Haha, a win for local porn stores: [...]]]> And now, onto some horrifying news: a Cornell doctor is performing female genital mutilation on girls with large clitorises, and using a vibrator to test the results. HORRIFYING. We suspect more will be unearthed with this case–are these girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, intersexed, or just not “perfect”?

Haha, a win for local porn stores: Indiana Supreme Court declines to hear the New Albany adult store case, presumably much to ROCK’s chagrin.

Elsewhere in the defense of porn, sex blogger and advocate Violet Blue has begun Our Porn, Our Selves. She slams anti-porn forces here and here, and other blogs notice. Meanwhile, sexologist Charlie Glickman describes both sides of the porn debate and includes an interesting study that notes correlation between high porn consumption and male aggressivity.

As a sex-positive, pro-sex industry advocate, I’ll write on this a bit. Glickman reminds us that correlation does not equal causation, an important reminder indeed. PAPER supports every adult’s right to enjoy porn [and other fun given us by the sex industry], and does not believe porn is a truly addictive substance. However, such studies are extremely interesting and worth pursuing, when ethical, non-sex-negative researchers are doing the work. Such research begs questions: what sort of content are these extremely aggressive men watching? Does it interfere with their relationships? Likewise, what underlies high porn consumption in various populations? When sex-negative groups point out violence and degradation in porn–which certainly is part of some porn content, and not in the sense of kink and consent–they have something of a point. It’s just that we at PAPER seriously doubt porn turns people into sociopaths, just like violent video games and movies don’t turn people into sociopaths.

One thing you can do, if you’re into porn, is make sure you’re consuming the work of good companies. Our best advice is to Google the company, and start digging. And look at the porn: do you see performers returning? Does the company include clips of the performers talking about the experience? Does the company proudly record that all performers are over 18? Exploitation happens, but not all companies exploit. Be sure what you’re watching doesn’t. And if you don’t care if it does, ask yourself, seriously, why.

Louisville’s Pride Parade was last Friday!

A homophobic recovery outfit is seeking to expand in the Clifton neighborhood.

Oh, those theocrats: they’re not giving up on the Uganda kill the gays bill. And apparently, neither is Texas. More about this particular conservative lunacy here. Also, Montana fundies are trying to overturn a new gay rights law.

Alert! Knockoff condoms are on the shelves and do not protect you. Another reason to practice safer sex, people.

The FDA has approved ella, a form of emergency contraception effective for five days after the possible conception. Awesome! Anti-choicers are, naturally, mad.

On Yaz? Good news: the generic Gianvi is now available.

Louisiana has passed an ultrasound requirement before getting an abortion. You’d think with the worst environmental disaster in American history on, right at their shores, they’d have better things to worry about than trampling on women’s rights.

The Radiance Foundation perpetuates anti-choice lies.

Lastly, a little more on that philandering evangelical, Mark Souder, who called his affair “torrid”:

In “Lessons from a broken man,” the cover story of the next edition of WORLD, a popular evangelical magazine, Souder offers a number of revealing glimpses into his struggles to stay faithful to his wife, and the political pressure cooker that he says can destroy the Beltway marriages of even the most die-hard believers.

“I prayed multiple times a day, sang hymns with emotion and tears, felt each time that it wouldn’t happen again, read the Bible every morning,” Souder said in one of more than a dozen e-mails to WORLD’s editors. “So how in the world did I have a ‘torrid’ (which is an accurate word) many-year affair? How could I compartmentalize it so much?”

To the evangelical mind–and here, your intrepid Webmistress is speaking from experience, as she was once herself a devout evangelical–this is the portrait of sinful nature. No matter how much good one does or fervent one’s belief, one gives in to sinful desires. I imagine Souder is either wondering why God never delivered him of these desires, or hating himself for being so sinful. As amusing as such scandals are, they are perhaps full of this sort of ontological heartbreak; as glad as I am to see a sex-negative legislator like Souder come crashing down, I feel a certain pity for him. His worldview has failed him. The reality is that most of us are hardwired for lust, and that we shouldn’t feel guilt for it. We should live in a world where this was an accepted fact, and people allowed to make arrangements for it, rather than repress ourselves in shame only to see that repression breed personal hell.

