Catholic University cancels screening of film about gay pioneer Harvey Milk

Gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk

Gay Star News: Oct. 3, 2014 - Catholic University of America cancels screening of film about gay icon Harvey Milk | Gay Star News

Men, here are 16 warning signals you're in an abusive friendship

The Good Men Project: Oct. 3, 2014 - Guys: Here Are 16 Warning Signs You're In An Abusive Friendship -

No action Thursday by Supreme Court on same-sex marriage challenges

Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court

Associated Press: Oct. 3, 2014 - No action from U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage cases – LGBTQ Nation

Oct. 3, 2014 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

The Serenity Prayer

Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

The salvation of man is through love and in love.
 -- Viktor Frankl

The panhandler on the busy street corner reels forsaken. The elderly woman whose phone doesn't ring stares through a gap in her drawn drapes and wonders if she's been forgotten. And awaiting the prayed for visit from a potential foster parent, the child is fearfully certain he won't be acceptable.

The tragedy is that so few of us have experienced whole and unconditional love from the significant people in our lives. So few of us are certain of our value in the lives of others. For parents and teachers we performed to earn their favor. From friends we expected acceptance, yet sometimes we bought it. And because we haven't known the pleasure of unconditional love but have been perpetually in search of it, we've not felt adequate to offer it to others. It's difficult to give away what we fear we don't have; yet, paradoxically, that's the key to our salvation.

As we give others our love, we'll likewise experience a greater measure of it. And it need not come from outside. It will, instead, well up from within. We each have the power of personal salvation. All we must do is love.

From the book:

Worthy of Love by Karen Casey

Worthy of Love by Karen Casey. © 1985 by Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2014 - After the Tears

The Serenity Prayer

After the Tears
Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

" ...I went to my first meeting. I was a very fortunate drunk. God has been good to me both in my drinking and in my sobriety. Because, thank God, since I came into this program, I haven't had any trouble. Oh yes, I get the dry jitters once in a while, but that isn't anything to worry about. It passes away. But I've never come close to that first drink. I took the advice of people I had heard at meetings, the people in the group. And I jumped in with both feet. Someone told me, 'When you drank, you didn't get half-drunk. You went all the way. In this program, there aren't any halfway measures. In here, you must go all the way, too.' So I attended as many meetings as possible." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "They Lost Nearly All," Ch 8 ("Desperation Drinking"), p 516.

Today, "half measures availed us nothing." Today, I will apply the full measures I exerted on drinking to get sober, and I will listen to the voices of experience and set aside the egoism that I think I know better than anyone else. And if a shot of the "dry jitters" creeps in, I have the Twelve Steps to fall back on and the promise that, "This, too, shall pass." But I must first get to the point that enough is enough as far as drinking goes and, today, I must give it up, face that enough is enough. With that desire for something better, I have taken my first baby step. And our common journey continues. After the tears. - Chris M., 2014

Oct. 3, 2014 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

The Serenity Prayer

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

AA Thought for the Day
How do I talk with new prospects? Am I always trying to dominate the conversation? Do I lay down the law and tell prospects what they will have to do? Do I judge them privately and feel that they have small chance of making the program? Do I belittle them to myself? Or am I willing to bare my soul so as to get them talking about themselves? And, then, am I willing to be a good listener, not interrupting, but feel deeply that they are my brothers or my sisters?

Will I do all I can to help them along the path to sobriety?

Meditation for the Day
"The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever." Only when the soul attains this calm, can there be true spiritual work done, and mind and soul and body be strong to conquer and bear all things. Peace is the result of righteousness. There is no peace in wrong doing, but if we live the way God wants us to live, quietness and assurance follow. Assurance is that calmness born of a deep certainty of God's strength available to us and in His power to love and guard us from all harm and wrong doing.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may attain a state of true calmness. I pray that I may live in quietness and peace.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2014 - A Day at a Time

The Serenity Prayer

A Day at a Time
Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

Reflection for the Day
I've learned in The Program that I'm wholly powerless over my addiction. At long last, I've conceded my powerlessness; as a result, my life has taken a 180-degree turn for the better. However, I do have a power, derived from God, to change my own life. I've learned that acceptance does not mean submission to an unpleasant or degrading situation. It means accepting the reality of the situation and then deciding what, if anything, I can and will do about it.

Have I stopped trying to control the uncontrollable? Am I gaining the courage to change the things I can?

Today I Pray
I ask my Higher Power for direction as I learn to sort out the things I can change from the things I can't, for that sorting process does, indeed, require God-given wisdom. May "the things I cannot change" not give me an excuse for inaction. May "the things I can" not include managing other people's lives. May I start to understand my own reality.

Today I Will Remember
Acceptance is not inaction. Change is not domination.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2014 - The Eye Opener

The Serenity Prayer

The Eye Opener
Friday, Oct. 3, 2014

Promises, vows, pledges, resolutions, doctors, preachers, priests, psychologists, psychiatrists, hospitals, judges, jails, jitter-joints, in fact everything, but nothing worked.

One day, by the Grace of God, we found ourselves sober, and there can be no denying that it was the Grace of God alone that caused it. That same Grace will remain with you as long as you honestly seek it, and you will find that it will prove more than sufficient.

Hazelden Foundation

Here's what you should know about Ello, that new up-and-comer dubbed the anti-Facebook

Huffington Post: Oct. 2, 2014 - What Is This 'Ello' Everyone's Posting About On Facebook?

Dangerous 'values' at the Republicans' Values Voters Summit

Associated Press: Oct. 2, 2014 - Dangerous Values at Values Voters Summit -

GLAAD study finds increase in depictions of LGBT characters on TV

This photo released by ABC Family shows, from left, Jake T. Austin, Lorraine Toussaint, Teri Polo, Sherri Saum, Hayden Byerly, and Maia Mitchell, in a scene from “The Fosters,” on ABC Family

Associated Press: Oct. 2, 2014 - GLAAD study finds increase in depictions of gay characters on TV – LGBTQ Nation