Hasta La Gadget!

Apple Pay has a growing legion of users thanks to the rise of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. the NFC chipset found inside those devices is there solely for use with Apple Pay, where iPhone owners can simply tap and pay using credit cards associated with the service. You’ll find it used at stores like Whole Foods or Walgreens, … Continue reading

At least one thing is going to be making history this week.

Louis C.K. announced in an email to fans on Monday that he will not be performing at Madison Square Garden as scheduled on Tuesday, due to the “historic” snow storm currently bearing down on down New York City. The show would have been C.K.’s fourth at the Garden this month and he was set to break his own record for the most times a comedian has sold out the venue in a single tour.

The email assured that all ticket holders will receive a refund and also announced that C.K.’s new stand-up special will be available for direct download, as is customary, on his website “very soon.” He also reminded fans that they can watch him on “The Late Show” this evening, “on your tv screen or on your paper towel or your watch or whatever you view Letterman on.”

It’s becoming a bit of a trend to hear from C.K. whenever New York deals with a major storm. He sent a heartfelt email to his fans before he hosted “Saturday Night Live” at the height of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Monday’s email contained a bit more disappointment in light of the cancellation, but just enough of C.K.’s wit to make us temporarily forget about the two-to-three feet of snow about to bury Manhattan:

Hi. It’s Louis CK here to make sure everyone knows that my show show tomorrow at Madison Square Garden has been canceled. All ticket holders will automatically get a refund. I am really sorry about this and I am surprised to learn as I write this that there is only one L in the word canceled. I’ll have to take my phone’s word for it. But it doesn’t look right to me.

In any case, there seems to be a massive storm approaching New York City. They are calling this storm “historic” which…. Well I didn’t know you could call a thing historic if it hasn’t happened yet. But I’m not one to defy future historic events. And I have to be respectful of the responsibility I have to the 15,000 people who are holding tickets to the show and could be stranded somewhere historically trying to get to or from my show. I think it’s clearly better that I alter history in the name of safety and cancel. Besides, if you’ve ever tried to get your deposit back when you rent a banquet hall for a wedding that gets snowed out, you don’t want to even know what the deposit is on Madison Square Jesus Christing Garden is.

So. No show. I will be on Letterman tonight, though. So you can yell boo right at my stupid and very handsome face on your tv screen or on your paper towel or your watch or whatever you view Letterman on.

Also I will be contacting you very soon about my new standup special which will be historically available only on my website louisck.net very soon.

I really want to thank everyone who came to the shows at MSG. It was an incredible experience. The audiences were great. And the crew at MSG is classy and professional.

Okay. That’s it. I have to do some laundry now.

Take care of yourself and don’t be a jerk to people.

Louis CK.

Gender transition and the social backlash against it — particularly by conservative Christian groups and radical trans-exclusionary feminist activists — has caused some trans people so much pain that suicide seems the only way out. The trans peer all-volunteer crisis phone line Trans Lifeline, founded in response to a trans suicide rate nine times that of the national average, gets many from both trans youth and their parents as well as those gender “gatekeepers” who would like to shut down this volunteer community service. The much larger struggle with the “male-female” either/or gender binary and those who don’t fit it (including those who aren’t trans or intersex) has been framed many ways — “gender outlaw,””gender performance,” “gender transgressing,” and “gender policing..” Gender as battleground is inherent to these frameworks, and someone or something inevitably loses or is lost when battles are waged. Families in conflict, teens homeless or suicidal: Must this be the way gender struggle is engaged?

Instead of framing gender as an act, as a choice between “either/or,” what if we were to embrace spiritual and physical wholeness — as we do in yoga (shakti/shiva) and taoism (yin/yang) as a way of being “both/and,” authentically whole, fully present, seeking balance moment by moment rather than once and for all — a path open to and inclusive of all human beings?

“You are not a colony, you have sovereignty over yourself,” teaches Zen Buddhist peace activist Thich Nhat Hahn. We choose to live in freedom when we refuse to let other people or events colonize and dehumanize us. To proclaim our own grace and dignity as human beings when others treat us as less than human is an act of revolution, a declaration of independence.

Every day, even as I work with evangelical Christian families of suicidal teens who are struggling with their assigned gender and sometimes with the teens themselves, I remember this Buddhist teaching. Yes, the Christian tradition actually provides some of its own answers to the problems of transphobia: Jesus frequently warned his fellow Jewish believers not to judge others, reminding them and us that only God is equipped to judge human beings since God alone has both perfect knowledge and perfect compassion to do so (Matthew 7.1-3, Mark 4.24, Luke 6.38; Romans 12.19, Deuteronomy 32.35, et al.). Jesus also taught that we are to love all people with God’s own perfect unconditional love, even our enemies (those whom we hate or fear, so for cisgender Christians this would include trans and intersex people and for heterosexual Christians those who are gay, lesbian, bi, or pansexual, Matthew 5.43-48).

