Randall Terry endorsed Rand Paul, Kentucky’s Republican candidate for the Senate. Randall Terry [...]]]> We’re sorry to have been away so long, and we’re working on some ways to keep updates more frequent around here. [Stay tuned!] With that said, here’s the news on abortion, sex and politics, gay rights, sexual health, sex ed, porn, and more!

Randall Terry endorsed Rand Paul, Kentucky’s Republican candidate for the Senate. Randall Terry heads Operation Rescue, a terroristic anti-choice organization. If it isn’t obvious by now, PAPER wholeheartedly endorses Jack Conway. Please have a look at his site–he’s been a good civil servant for Kentucky, and consider donating time or resources to his campaign.

Honoring Dr. Tiller, a year after his murder. And his murderer, Scott Roeder, was no lone wolf.

Abortion has become more concentrated among poor women.

On anti-choice maneuvering at the state level, with more here and here.

Webcams increase abortion access.

Britain has aired an abortion ad on the telly, while American teachers distribute plastic fetuses in public schools and an American nun is excommunicated for authorizing a medically necessary abortion at a Catholic hospital.

Speaking of Catholic misdeeds, Kentuckians have a lawsuit underway and Louisville’s Archbishop Kurtz is doing more homophobic meddling.

In California, evangelicals end a school’s anti-bullying program, since it promoted acceptance of gays. Also, a longtime target of anti-pornsters, Movie Gallery, has shut down, to their delight–though as a former MG employee, I gotta say it has more to do with bad bankruptcy issues than stocking a little softcore porn.

Meanwhile, the American Family Association has opined that Hitler’s SS comprised only gays, since they were the only recruits “savage and brutal enough” for the job, and that Hitler was gay. Never mind that Hitler actively imprisoned and killed gays and that no evidence exists that Hitler or the SS was gay. The AFA has outdone itself with this.

The SCOTUS rules that sex offenders can be imprisoned “indefinitely.”

After appointing a “proud homophobe” and subsequent outcry, Obama revoked the appointment. Yay!

A tally of Obama’s GLBTQ accomplishments. [Not a glowing review.]

Indiana’s own Mark Souder has resigned after an affair with a staffer. The following is an abstinence-only plug featuring Souder and his mistress–just rich, huh?

… and here’s Souder crying and apologizing. He hopes to be remembered as “an evangelical”–well, no problem there! Another evangelical hypocrite for the long, long list.

Sarah Palin’s been dropping the f-bomb a lot lately–that is, claiming to be a feminist. This is absurd, and you can read other takedowns here and here.

Domestic partners are about to receive new federal benefits.

In Malawi, a married gay couple was set to get 14 years in jail before a presidential pardon, after international pressure. Also interesting: one of the men is Another day, another hate crime. This one highlights the stupidity of the assailants.

Constance McMillen, the lesbian trying to go to prom with her girlfriend, got ran out of town, after all.

Gay men may soon be able to donate blood.

The Family Research Council, closely affiliated with the AFA, was caught supporting Uganda’s kill the gays bill. The drama continues here.

Civil disobedience and the LGBTQ community.

By presidential proclamation, it’s LGBT Pride Month!

After years of real sex ed, Canada’s teen pregnancy rate has dropped. Same deal in California. And Obama has paid attention and given more federal dollars to real sex ed.

When feminists argue about porn. And there’s a Facebook page. And this illuminating video:

Declaring porn at customs.

Why does porn matter?–a pro-porn perspective.

The world’s oldest sex toy has been found! And it did double-duty as a striking stone.

More porn use stats. Mormons are still paying for the most porn, and Sunday is the most popular day for porn-browsing.

Turns out bat fellatio can cause quite a ruckus.

Sex research and fears of lube.

Is free birth control on the way? Maybe, thanks to Planned Parenthood.

A new Diva Cup-like menstrual product can collect stem cells!

UTIs are getting harder to treat. Drink your cranberry juice, ladies.

A cure for herpes may be on the way.

New CDC report says American women’s favorite contraceptive methods are the Pill, condoms, and sterilization, in that order.

Rest in peace: Rue McClanahan, best known for her Blanche Deveraux on The Golden Girls.

An economic analysis of the relationship between pre-marital sex and its destigmatization.

Study from the National Campaignt to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy finds unprecedented vast ignorance about reproduction and contraception among American youth. Thanks, abstinence-only and sex-negativity!

