your name to the petition urging Governor Brown to sign this important legislation.
8/27/12
Zen lesson on Big Mind
The whole of existence is imagination within imagination, while true Being is God alone.
- Ibn Arabi
Now, a moment of inspiration: watch this 18-year-old Welsh rugby player come out. "It is hard being a straight-acting gay"
Often, straight-acting gays like Thom live miserable lives, suffering from lying, poor self-esteem, and substance abuse. I am proud of him for truly loving himself and coming out. I bet he is going to have a good life.
The "father" of Prop 8 is busted for DUI. He is also the Archbishop of San Francisco
Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, 56, who was appointed archbishop in July, was taken into custody Saturday at 12:26 a.m. after being stopped on College Avenue near Montezuma Road, police said. Cordileone, who is a San Diego native, was booked into county jail on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence and later posted bail...he Archdiocese of San Francisco has not returned a call asking for comment on the arrest.
Yesterday's op-ed in the LA Times by Jane Lynch's wife: "'Conversion therapy' Therapy that isn't". Sign the petition to support SB1172
Here are some highlights from Lara Embry's opinion piece:
California is poised to play an important role in banning the dangerous practice of anti-gay "conversion therapy" for minors. The state Senate has already passed a ban, and as early as this week, the state Assembly will consider a bill that would prohibit mental health practitioners from trying to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender expression.
It is not as though the jury is still out on this kind of "therapy." The consensus of leading professional associations is not only that conversion therapy doesn't work; it is also potentially harmful. The American Psychological Assn., the American Counseling Assn. and the American Psychiatric Assn. all declared long ago that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is not a form of mental illness or defect, and they have issued statements criticizing the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation.
Recently, even the president of Exodus, one of the most prominent national groups advocating conversion therapy, announced that he no longer believes a person's sexual orientation can simply be changed. He also said he no longer supports so-called "reparative" therapy, which is based on a belief that same-sex attraction results from emotional traumas in childhood...
...It is easy to enjoy a chuckle when "formerly gay" therapists or advocates of conversion therapy are caught in gay bars or hire "rent boys" to carry their bags on holiday. We need to stop chuckling at these scandals and do something to stop the real and serious harm the proponents of these practices are doing. These "experts" will not stop selling this useless and harmful product until we ban it.
As evidenced by clinical accounts, as well as reported suicides, conversion therapy can be extremely harmful, especially to children. Having a mental health professional label a child's sexual attractions as wrong and abnormal contributes to problems rather than alleviating them...
...As a society, we need to step up and help protect these families from being harmed by therapists who claim to be experts, but are really just peddling hate.Lara Embry is a clinical psychologist and a member of the board of Equality California. She is married to actress Jane Lynch.
Support SB 1171, the first law in the nation to outlaw ex-gay "therapy", by signing this petition:
8/26/12
I encourage you to watch this debate: an intelligent, smug, white male heterosexist vs. a brash, smart-alecky gay activist, who refuses to be dismissed as a second class human being
If you ever want to understand the word "entitled," watch Dan Brown, the President of the National Organization for Marriage.
8/25/12
The best political advice for Obama that I have heard
Andrew Sullivan opines:
Imagine if Obama were able to challenge Ryan directly, on the lines David Brooks notes today, and could say: I made the hard decision to cut the debt in a realistic bipartisan fashion, and your fixation on Ayn Rand killed it.
Obama, instead, ducked. If he loses this election, it will largely, in my view, be because of that. And if I were to offer a single piece of advice to the campaign, it would be to use the convention to declare that he would sign Bowles-Simpson as written if it came to his desk. He'd instantly own the fiscal center, isolate the GOP's extremism, and reaffirm his credibility on the deficit.
The paradigm can still be shifted. Obama can say he didn't embrace the original commission because the necessary majority in the Congressional committee couldn't be rustled up. He can openly and rightly blame Ryan for torpedoing the sanest, most practical debt reduction we have on the table. He can tell his own party that they have to tackle entitlement spending and using the Mediscare tactic is not worthy of the constructive change Obama promised four years ago. He can even say he regretted not going out on a limb - but he thought a grand bargain could be reached through negotiation instead. GOP fanaticism stopped it.
The reason - incredibly - that Obama has not done this is a dislike of the big defense cuts and queasiness over muddying the Medicare issue against Romney. This shouldn't matter. What matters is that Obama should declare his first priority on being re-elected would be a grand bargain on the lines of Bowles-Simpson. Force Romney to say no. Isolate him on his tax extremism and defense spending boom. Show you're more serious on entitlement reform than Ryan's ideological fantasies - because you're backing the most credible, practical option available. Re-capture that sliver of the middle that wants to know what Obama wants to do in his second term.
And make news. So far, most of the news Obama has made has been in exposing Romney. He's got the choice election he wanted (a huge strategic achievement) and he has successfuly defined the other party's proposals (ditto). Now he needs to offer the positive choice he represents: a real grand bargain on spending and taxes, immigration reform, infrastructure investment, and embrace of multicultural America. That's the missing piece. In my view, if it isn't fixed in Charlotte, the dynamics of this race in this economy are slowly working against him.
A great soccer talent, Stephen Bickford, tells how homophobia diminished his career
Being gay and playing a team sport can be incredibly frightening. You live in constant fear of having your teammates find out your secret, and in constant terror of what the consequences will be. All I wanted to do in life was play soccer. It had been my dream ever since I was 6 years old. I identified myself as a soccer player well before I knew I was gay. In a team sport, you rely on your teammates in order for you as an individual to be successful. If my teammates knew I was gay, I was sure that I’d be treated differently, and it could possibly jeopardize my success in the game.Read the full article
8/24/12
An entitled, former high school bully makes a racist joke about the first black president. Truly pathetic
"I love being home, in this place where Ann and I were raised, where but the both of us were born, Ann was born at Henry Ford hospital, I was born at Harper hospital. No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised," - Mitt Romney
Zen lesson for a Friday
I am the vessel. The draft is God's. And God is the thirsty one.