Clearly the message isn’t getting through: Though I remind evangelical Christians of this unconditional grace as the foundation of Christian life and faith, and other faithful Christians such as those of Gay Christian Network (with whom I recently joined to form a peaceful “wall of love,” responding to Westboro Baptist protestors’ infamous hate speech with songs like “Jesus loves you” and “They will know we are Christians by our love”), parents and teens struggling with gender identity issues hear far more ignorant fear-based gender messaging in their own faith communities than the voices of grace, reason and love can correct fast enough.Some evangelical families have had trans teens attempt suicide – some of them successfully.Praying for their teen’s gender conformity and embedded in communities that actively preach conformity to human-constructed binary gender norms with damnation for those who can’t fit them, these families are sometimes unable to process new views of gender quickly enough to save their teen’s life.

If the unconditional love one would think a parent would have for a child instinctively is not enough, and the unconditional love evangelical Christians claim to believe God has for all people is not enough, then let us declare a spiritual revolution and claim our sovereignty as trans people. Let us throw off the shackles of gender imperialism. We are not colonies: No outside power has a right to declare our gender, to plant a flag of “M” or “F” and presume to claim us as such. “Your smile proves that you are not a colony, that you have sovereignty over yourself,” Nhat Hahn teaches. Voices of hate and fear in many religious communities and families still bully LGBTQIA people back into hiding (“reparative therapy”) which will never make us what we are not (cisgender or heterosexual) but only forces us to “bear false witness” (lying about and hiding who we really are in violation of the ninth commandment Exodus 20.16). To internalize such homophobia and transphobia is to allow ourselves be colonized. May each gender-questioning person and each family member who loves them instead proclaim our true spiritual freedom to live in grace, truth, and dignity!

“Murder.” “Rape.” “Corruption.” “Dying from poverty and hunger.”

Open an Indian newspaper these days, and these are the stories you are likely to find. Out of these stories, our collective consciousness is built, which affects what we believe and how and why we choose to act. As we try to weave ourselves into this story as change agents, we end up writing ourselves out of it, as we feel helpless up against this land of seemingly endless problems.

There is no denying that all of these stories are true — but so are their opposites. There are also many stories that can be told of peaceful coexistence, compliance with the law, and healthy living. More importantly, there are many more stories that can be told of change, which can serve as inspiration and a model for making things better.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been on the Jagriti Yatra (meaning journey of awakening), an 8,000-kilometer journey across India with 450 fellow yatris, or travelers, on a physical, social, and spiritual journey. We visited all kinds of organizations — from multinational titans, like Infosys, to grassroots organizations, like the Barefoot College — all of which are connected by the common goal of building India.

(Photo of yatris by Pradnyesh Molak)

Between visiting role models like those mentioned above and continuous serendipitous conversations with 450 strangers from across the nation and globe, all of whom are driven to do something, a new collective consciousness and story emerges — both of the self and of the country.

At the individual level, pre-Jagriti Yatra, few yatris had been given the time or space to speak so openly about their vision and dreams. Jagriti Yatra provides a platform, and more importantly, the permission to yatris to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

The result? A non-stop conversation of new ideas and innovations. For example, on just the third day of the yatra on a bus ride back from a field visit, a group of yatris were inspired by a mentor and hatched an idea for a solar-powered, wifi-enabled bus for teaching children computer in rural areas. They are in the process of taking the idea forward now.

At the national level, yatris heard a new story as well, as we heard from people like Bunker Roy, who has been engaged in the nation building project at the grassroots level for the last 40 years. Bunker Roy thought differently — that there is a difference between being literate and educated, and many illiterate people have skills and abilities that can build our communities. He acted on this assumption by teaching illiterate grandmothers from rural areas to become engineers, who, in turn, are now solar electrifying their villages.

Finally, the yatra itself inspires a feeling of promise for the future; once the seeming impossibility of housing and feeding, let alone inspiring, 450 plus people across 13 destinations and 8,000 kilometers is completed, we all started to feel that anything is possible with the right dedication and mindset. Out of this physical, social, and spiritual yatra, a new collective consciousness arises: we are not just a nation of poverty, but also of possibility; not just challenges, but also change; not only setbacks, but also solutions.

To tell a story of India that is completely absent of challenges would be disingenuous; yet, it would also be disingenuous to tell a story absent of the current cadre of change agents, as well as of those of the next generation, who are hungry to build a new India.

For the next chapter, I’d bet on these 450 yatris to do such transformational work that the headlines will be forced to change to tell a new story of building, creation, and change.