Remember this, dear readers: the theocrats who want to legislate our sex lives don’t believe the wide wonderful diversity of human sexuality is natural. They believe it is transgression against divine law. And even believing this, they cannot control themselves and cannot see the failure of their beliefs for what it is, because this belief has been drilled in so hard it overrides common sense.

New, more effective emergency contraception is on the way. And anti-choicers are mad.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a fundie law resource, may represent Indiana in an abortion case.

New disgusting tactic: anti-choice “freedom rides.”

There’s government-funded abortion drama in Alaska, of all the places.

Don’t disappoint [...]]]> A fairly brief newsfeed this week. Did any of you spot something we missed?

New, more effective emergency contraception is on the way. And anti-choicers are mad.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a fundie law resource, may represent Indiana in an abortion case.

New disgusting tactic: anti-choice “freedom rides.”

There’s government-funded abortion drama in Alaska, of all the places.

Don’t disappoint when you’re playing to anti-choicers: two have been arrested for threating Bart Stupak, the big anti-choice hiccup in the healthcare reform saga.

Lesbians are great parents!

True stories of gay exorcisms.

Surgery is no longer required for selecting one’s gender on passports.

A happy story about viral campaigning on behalf of sex workers.

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.

Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. When clips of her video documentary work featuring the struggle and persecution of gays and lesbians in her country were acquired by Iranian intelligence, agents began to follow Firouz around Tehran, harassing and intimidating her. She fled for England where [...]]]> Alert:

Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. When clips of her video documentary work featuring the struggle and persecution of gays and lesbians in her country were acquired by Iranian intelligence, agents began to follow Firouz around Tehran, harassing and intimidating her. She fled for England where she could safely continue her work and studies… Firouz, understandably, has requested asylum from the British government. Much to everyone’s shock and dismay, the British Home Office has rejected her application for refugee status. Yes, they know she’s gay. Yes, they know she could be deported back to Iran at any time, and that if this happens, Firouz will most likely be sentenced to torture and death after being found guilty of the “unspeakable sin of homosexuality” because she has participated in explicit lesbian sex scenes in the movie, and been a fierce proponent for human rights in her country.

Louisville candidate Mike Slaton is getting some national attention. We highly endorse him–please vote for him in the primary!

The Episcopal church has just ordained Mary Glasspool, a lesbian, as a bishop.

Tim Pawlenty, possible presidential hopeful, is set to veto a bill allowing same-sex couples the same end-of-life rights as straight couples.

New homophobic activist tactic: march around with a pro-pedophilia sign, since that’s next if the gays can marry. Let’s hope this doesn’t get trendy.

Gay rights opponents are… inching closer to death.

Elena Kagan has been nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice, and there’s confusion about her stance on abortion. We’re inclined to say that, as the linked article describes, Kagan’s history shows more of a sense of politics than anything.

Missouri gets in on restricting abortion rights, while doctors in Oklahoma are criticizing stringent new state regulations. Meanwhile, forced-to-Independent former Republican Charlie Crist may veto an anti-choice bill in Florida.

This could be excellent: scientists are at work on a male contraceptive that relies on ultrasound and would last for six months a dose.

In other stupid Missouri news, a bill on sexual businesses has passed. From the article:

Some House Democrats temporarily stalled the bill this year with a variety of objections. They said it infringed on the free market, cut into local control, placed religious and political viewpoints into law and would force some businesses to close — driving up unemployment and reducing state tax revenues.

“If we had a vote by secret ballot, this bill would die,” said Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, who voted against the bill. “But everybody wants to be holier than thou.”

The Missouri legislation would apply to strip clubs, adult video and book stores and other businesses of a sexual nature, including semi-nude model studios.

It would ban full nudity, alcohol, anyone younger than 18 and touching between semi-nude employees and customers. To ensure strippers are off-limits, the bill requires semi-nude employees to remain on a stage at least 18 inches high and at least 6 feet from customers in a room of at least 600 square feet.