- Dag Hammarskjold, legendary Secretary General of the UN & reportedly a closeted gay man
Democrats boast a record number of openly LGBT delegates
..at least 470 openly LGBT delegates that are set to attend the convention, but more data is expected to become public at a later time. A total of 5,963 delegates are set to come to Charlotte, N.C.., for the event during the week of Sept. 3.
Having 470 delegates exceeds the goal of 418 delegates at the convention and is already higher than numbers from 2008, when 277 delegates participated.
Change or become irrelevant
"As long as the Republican Party closes itself off from potential voters who might like its melody but hate its lyrics, it will continue its metamorphosis into a regional, reactionary bloc whose doctrinaire positions are incompatible with a diverse democracy." - Jonathan Capehart
The lasting impact of rape: one woman's experience...
Renee Devesty::
I was mentally, emotionally and spiritually broken, and the thought of what had resulted from this vile act took my self-hatred into another dimension. I wanted no memory of that night, would do anything possible to erase it in the hope that it would somehow ease the sick, disgusting feeling I got every time I looked in the mirror. I realized that in order to maintain what little sanity I had left, I had to terminate the pregnancy.
Six months after the rape, I dropped out of college and developed an eating disorder. I collapsed into alcohol abuse and had abusive relationships. It took me 12 years of trying to kill myself before I could actually verbalize to a trusted counselor what happened to me. I spent the next eight years trying to reverse the damage that was done.
Twenty years of serving time for a crime I didn’t commit.
Lance Armstrong stripped of all Tour de France and denounced as " heartbreaking" example of winning-at-all costs...
I met Lance Armstrong once, before he got cancer, in his twenties. He was a bit of an ass. However, as a cyclist, he is one of the greatest in the history of the sport -- even with today's implicit admission of doping. Sadly, it appears, he often won the wrong way.
He is not someone I look up to.
And his fate is a reminder to anyone who believes in winning at all costs.
8/23/12
Progressives love Obama, more than Republicans loved Reagan
John Sides and Lynn Vavreck write:
Although commentators often been quick to compare Obama to Carter, one key difference between them is how much more Democrats supported Obama than they did Carter. When Carter’s approval was at its nadir in the fall of 1979, barely one-third of Democrats approved of the job he was doing (compared to about 20% of Republicans), according to Gallup polls. Even Bill Clinton, now seemingly beloved by Democrats, was less popular among Democrats—63% of whom approved of him in June 1993—than was Obama in his first term. In fact, averaging over each Democratic president’s first three years in office, Obama was more popular with Democratic voters than every one of them except John F. Kennedy—and even Kennedy’s average approval among Democrats was only 4 points higher than Obama’s. Obama was actually as popular among Democrats during these years as was Reagan among Republicans in 1981–83.
Watch this fierce debate between the National Organization for Marriage Pres., Dan Brown, and Dan Savage. Mr. Brown seems to believe the LGBT are not God's children
This is hard to watch because of the lack of open-mindedness of Dan Brown. If he was not quoting the Bible, he was falling back on a "natural law" argument, which, in his world, denies a purpose for LGBT people. I give Dan Savage a lot of credit for opening up his home and family to someone who has such a closed heart.
Watch the video and then read about the reactions of the debaters after this experience.
8/22/12
8/21/12
Equality quote of the day
“What I usually say is, ‘Let me talk to you about the issue of homosexuality,’” Kerrey said over a drink here Saturday night. And then he indeed talks to voters about it, telling them that people are born the way they are and deserve a full complement of civil rights, including the right to marry. It’s that simple.
“People who are opposed to it are going to have to be explaining to their grandkids: why, why, why was that the rationale?” he said. “We’re going to be embarrassed in 25 years.” - Former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey who is running again for his old seat
8/20/12
Happy 50th Anniversary to San Francisco Zen Center, the largest zen center outside of Japan & my spiritual home
Fifty years ago, Zen master Suzuki-Roshi started this wonderful center. His teachings and this place have added so much to my life. A deep bow to all the beings who have contributed to the SFZC!
More of the GOP's war on women...in their own words. From Missouri...
Representative Tod Aiken, the GOP's Senate candidate for Missouri, says what is in his heart.
Celebrating love
With our society's deep and institutionalized homophobia, we need to keep on celebrating our ourselves, relationships and love. As Frank Kameny said, "Gay is good."
Kevin Sessum digs for the real reason behind these new voter ID laws
I am not sure if the GOP are racists or power-hungry or both, but their actions betray the U.S. Constitution, and are people I don't understand or respect.
8/19/12
Mitt, empathy and integrity are something money can't buy, no matter how many Swiss bank accounts you have
Obama's not perfect but he is one good man.
I love this David Brooks column about the power in being yourself
David Brooks waxes poetically about Bruce Springsteen and his lessons in authenticity for politicians and other leaders:
The whole experience makes me want to pull aside politicians and business leaders and maybe everyone else and offer some pious advice: Don’t try to be everyman. Don’t pretend you’re a member of every community you visit. Don’t try to be citizens of some artificial globalized community. Go deeper into your own tradition. Call more upon the geography of your own past. Be distinct and credible. People will come. - David Brooks
Full column
Quote of the day about the author that lost young people read...and Congressman Paul Ryan
"I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky," - Flannery O'Connor
8/18/12
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