femme feminist

If you missed it last night, check out the video of highlights from openly gay Senator Tom Duane’s speech about marriage equality.

“most of all i want to thank my family, and i want to thank louis. you know, he was there when my brother died, my mother and my father. i was there when his brother died, when his mother and father died and i loved his parents. my whole family loves louis and i love louis’ family, and our nieces and nephews know us only as a couple. and we are like married to them, but of course we’re not, not yet. but the exact same love, the same commitment…

marriage says that we are a family. louis and i are a family, and marriage strengthens all families. it’s going to strengthen my family and all new york families…

this is a bit concerning because the language “cause emotional distress” is vague, as well as “post on the internet”.

A new Tennessee law makes it a crime to “transmit or display an image” online that is likely to “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to someone who sees it. Violations can get you almost a year in jail time or up to $2500 in fines…

The new legislation adds images to the list of communications that can trigger criminal liability. But for image postings, the “emotionally distressed” individual need not be the intended recipient. Anyone who sees the image is a potential victim. If a court decides you “should have known” that an image you posted would be upsetting to someone who sees it, you could face months in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

If you think that sounds unconstitutional, you’re not alone…

(Via Jill Chancey on facebook)

Um, WTF?

fucknogregfultz:

“An American man’s decision to lash out with a billboard ad saying his ex-girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes has touched off a legal debate over free speech and privacy rights.

The sign on Alamogordo, New Mexico’s main thoroughfare shows 35-year-old Greg Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, “This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!”“

“Personhood” is on trial today, as the JFP is reporting:

Jackson Attorneys Robert McDuff and J. Cliff Johnson will stand before the full Mississippi Supreme Court today at 1:30 p.m. and explain why a ballot initiative giving rights to microscopic human eggs amounts to an illegal modification of the state constitution.

The plaintiff attorneys, who are working on behalf of two Lafayette County residents, oppose a 2-year-old effort by Personhood Mississippi to collect more than 130,000 signatures affirming a personhood-rights ballot issue. The organization successfully submitted the signatures to the secretary of state’s office in February 2010, and the issue is scheduled for the November ballot…

Follow the link to read the whole story in the Jackson Free Press.

This is an interesting read:

…scientists in India claim to have invented a male contraceptive that’s 100% effective for up to 10 years that can be reversed at any time. The caveat is that you’ve got to get it injected once into each nut. Yowch. The injection is called RISUG, which stands for “reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance.” Let’s just get the uncomfortable bit out of the way first: you can’t just be injected anywhere, the doctor has to stick a needle into your scrotum. Twice. Yeah, bad times, but you’ll deal, and here’s why: after two tiny injections taking all of 15 minutes, study after study has shown that the injection is 100% effective at preventing pregnancy. You won’t suffer any side effects at all, it lasts a minimum of 10 years, and it’s completely reversible with another few injections.

the I Heart Chaos blog goes on to say: “study after study shows that most women wouldn’t trust a one-night-stand or boyfriend if they said they had a shot or pill or whatever.”

I’m not familiar with any of the studies and IHC doesn’t reference them, but I’m curious - what are ya’lls thoughts on that? Do you think that women wouldn’t trust a boyfriend if they said they had a shot? Would you?

We all know, of course, that even within a committed relationship condoms are the only effective way to prevent STIs and certainly in a one night stand situation you would want to use condoms. What are ya’lls thoughts on this?