While the killings of at least five individuals in Iraq by the Islamic State militia—two of whom were allegedly murdered for homosexual conduct—has been widely reported since January 17th as an execution of two gay men for homosexuality, no information available to date can independently verify the facts of their sexual orientation or shed light on the conduct for which they were executed.

In the absence of reliable facts, caution must be taken to avoid inciting panic or risking further harm to others.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and our partners at MADRE, the global women’s rights group, have emphasized how little is known and why our reaction to this specific incident, therefore, demands caution, even as we vigorously condemn such killings.

At the same time, despite the lack of information in this case, it is important for the international community to recognize the overall serious risks facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) Iraqis living under the Islamic State’s control.

What we do know is this: on January 17, the media center of the Islamic State’s local branch in the Neinava Province published on a social media website four labeled photos of the “executions” of two men who were thrown off a high building in Neinava Province, Iraq.

The ISIS photos show crowds, including children, gathered to watch this horrific scene.

The men’s names have not been made public.

One of the photos in the series is captioned, “The execution is punishment for the person who committed the act of the people of Lot by throwing him off a tall building.” The term “the act of the people of Lot” is a euphemism for sodomy.

According to the captions, the men were accused of sodomy and convicted by the Sharia court in the Neinava Province. Their punishment was explained as in accordance with Sharia law.

At the same time, the Islamic State militia posted captioned photos online of their execution of a woman they allegedly stoned to death for adultery and their crucifixion of two other men for “spreading corruption on earth” through “assaulting the Muslims with arms,” “terrorizing the public,” and “armed robbery.”

As international human rights organizations with experience working with LGBTI Iraqis during crisis, IGLHRC and MADRE warned the media, governments and people of conscience against assuming that the men identified as ‘gay’ and also against assuming the men engaged in homosexual acts.

Other than the photos themselves, very little is known about these executions. IGLHRC has tried to independently verify the events that occurred with little success to date. Without credible evidence, it is crucial to exercise extreme caution in how the event is reported and how the men are described.

The reason for caution is clear. At this time, to publicly call these men “gay” can only do harm. If the men did not identify as gay, the allegation is inaccurate and obscures the Islamic State’s motivation for publicly labeling them as such. If the men indeed identified as gay, extreme caution should be exercised and consultation held with those they loved as widespread publicity potentially exposes their families, loved ones and intimate partners to harm. Honor killings are pervasive in Iraq, so the safety of those most affected must be a paramount concern.

Furthermore, one cannot assume that the executions were for sodomy solely on the basis of information from the Islamic State. Without evidentiary basis or independent confirmation, this sweeping allegation could be applied to anyone the Islamic State seeks to discredit—including human rights activists and anyone opposed to the Islamic State. Accusing opponents of homosexuality is a tried and true tool used to discredit political adversaries throughout the world.

Accuracy is absolutely needed to moderate the level of fear of LGBTI Iraqis living in areas controlled by the Islamic State. We know this from experience. During the anti-emo killings in 2012, rumors circulated alleging that upwards of a thousand people had been killed for perceived gender and sexual non-conformity, while the documented number was nearer ten. In response, IGLHRC interviewed LGBTI Iraqis and found that some fled the country, were shunned, isolated themselves at home too afraid to venture into the streets, and experienced high levels of suicidal ideation.

The stakes today are high enough; allies in the media, foreign governments, and among concerned friends globally must avoid risky inflations of the threat level.

Regardless of how any of the men or the woman executed identified or what they were executed for, the violence of the Islamic State and its tactics of intimidation are unacceptable in all instances. It is important to note that what the Islamic State describes as its “court system” is outside the bounds of international recognition, without adherence to due process and other established legal procedures.

While the facts are unclear, the Islamic State’s very public execution of these men and very public assertion that they were executed for homosexuality underscores the concerns that IGLHRC, MADRE, and another co-author raised in a briefing paper issued in November, “When Coming Out is a Death Sentence.” In addition to documenting ongoing persecution of LGBTI Iraqis, the briefing paper compelled the conclusion that LGBTI people (or anyone perceived as such) in Iraq were at imminent risk of death due to the stated intention of the Islamic State to kill anyone believed to be gay or engaged in same-sex activities. Its companion piece, “We’re Here: Iraqi LGBT People’s Accounts of Violence and Rights Abuses,” a collection of personal stories from LGBT Iraqis, describes the human costs to a community that has been largely rejected by family, community, militias and the state.

Now that we have the Islamic State’s own boastful declaration of responsibility for these tragic deaths, it is clear that our fears of heightened risk for LGBTI Iraqis at the hands of the Islamic State continue to be well-founded.

While encouraging caution, IGLHRC and MADRE urge the international community to focus on the specific dangers LGBTI Iraqis face within the context of the broader national crisis, including by expediting support for internal and external resettlement of people fleeing due to persecution.