Can child porn be a crime when it involves no actual children? A Danish appellate court has so ruled in sentencing AI artist Barry Coty to 18 months’ in prison. Denmark used to be famous as a place where even real child pornography was legal, during which time sex offense rates actually went down. Outlawing […]
Will society turn on same-sex marriage equality?
Despite having lost 3.6 million members over the past two decades, the Southern Baptist Convention is both the world’s largest Baptist and Protestant organization, as well as the second-largest Christian body in the United States. Thus it matters that within their list of resolutions that they recently passed at their 2025 annual meeting is one […]
A slippery slope for sex and censorship
In this rather astonishing story an Australian female author was charged with child pornography for having written a fictional novel about an 18-year old woman’s relationship with a man who has fantasized about her since she was a toddler. The defendant has pleaded not guilty to possessing, disseminating, and producing child abuse material. The case […]
The courts are showing no love for My Inner Baby
Can role playing and infantile regression be sexual without involving sex? The Indiana Court of Appeals so ruled in upholding a lower court’s preliminary injunction closing My Inner Baby in Noblesville, IN, on the grounds that it constituted a “sex shop” in an industrial area not zoned for sex shops. The store, which does most […]
Lawmakers in conservative states continue to target same-sex marriage
In his article for Mississippi Free Press, Paul M. Collins Jr., Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, summarizes recent efforts in multiple states to pass legislation aiming to upend same-sex marriage rights. Although 70% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage, Republican lawmakers are taking advantage of the political […]
Queer characters in children’s books causing alarm for some parents
The Supreme Court is hearing a case that centers around elementary school curriculum, who gets to curate it, and queer visibility. The case is about how the Montgomery County school board in Maryland greenlit the use of five storybooks that contain LGBTQ+ characters, to which some parents objected, citing conflicts with their religious beliefs. Oh […]
$4 Billion in Reparations for Sexual Abuse Hurt More than Help?
How do we as a society make up for past wrongs? Last week, Los Angeles County reached a tentative agreement to pay $4 billion in order to settle more than 6,800 sexual abuse claims.
HARD COPY: Who – exactly – foots the bill for justice? As more cases of sexual abuse get unearthed, society grapples with finding justice for victims. Justice often looks like hefty sums of money paid out by organizations via settlements. Los Angeles County, for instance, recently reached a tentative agreement to pay $4 billion to […]
Gay Man Sues Health Canada Over Organ Donation Policy
The government of Canada is facing a new court challenge over the constitutionality of Health Canada’s screening criteria that prohibits potentially lifesaving organ donations from gay and bisexual men.
HARD COPY: Antiquated Concerns Over HIV Transmission Are Still Fueling Gay Male Stigma Michael Fazal, a 31-year-old-gay plaintiff living in Toronto, is challenging the constitutionality of Health Canada’s screening criteria regarding organ donations. While some recent changes have been made to Canada’s policies surrounding some biomedical donations, as with sperm and blood, restrictions remain for […]