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By bifemmefatale • 14 years ago

India Decriminalizes Homosexuality

Links: BBC and The Age
Laws dating back to the British Raj that banned gay sex have been overturned in a landmark judgment in India’s capital.
The 150-year-old section 377 of India’s penal code, introduced when the British ruled the subcontinent, described homosexual intercourse as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and imposed a 10-year jail term for offenders.
The Delhi High Court yesterday declared the laws a violation of “fundamental rights” and unconstitutional.
The decision means consensual sex between those over the age of 18 will no longer be punishable, although the court ruled that section 377 should still apply to cases of non-consensual sex and pedophilia.
Aditya Bandyopadhyay, lawyer and gay rights activist: “We are ...

Links: BBC and The Age
Laws dating back to the British Raj that banned gay sex have been overturned in a landmark judgment in India’s capital.
The 150-year-old section 377 of India’s penal code, introduced ...
By bifemmefatale • 15 years ago

“Historical” Definition of Marriage: Not 1 Man, 1 Woman.

Every single time same sex marriage is discussed in the media, the reporter will find a conservative who will say that we are redefining marriage away from its “historical” definition: one man and one woman. Here’s a quote from an article on same-sex marriage becoming legal in Connecticut:
“The sad day was the state Supreme Court changing the thousands-of-years definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, across cultures, across times,” said Carol Gignac, who wore a sticker on her lapel that read: “Religious Liberty: Our Freedom First.”
This is what I’d like to say to Ms. Gignac and all her ilk:
Stop lying.
You’re either willfully lying, which doesn’t say much about your commitment to your religion, ...

Every single time same sex marriage is discussed in the media, the reporter will find a conservative who will say that we are redefining marriage away from its “historical” definition: one man and one woman. Here’s a ...
By bifemmefatale • 15 years ago

Sexist Canadian Columnist Dishonors Fallen Soldier

Michael Coren wrote a column in the Edmonton Sun about the death of Corporal Karine Blais that is breathtaking in its sexist twaddle and infantile sexual fantasies.

Coren says, "Look at the photograph of this beautiful girl. Look at the innocence, the gentleness, the grace. All of them precious aspects to the human character. So when I say that she was ‘dressed up as a soldier’ I mean it as a compliment."

So, can I say that he’s a sexist asshat and mean it as a compliment too? Blais was assigned to the 12e Regiment Blinde’ du Canada and the Royal 22e Regiment, the most famous Francophone organization of the Canadian Forces. These are crack regiments, not marching bands.

Can we really ...

Michael Coren wrote a column in the Edmonton Sun about the death of Corporal Karine Blais that is breathtaking in its sexist twaddle and infantile sexual fantasies.

Coren says, "Look at the photograph of this beautiful girl. ...
By bifemmefatale • 15 years ago

San Fran’s Prop. K

I am surprised that with all the election coverage, I hadn’t heard about Prop. K until today. The measure, if passed, would decriminalize (but not legalize) prostitution in the city of San Francisco.
So, SF feminists, what’s your position on this? I’m not sure how I’d vote if I lived there–on the one hand, I support the right of *consenting adults* to do what they wish with their bodies, including sell them, but otoh I realize that many prostitutes are neither adults nor exactly consenting. Plus I wouldn’t want to have to walk past pimps, hookers and johns to take my kids to school. I favor a model similar to Amsterdam’s, with prostitution being limited to one heavily regulated ...

I am surprised that with all the election coverage, I hadn’t heard about Prop. K until today. The measure, if passed, would decriminalize (but not legalize) prostitution in the city of San Francisco.
So, SF feminists, ...
By bifemmefatale • 15 years ago

No Great Women Artists

So says art critic Brian Sewell in the UK’s Independent:

"The art market is not sexist," Mr Sewell said. "The likes of Bridget Riley and Louise Bourgeois are of the second and third rank. There has never been a first-rank woman artist.

"Only men are capable of aesthetic greatness. Women make up 50 per cent or more of classes at art school. Yet they fade away in their late 20s or 30s. Maybe it’s something to do with bearing children."

This, just a paragraph after name-checking Artemisia Gentilleschi, widely regarded by her male contemporaries as one of the great painters of the 17th century.

Riiight, Mr. Sewell. It has everything to do with our uteruses, and nothing to do with men being the ...

So says art critic Brian Sewell in the UK’s Independent:

"The art market is not sexist," Mr Sewell said. "The likes of Bridget Riley and Louise Bourgeois are of the second and third rank. There has never ...