What an anti-teen sexting bill ought to look [...]]]> Happy post-Derby recuperation, and here’s a [very distilled] round-up from the interim.

An economic analysis of the relationship between pre-marital sex and its destigmatization.

Study from the National Campaignt to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy finds unprecedented vast ignorance about reproduction and contraception among American youth. Thanks, abstinence-only and sex-negativity!

What an anti-teen sexting bill ought to look like. Take heed, Kentucky legislators.

Advice to a twentysomething raised by sex-negative religious parents… who now feels terrible guilt about sex, even while married.

ROCK’s been endorsing this stupid effort by the Family Foundation of Kentucky to make all strippers keep distance from clients and wear pasties.

More investigation into the fundies with too much power in this country, from Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well, what do you know? Strip clubs are safer than churches! At least in Australia.

Next Saturday is the day before Mother’s Day, and that means we ought to help EMW out. [And, you know, call our moms and such.] The protesters continue to get coverage, especially after anti-choice starlet Lila Rose leaked a heavily-edited two-year-old attack video about EMW. [See Planned Parenthood's response to such attacks here.]

Meanwhile, a ten-year-old Mexican girl is being refused an abortion. Maybe this will be the tipping point for Mexican abortion rights–we can only hope.

A woman live-tweeted her abortion.

Abortion and contraception aren’t new–they have a 4000 year history!

Pro-Choice Public Education Project: education about abortion-related SCOTUS cases.

Gallup finds that education “trumps” gender in predicting abortion rights support.

Now this is the sort of class homophobes can proudly claim: after a Mississippi lesbian student, Constance McMillen, asked to take her girlfriend to the prom [while dressed in a tux, *gasp*], the school canceled the whole prom. You can picture how much this pleased the rest of the students. After the school was forced to hold the prom, however, McMillen and her date and some disabled students were the only ones who attended. It was a decoy prom. The real prom had been held elsewhere, and kept secret from McMillen and the others.

Well, at least DC passed a resolution against the Uganda kill-the-gays bill.

More science shows that the Pill won’t kill us.

What does porn for women really look like?

A bunch of fundies got Morrison’s Song of Solomon banned from a school. ROCK frequently endorses this tactic–what did you read in school that someone objects to?

A cornucopia of climaxes: the language of orgasm.

Also, we’re updating, adding, and tweaking throughout the site. We’re also planning some new post features. Stay tuned!

ROCK also got more free press [...]]]> First off: the Kentucky House has approved an In God We Trust plate. As you might recall, ROCK’s been at it to get a vanity IGWT plate for years—should this pass, it effectively kills ROCK’s fundraising strategy, and if it doesn’t pass, we’re spared license plate theocracy. A true win-win!

ROCK also got more free press from WAVE-3 this week when their demands weren’t met by the Clarksville Town Council. Not so amusingly, half the very anti-ROCK comments were deleted, but it would seem public opinion actually isn’t so much on ROCK’s side. The WAVE-3 reporter’s email is above the text of the article and Clarksville’s Town Council can be reached at trishAtdigicoveDOTcom. Let’s make our sex-positive voices heard!

Another ROCK member got a letter in the Courier today. She writes,

When I read “A Super Bowl advertisement we can do without” by Timothy Rutten in The C-J’s Feb. 3 edition, I was already nodding my head in agreement to what I was sure was going to be a detractor of Go Daddy’s blatant use of porn culture and sexuality of women to sell its product.

Interestingly, the idea of porn culture is not strictly far right—many very liberal thinkers object to an oversexualized culture. PAPER, of course, advocates not a wholesale condemnation of pornography and sexuality, but striving toward a culture where sexuality is just one aspect of whole, healthy people. What’s more interesting, though, is the idea that sexuality of women is something objectionable. So much of porn’s titillation factor is in seeing women behave in unladylike ways; it might lose its more addicting quality if everyday women weren’t shamed for being sexual entities.

The Courier also printed an editorial on the terrorist Scott Roeder and more abortion-related letters to the editor.

Amanda Marcotte takes down “101 Reasons not to Have an Abortion” spectacularly.

A new anti-choice bill in Utah illegalizes miscarriages. Yeah, the anti-choice movement cares about women. Sure.

And more on Tebow: there are actually TWO anti-choice Tebow ads, both funded by the extremists at Focus on the Family. Unfortunately feminist reaction to the ad has not been received well.

At least there are the following touching and/or funny videos.

