Monday, July 22, 2013

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Harvey Fierstein


"Mr. Putin’s campaign against lesbian, gay and bisexual people is one of distraction, a strategy of demonizing a minority for political gain taken straight from the Nazi playbook. Can we allow this war against human rights to go unanswered? Although Mr. Putin may think he can control his creation, history proves he cannot: his condemnations are permission to commit violence against gays and lesbians. Last week a young gay man was murdered in the city of Volgograd. He was beaten, his body violated with beer bottles, his clothing set on fire, his head crushed with a rock. This is most likely just the beginning. [snip]

"With Russia about to hold the Winter Games in Sochi, the country is open to pressure. American and world leaders must speak out against Mr. Putin’s attacks and the violence they foster. The Olympic Committee must demand the retraction of these laws under threat of boycott. In 1936 the world attended the Olympics in Germany. Few participants said a word about Hitler’s campaign against the Jews. Supporters of that decision point proudly to the triumph of Jesse Owens, while I point with dread to the Holocaust and world war. There is a price for tolerating intolerance." - Harvey Fierstein, writing for the New York Times.


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: COLOMBIA: High Court Rebukes Campaign To Block Same-Sex Marriages

 


Colombia's Constitutional Court has told Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez to drop his campaign to block same-sex marriages. J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed:
Ordoñez had been threatening disciplinary action against any official who took up this authority. His case was based on the fact that the court’s ruling did not specifically say that couples can “marry,” nor did it directly change the law. Instead, it gave congress until June 20, 2013 to change the law to give equal rights to same-sex couples. The 2011 ruling only gives the power directly to judges and notaries because congress failed to act, and ambiguity in the ruling left it unclear whether they will call these unions “marriages” or something else entirely. On Friday, the court rejected Ordoñez’s petition for it to clarify that it did not intend to open marriage to same-sex couples. And Constitutional Court President Jorge Iván Palacio sternly warned Ordoñez to “observe the determinations of this Court and monitor their strict and timely compliance.”
Feder notes that the Court has still not clarified the murky wording of their 2011 ruling. LGBT activists, however, are taking their message to Ordóñez as a very positive sign.
RELATED: Same-sex marriage is legal in the South American nations of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Updated Marriage Map Of Europe


 
We still don't know exactly when marriages will commence in England and Wales, but some are saying it will be mid-2014.  Images via Wikipedia.


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Queer Nation: Dump Russian Vodka


 
Via email:
In light of the Putin regime’s attacks on the LGBT community, Queer Nation is calling for a worldwide boycott of Russian vodka. Do not buy or drink Russian vodka: Brands include Russian Standard and Stolichnaya. Demand that bar owners do not buy or serve Russian vodka. Ask your favorite club promoters, DJs, and entertainers to insist that Russian brands are not served in the venues in which they perform. It’s time to target Russia. Dump Russian vodka! Queer Nation is asking that consumers worldwide dump Russian vodka. Queer Nation expects to have additional actions that the LGBT community can take to make one message clear -- violence against the LGBT community anywhere will be met with swift and direct action.
Image by Gilbert Baker.


Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma July 22, 2013

Our Way of Observing Things

It is because our way of observing things is deeply rooted in our self-centered ideas that we are disappointed when we find everything has only a tentative existence. But when we actually realize this truth, we will have no suffering.
- Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, "The Heart Sutra"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through July 23, 2013
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