Sunday, July 13, 2014

20 Misconceptions About Sex - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep.212)




Via JMG: World Health Organization: ALL Gay Men Should Be On Anti-Retroviral Drugs


A stunning declaration from the World Health Organization:
The World Health Organization has suggested for the first time that all men who have sex with men should take antiretroviral medicine, warning that HIV infection rates among gay men are exploding around the world. In guidelines published Friday, it said that it “strongly recommends men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicines as an additional method of preventing HIV infection.” Similar guidelines were issued by the U.S. in May.
In May, the CDC expanded its own recommendations, saying that anybody at risk for HIV, not just gay men, should be taking Truvada.

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Reposted from Joe Jervis

JMG Editorial Of The Day


From the editorial board of the New York TImes:
President Obama should resist a pressure campaign by some religious groups to weaken a promised executive order that would prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against gay men, lesbians and transgender people in their hiring practices.

Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s addlebrained Hobby Lobby decision, several groups wrote to Mr. Obama on July 1 asking him to allow federal contractors to fire or refuse to hire workers based on their religious objections to a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is not a question of religious freedom. It is a question of whether to allow religion to be used as an excuse to discriminate in employment against a particular group of people. Many states already have laws protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender workers. There is no such federal law, so the presidential order (promised but not yet produced) would extend those rules to companies that receive federal contracts in states without those kinds of anti-bias laws, protecting millions more people.

Mr. Obama’s resolve is being tested. There is no good reason to give religious employers a special privilege to inflict undeserved pain by, for example, refusing to hire someone to work on a government-backed project just because she happens to be a lesbian, or firing a capable employee who marries someone of the same sex.
(Tipped by JMG reader Win)


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Ian Thorpe On Coming Out


Via the Guardian:
On Sunday night on Australian television Thorpe faced Sir Michael Parkinson to overturn what he said had become the "big lie" in his life. "What happened was, I felt that the lie had become so big that I didn't want people to question my integrity and a little bit of ego comes into this," Thorpe said in a 90-minute interview on the Ten network. "I didn't want people to think that I had lied about everything." Now 31, the swimmer said the words he had been avoiding: "I'm not straight and this is only something that very recently – we're talking in the past two weeks – I've been comfortable telling the closest people around me." His mother was shocked; his friends less so. But everyone had embraced him and he was relieved. When the interview goes to air in Australia, he said, I can finally "breathe out".






(Via Towleroad)


Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Robert Reich / FB

The real dividing line in America today isn’t between conservatives and liberals or between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between the haters and the big-hearted. The haters direct their venom not just at child refugees seeking asylum from the drug war we created, but also at gays who want to marry, African-Americans who want to vote and exercise their other rights of citizenship, women who seek abortions, or even women in general, Latinos who want their children to be taught in Spanish, immigrants in general, Muslims, Jews, government “bureaucrats,” the poor and needy, anyone who dares suggest a required background check before buying guns, people they call “liberals” or “socialists” or “communists,” even the President of the United States. The haters are enflamed by hate-mongers in the media who blame the nation’s troubles on “them.” The haters are loud and angry; they yell and wave their signs before the cameras. But the haters are not America. They are a small and vocal minority. Most Americans are generous and welcoming, decent and kind-hearted. We are the silent majority, who have been silent too long.

 - Robert Reich

Via Daily Dharma


Room for Everything | July 13, 2014

Noticing the space around people and things provides a different way of looking at them, and developing this spacious view is a way of opening oneself. When one has a spacious mind, there is room for everything.
 
—Ajahn Sumedho, “Noticing Space”
 

Flower of the Day: 07/13/14

“It is important to differentiate between vertical and horizontal religions. Vertical religion is spirituality, the path towards enlightenment. It represents the deepest meaning of the word ‘religion,’ which is the reconnection of the individual soul with the Absolute. This union is only possible when one is able to follow the orders given by one’s own heart. Horizontal religion is a creation of the human mind in order to meet a social need. In this sense, I do not work with religion. I never say do this or that. I simply suggest that you become silent, receptive and increase your perception enough to notice the commandment that comes from within.”


Sri Prem Baba