Planned Parenthood hired two sports notables–wisely, men, as anti-choicers aren’t going to respect women talking about why abortion is a force for good–to make the official counter-ad.

Florida’s Raging Grannies sing it like it is.

Jimmy Kimmel makes the most biting counter.

On the sad career of choice.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s own Planned Parenthood and ACLU made a great showing in Frankfort for real sex ed. Real sex ed is getting proper funding again, thanks to Obama–Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards responds.

In other sex ed news, a new study said abstinence education works. Huh? Well, it’s not abstinence-only education, it’s sex ed that highlights the positives of abstinence while giving good health and contraception information. More on this here.

Sexting as kiddie porn is nothing short of absurd.

The Courier also opined on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and whew, the homophobia came rolling in. It’s not just Louisvillians: Ollie North said repealing DADT will lead to NAMBLA being in uniform, the American Family Association said gayness ought to be illegal, as did the Family Research Council. Remember, the AFA and FRC are two of ROCK and their ilk’s biggest sources of “evidence.” Neighborly, huh?

Although Obama and Hillary Clinton attended the National Prayer Breakfast, put on the theocratic group The Family, they condemned the Family’s work in hate-mongering and would-be genocide in Uganda. In the Courier, another religious GLBTQ-friendly voice was heard–come on, sane Christians, keep making noise.

A top Canadian music magazine named a transman for Canada’s sexiest man. Yay progressiveness!

Another disgusting little ploy: homophobes aren’t content with saying gays are evil, they’re ugly, too.

LA will not make condoms mandatory in porn, for a variety of reasons… link is more NSFW than most.

People always have questions about sex, most of which boil down to, “Am I normal?” Who cares?

Got a painfully curved penis? Help may be on the way.

The anatomy of sperm.

Locally, an anti-choice rally was held downtown, Kentucky’s numbskulled state Senate passed a terrible bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before getting an abortion, and Louisvillians continued [...]]]> Whew! We’ve seen the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the trial of anti-choice terrorist Scott Roeder, the Prop 8 trial, the vindication of Theatair X, and plenty more.

Locally, an anti-choice rally was held downtown, Kentucky’s numbskulled state Senate passed a terrible bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before getting an abortion, and Louisvillians continued to duke it out in the letters to the editor. The ultrasound bill is pretty atrocious—it also requires a face-to-face meeting with an abortion doctor 24 hours before the procedure and imposes stiff fines on doctors, among other things. Word has it the bill won’t pass the Kentucky House, but if you are concerned please consider attending the Reproductive Justice Project Rally in Frankfort Thursday, 2/4. The rally was scheduled to demonstrate for real sex ed for teens, but this bill demands some attention.

The Roe v. Wade anniversary prompted much writing, with NARAL declaring it Blog For Choice Day. Amanda Marcotte explains that she’s pro-choice because she loves life, the good Kentuckians over at Barefoot & Progressive weigh in, and this post collects a number of other feminists’ thoughts. Jessica Arons, director of the Women’s Health and Rights Program at American Progress, calls Democrats to action.

The Roe anniversary also marked the beginning of the trial of Scott Roeder, admitted murderer of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. [Listen to Dr. Tiller here on why he chose this career.] RH Reality Check did a day-by-day account: Days One and Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five. You can watch Roeder’s testimony Roeder was today found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life.

Let us remember, though, that Roeder is also a terrorist, not just a murderer. More on anti-abortion violence here [and it is well-documented]. Also, will there be another generation of abortion providers? One must wonder, with the personal safety risks and lack of education.

Meanwhile, also on Roe day, the March for Life descended upon DC. Sarah Palin cooed about this on Facebook, Jezebel responded. There is a bad trend in the anti-choice sphere of appropriating pro-choice language—we’ve got to call this bullshit for what it is. Also, much was made over the youth in attendance of the rally, but that’s not really the feat anti-choicers might like to believe.

Speaking of youth and sex rights, here’s how to train youth to value reproductive justice.

An unfortunate firestorm has flared up as CBS is allowing an anti-choice ad featuring Tim Tebow and funded by Focus on the Family to air during the Super Bowl, which violated its former anti-advocacy advertising policy. In light of the controversy they’ve amended the policy. Pro-choice groups have considered how to respond, and seem to be focused on shutting the ad down. We can also mock it.

PAPER, by the way, proposes a counter-ad with a well-known successful woman or mother of a successful person detailing why her abortion was a fantastic choice. Sadly abortion is so stigmatized in this country no one would want to admit to one on TV, which is yet another problem.