The bill also requires sexually oriented businesses to close at midnight and prohibits them from locating within 1,000 feet of homes, schools, churches, libraries, parks, day cares or other sexually oriented businesses.

Here’s a great example of how politics can increase stupid legislated sex-negativity.

A must-read piece detailing the Kentucky Values Coalition–another group claiming they defend “family values” while actually behaving in quite a slimy manner.

Funny and informative Cracked list of sexperts who made the world a worse place [to do it].

Retro sex ed videos! And they are… interesting.

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.

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!

What is wrong with a country when beating women is more acceptable than men kissing men?

Destigmatizing female sexuality, and more on the problems with studying female desire. Meanwhile, this essay digs into “hookup culture” and related misogyny. And, really, vagina mints? Crap like this [...]]]> Your intrepid webmistress apologizes for the delay. And here we go.

What is wrong with a country when beating women is more acceptable than men kissing men?

Destigmatizing female sexuality, and more on the problems with studying female desire. Meanwhile, this essay digs into “hookup culture” and related misogyny. And, really, vagina mints? Crap like this wouldn’t make it to production if women hadn’t been made insecure about their genitals.

The Swedes have renamed the hymen the “vaginal corona.” Read more here.

Abortion in media: first, a new abortion “dramumentary” is out and it doesn’t seem so fair and balanced, and unfortunately, Lila Rose is lying on tape again [link is to a nice debunking].

Abortion news across the country and abroad: Dr. Carhart, now the only late-term abortion provider since Dr. Tiller’s murder, is now being targeted, abortion and emergency contraception access are improving in Europe, especially in Ireland. Our own Congress just ended an effort to permanently repeal the global gag rule. Let’s hope the 2012 President doesn’t reverse Obama’s executive order, huh? For the religious readers, here’s more on religious support for abortion rights.

Abortion and healthcare: first, awesome news! Nelson’s Senate amendment to ban insurance from covering abortions FAILED! [More on that amendment here, here, and here.] Now we just have to see that Stupak doesn’t get through when the healthcare bill goes back to the House. Sign a new petition here, and refresh your rage [and learn something about political action] here. Also, here’s some anti-choice stupidity shown for what it is and here’s more on the ever-present personal-is-political reality.

Let’s get to something a bit saucier: porn! Porn star Sasha Gray gives an interesting interview, Phillip Toledano documents phone sex workers, and sex workers consider their profession and feminism. Meanwhile, has porn has porn made men bad at sex? Does porn change men’s views of women? Are there any more porn virgins? [Depends on the porn, is our answer.] There’s drama in the Flynt family, and according to at least one escort, prosititutes save marriages. [We're going to say that depends on the marriage, too.]

In religious bigotry news, Baltimore fundies are getting time to present a case for hate in court [and other rabid fundies say condoms prevent the Rapture---just precious!]. Thankfully sane Christians are have put forth an Affirmation Declaration.

Here’s Rachel Maddow with more on the Kill the Gays Bill and “ex-gay therapy.”

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

[Transcript here.]

While international leaders and the Holy See condemned the bill, American fundies were reluctant to do so. [More here.] Perhaps most notable among the suddenly reticent fundies was Rick Warren, who tried to wash his hands of the matter despite being connected to it until he was, essentially, shamed into saying something. The bill may well have killed many, but after the outcry, the death penalty and life imprisonment clauses have been dropped. A victory, though, hilariously, in the new draft of the bill, Uganda will be offering ex-gay therapy.

This ties in neatly with The Family, by Jeff Sharlet. This book, a truly terrifying book, exposes the fundies in the thick of American politics and where the Jesus-and-capitalism brand of Christianity came from.

In good news, DC has okayed gay marriage! Unfortunately, New York did not. Cynthia Nixon responded to the defeat here, in a wonderful essay. Also wonderful is this helpful flowchart of the gay marriage debate.

Odds and ends: hot gay elf sex in a video game, on same sex schools for boys, and condom sabotage.