Partners for life?

From news.bbc.co.uk …

"You can't be a little bit equal, in the same way as you can't be a little bit dead or a little bit pregnant. You can only be equal or unequal."

Whose safety goes first?

From heresycorner.blogspot.com …

Heresy Corner has written a most interesting article about the requirements being imposed on people applying to study or undertake social work. Entitled "No subs allowed" it notes that even though the personal sexual activities and preferences of an applicant would be very unlikely to have an impact of the quality of their work — indeed there are studies to show the reverse is true — people engaging in consensual BDSM behaviour are being blocked from the profession, despite the government seeking to increase the number and quality of social workers.

Lesbian partners to be named on birth certificates

From www.guardian.co.uk …

OK. I'll admit it. I am completely torn on this one, and I'm sure I'll not be the only one who is. That a child should ideally have loving parent's — of any sex, gender, number and combination thereof — is a given, to my mind, but by the same token I'd always believed that a "Birth Certificate" had some relationship to genes and the source of the DNA that goes to make that child. Unless the eggs of both parents are put into a petri dish (or turkey baster!) and mixed around so that it isn't known who did which, then it rather feels to me that there is something not quite right here. And where is the detail of the, ahem, 'source of the sperm'? I mean, I've known some very butch dykes (hell, I've gone out with some and loved every minute of it!) but they aren't quite that butch. On the legal side I think it is really great that the law recognises loving parenting, but I still have some disquiet on this one. Feel free to educate me …

Dutch threaten Eurosong boycott over gay rights

From www.nrc.nl …

As it happens, I'm currently working with the first semi-final of the Eurovision song contest as background on the tv, and saw this story about the Dutch entry — and NOS, the public broadcaster in the Nederlands — have said they will withdraw from the finals of the competition on Saturday night if a gay rights parade organised for that afternoon becomes violent. Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov has said he will never allow Moscow to have a gay parade, which he has dubbed "satanic." Russian nationalists on Tuesday threatened to "cure" any homosexuals who join the parade on Saturday.

"Suicide is a human right"

From news.bbc.co.uk …

Ludwig Minelli, founder of the Swiss organisation Dignitas — which helps people to commit suicide — has argued that voluntary euthanasia is, or should be, considered as a human right. I tend to agree. We may not choose to be born, but surely — with the exception of dying in an accident, which nobody would actually prefer — the date of our passing should be something under our control. Whether the reasons for an individual concluding they have lived as long as they wish to are for health reasons (physical or mental) or because they consider that they have 'had a good innings' and life would be otherwise downhill from then on, shouldn't that be our choice and not not something outwith our control, requiring us just to wait, possibly for many years without any desire to do so? A friend once commented "suicide is the ultimate in selfishness" after the death of someone they knew. The argument being that those left behind suffer. I would argue that by pressuring someone to stay alive against their own desires then society is being inconsiderate of that person's needs and, by making their impossible life continue that their relationships will suffer anyway. There is a reason why we put some animals out of their pain and suffering in their best interests. We certainly aren't animals, but people deserve no less a consideration of what may be the best outcome for them as an individual.