The ad is also controversial since Tebow’s mother’s story sounds a little off, and because CBS is cynically using a serious social issue to get free buzz AND paints the anti-choicers as the better side.

State trends in abortion in 2009.

Reflections on the last decade in reproductive justice.

Two interesting books to look for: Dispatches from the Abortion Wars, and The Means of Reproduction.

Last in the abortion section, a good mockery of Bart Stupak.

In excellent local news… the regulations were unconstitutional. ROCK was predictably petulant, saying what goes on in Theatair X is “unimaginable,” and we enjoyed this. To tell Clarksville not to pass stupid restrictions on adult businesses, call either 812-283-1504 or email Clarksville’s town council at trishATdigicoveDOTcom.

And if you’re still unconvinced that groups like ROCK are harmless, here are some recent stories from around the world of braindead bans caused by sex-negative panic: a dictionary banned from school for containing “oral sex”. Or The Diary of Anne Frank banned in Virginia schools for being “pornographic.” Outside of school, how about banning small breasts and female ejaculation in porn? Or artists stripped of their funding for “indecency”? Such stories proliferate where sex-negativity abounds.

In Indiana, though, not all fronts are so liberated. 2009 saw more pro-GLBTQ bills passed than the last two years combined.

At the Prop 8 trial, religion was mostly absent, ex-gay therapy was discussed, and homosexuality claimed to be linked to pedophilia [by someone Prop 8's backers are distancing themselves from]. The case does seem to be leaning toward repealing Prop 8, thankfully… even Cindy McCain is for gay marriage.

This sounds like an interesting political race.

Oh yeah, despite an anti-choice ad, CBS won’t allow a gay dating site’s ad. Ugh. In other gay dating site news, eHarmony must merge its straight and gay sites. ‘Bout time.

Teen pregnancy has risen in America—thanks, abstinence-only education.

Contraception will be made more available to women in the military.

Study on education and cervial cancer risk.

Americans might soon have another emergency contraception pill, already available in Europe and maybe more effective than Plan B.

A wonderful condom ad:

Lastly, pioneering reproductive justice activist Ruth P. Smith has died. Thank you, Ruth, you will be missed.

Make your gay relationship [or gay-friendliness] known in the Census.

The Obama administration has now banned bias over gender identity.

About the Prop 8 lawsuit, which will be televised.

New Jersey rejected gay marriage [...]]]> The Courier-Journal drama with Archbishop Kurtz continues to unfold in reader letters, more reader letters, and even more reader letters. And the comments were many.

Make your gay relationship [or gay-friendliness] known in the Census.

The Obama administration has now banned bias over gender identity.

About the Prop 8 lawsuit, which will be televised.

New Jersey rejected gay marriage this week, but the whole country of Portugal legalized it.

The Kill the Gays Bill saga in Uganda gained publicity when the New York Times covered it. More here, and about how evangelicals are trying to distance themselves here. Frankly, this should become the PR disaster for evangelicals that pedophile priests were for the Catholic church.

The AIDS/HIV travel ban has finally been lifted.

The sex addiction model isn’t harmless.

Revisiting purity balls, and yes, they’re still creepy and awful. And a new poll says most parents think their kids are “model citizens.”

Absurd: carrying three condoms in DC could get you arrested for prostitution.

A new study says guilt may lower women’s sex drives. Meanwhile, Amplify points out that when sex is normal, normal people talk about sex.

Did you know some of Toronto’s mental health professionals are painfully sex-negative? Kenneth Zucker is leading the transphobic wing of psychiatry, and the definition of paraphilia may expand so much that everyone is included.

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month.

Why do we forget that abortion is a fundamental right? Here’s Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards on reproductive justice around the world.

At our own EMW Women’s Clinic, the anti-choice protesters are now wearing orange “life escort” vests. Also picked up on Feministing.

Guess what? Abby Johnson , the former Planned Parenthood employee scared anti-choice by watching an abortion, is a big LIAR.

Catholic bishops have embraced anti-choice terrorists.

No shit: study says more frequent sex increases chance of pregnancy. Another study reminds us that sex is good for your health.

Alan Moore has just released a paean to erotic history.

Remember how no federal dollars can go to abortion? This includes military hospitals. More here.

Takes on the [necessary for the 60th vote] abortion clause in the healthcare bill from Feministe, Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards, Cynthia Nixon, and a participant in the National Day of Action opposing Stupak-Pitts. Unsurprisingly on all [...]]]> … and it’s a big one.

