Saturday, August 1, 2015

Gay marriage in the year 100 AD


Gay marriage sounds like an ultra-contemporary idea. But almost twenty years ago, a Catholic scholar at Yale shocked the world by publishing a book packed with evidence that same-sex marriages were sanctioned by the early Christian Church during an era commonly called the Dark Ages.

Illustration of Serge and Bacchus, in a same-sex union

John Boswell was a historian and religious Catholic who dedicated much of his scholarly life to studying the late Roman Empire and early Christian Church. Poring over legal and church documents from this era, he discovered something incredible. There were dozens of records of church ceremonies where two men were joined in unions that used the same rituals as heterosexual marriages. (He found almost no records of lesbian unions, which is probably an artifact of a culture which kept more records about the lives of men generally.)

Bolstered by this evidence, Boswell published a book in 1994, the year before his death from AIDS, called Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe. The book comes out next month for the first time in a digital edition. It was an instant lightening rod for controversy, drawing criticism from both the Catholic Church and sex pundit Camille Paglia. Given the Church's present-day views on gay marriage, these detractors argued, Boswell's history seemed like wishful thinking.

Via WGB: Leslie Jordan Throws Coffee At Men Screaming Antigay Slurs Inside WEHO Starbucks


"A trio of homophobes learned the hard way this week why you should never enter a West Hollywood Starbucks and start hurling antigay slurs at customers.

“You will die, fucking faggots!” one of the men allegedly announced to the entire store.

Joseph Daniels, who was waiting in line at the time, told WEHOville, “It was very scary and unexpected.” But he wasn’t going to let a group of d-bags get the best of him. He walked over to the men and told them their behavior was “rude.”

Then the manager came along and told them to get the hell out.

The thugs refused to leave and proceeded to call everyone in the store “faggots.” And that’s when things got really heated. Because unbeknownst to the homophobes, Leslie Jordan happened to be there.

Yes, the Leslie Jordan." Full story here!

A Salute to Sissies


Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 01/08/2015

GURU SHARANAM HARI SHARANAM SACHCHE SHARANAM PRABHU SHARANAM ~ Estou sob a guiança e a proteção do Mestre, da Verdade e de Deus ~
“Isso é entrega, isso é redenção. Para verdadeiramente entregar-se, se faz necessário muita confiança. Entregar significa se tornar livre do peso que você carrega. Você entrega e deixa que o mestre leva para você. Você entrega seus problemas e não pensa mais neles. Porque se você diz que entregou, mas continua preocupado ou não aceita a solução que lhe é oferecida, existe aí um autoengano. Significa que o ego ainda está tentando controlar o destino da embarcação, porque não confia que será levado para um lugar seguro. Mas afinal, o que é seguro? As referências do ego dizem respeito apenas a satisfação do corpo, e isso é muito limitado.”

GURU SHARANAM HARI SHARANAM SACHCHE SHARANAM PRABHU SHARANAM ~ I am under the guidance and protection of the master teacher, of truth and of God. ~
“This is surrender; this is redemption. In order to truly surrender, a lot of trust is needed. Surrendering means becoming free of the weight that we carry. We surrender when we let the master teacher take this weight from us, and surrendering our problems means that we no longer think about them. If we say we have surrendered but continue to worry and do not accept the solution our teacher has offered, then there is still some self-deception happening. This means that the ego is still trying to control the fate of its vessel, because there is still mistrust that this vessel will be led to a safe port. In the end, what is safe? The references that the ego knows only involve corporeal satisfactions, and this is a very limited perspective.”

Today's Daily Dharma: The Light Is Always There

The Light Is Always There
Drawing attention to stillness, silence, and spaciousness shifts your focus from feeding the insecurity of the ego to connecting with pure being. Anytime you identify with a sense of 'I' "'I feel something'; 'I have lost some­ thing'; 'I am lost'" you are identifying with the wrong person. You are identifying with the ego, with your pain body, not with your true nature.
 
- Tenzin Wangyal, "The Light Is Always There"

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