The Buddhist Peace Fellowship on the Subjects of Barack Obama and Prop. 8

Over at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship's website, Executive Director Zenju Earthlyn Manuel offers reflections on both the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States and the passage of Prop. 8 in California. On the latter subject, she writes:

A wise Zen teacher told me while I had tears in my eyes that the people who are mistreating me because of my darkness and gayness actually love you, but they just don’t know that they love me. In the moment of so much pain, I found it hard to believe but in another instant I knew that I loved them and that is exactly why their inability to return love hurt so much.

There is no left and right politics in the Dharma. There is simply undeniable love and respect for each living being. To deny someone’s right to choose marriage is to deny oneself freedom because you have to continue the denial. What peace is there in such efforts?