Remember how no federal dollars can go to abortion? This includes military hospitals. More here.

Takes on the [necessary for the 60th vote] abortion clause in the healthcare bill from Feministe, Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards, Cynthia Nixon, and a participant in the National Day of Action opposing Stupak-Pitts. Unsurprisingly on all fronts, the bill limits abortions where they are most common—red states. Speaking of red state nonsensicality, Chuck Norris thinks that if the Virgin Mary had abortion access, Jesus would have never been born. *headdesk* is about all we can say for that one. Also, what about healthcare reform’s impact on STI diagnosis?

And here’s a guide to discussing healthcare reform and reproductive rights. Updated guide here.

On the lie of “pro-life” and anti-choicers’ sensitive consciences.

Update on Oklahoma abortion rights. More here.

Hillary Clinton affirms US stance FOR reproductive health. Meanwhile, Spain is making progress. Lastly in the abortion section, something cool: a pro-choice license plate in Virginia!

Embarrassingly, Louisville’s Archbishop Kurtz is fighting hard against gay rights. Courier editorial here, letters to the editor here, and political cartoon here [all have comments, some of which are true reminders of the red state in which we live]. Meanwhile, more churches threaten to cut homeless charity to stand tall for homophobia. Disgusting.

The NY Times profiled the evangelical “big thinker”, Robert P. George. We’d feel bad for someone so sexually repressed if he weren’t working so hard to make sure everyone else is. George’s bullshit debunked here.

Happily, Mexico City is moving to legalize gay marriage, but elsewhere around the world gay rights continue to be horrifyingly nonexistent. Here’s a story about a Ugandan lesbian fighting back against the Kill the Gays Bill.

The awesome poster for season two of RuPaul’s drag race:

Did you know there’s a National Porn Sunday? We bet it was nice and sex-negative.

Dealing with porn in relationships, and from a feminist stance.

Fun: design NYC condom wrappers!

This week saw the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. More here. Over in India, a male movement seeks to save lady sex workers by marrying them.

A provocative church-sponsored ad in New Zealand.

Is sex addiction real? We tend to think anything in life can be abused, sex included, and real treatment gets at the underlying problem. Here’s the story of a man fresh from Dr. Drew’s sex rehab show.

A new study says sexting isn’t that common, while another says casual sex won’t ruin your life. Big surprise…

Fetish art objects, and ballistic duck penises. Duck genitals are more interesting than you think!

Lastly, something optimistic: we are making progress, and we’ll probably win the war… it’s just taking longer than we’d like, is all.

Here’s an interesting piece about biology, religion, and rights.

Over in Uganda, the fundie bigot who proposed the Kill [...]]]> It’s been a relatively good week for gay rights in the US: a gay marriage vote passed the DC Council, and Houston elected an openly gay mayor. In California, however, it’s big business to oppose gay rights.

Here’s an interesting piece about biology, religion, and rights.

Over in Uganda, the fundie bigot who proposed the Kill the Gays Bill promises not to back down about the death penalty. We can only hope the other Ugandan legislators will vote this travesty down. Ironically, in the midst of the controversy, they have passed a law banning female genital mutilation.

On the conflict of psychology, profits, and transgendered people.

Congress just passed a remarkably progressive and sane appropriations bill, which ends abstinence-only funding, allots money for sexual health research and teen pregnancy prevention, and improves abortion access, among other very good things. Also, the healthcare reform bill can do much good for sex ed.

Lois Capps [D-CA] responds to Stupak.

On the power of pro-choice men as allies.

Egypt is moving progressively on abortion.

Make love, not porn: a sex-positive site reminding people that porno sex isn’t all that realistic. You can email suggestions—go on, we all have our little porn gripes.

See classism, sexism, and sex-negativity intertwine here, where no one believes a prosititute would know what hypocrisy is. But, in happy sex work news, Nevada now allows male prostitutes.

A new study says casual sex doesn’t bother young people, but many young people have been left with misconceptions and ignorance after abstinence-only education. It’s worse than we feared, including widespread beliefs that birth control causes cancer.

Did you know adultery is still illegal in New Hampshire?

Unfortunate: vaginal gel does not block HIV.

Girl-bashing and its very real consequences.

Something fun indeed: Fleshbot’s top ten sex toys of 2009. I’m sure there are still some adult stores having xmas sales!