It's an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread... 
 Below is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob & I have been looking at since Tuesday:
• NOLA's Interracial couple denied marriage license in Tangipahoa Parish:
A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.
'My main concern is for the children,' said Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
...Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist.
"I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house," Bardwell said. "My main concern is for the children." ...
 E-f*cking-gads! Has this justice of the peace never heard of Loving V. Virginia?
• The New York' House Backs Detainee Transfers:
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to allow the Obama administration to bring foreign terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo Bay prison to the United States to face trial.
The 307 to 114 vote removes one of many roadblocks the administration faces as it tries to empty the internationally condemned prison by January...
Well. That's actually surprising, given how nobody seems to want to bring the Gitmo prisoners in to prisons in their districts.
• From Cynthia J. Telingator, MD and Kelly T. Woyewodzic, MD at Psychiatric Times comes Sexual Minority Identity Development; A Review of the Process and Effects:
Sexual identity development is a complex, multidimensional, and often fluid process. One must consider cognitive, social, emotional, cultural, and familial complexities among other aspects of the individual's experience to contextualize a narrative concerning sexual identity development.
Sexual minority youth is a term used to describe adolescents who are not exclusively heterosexual. Definitions and labels ascribed to sexual minority youth may not describe their sexual attractions, relationships, fantasies, or behaviors. It is important to understand an individual's personal experience as well as his or her self-identification without making assumptions.
The Internet, public discourse about "gay rights," Gay-Straight Alliances in the schools, and a growing visibility of gay and lesbian role models in the media have helped challenge mainstream notions of what is considered "normal" sexual development. The fluidity of adolescent sexual identity development is as complicated as any aspect of identity development. Adolescents in the 21st century are, in many parts of the world, growing up in a culture that embraces diversity in sexual expression in a manner foreign to their parents' generation. Despite the fact that sexual minority youth have greater access to resources that provide support than did previous generations, there continue to be schools, communities, and homes in which adolescents still experience rejection, bullying, ostracism, and violence because of their differences from mainstream society...
This is my recommended reading pick for this This & That diary. 
• The Minnesota Daily's Transgender Commission fights for better restroom access:
Many students take the ability to use the bathroom for granted, but for some it is a daily battle.
 The University of Minnesota Transgender Commission is attempting to raise awareness about restroom access on campus, not only for members of the transgender community, but for the disabled, chronically ill and anyone who is made uncomfortable by gender-specific public restrooms.
"There are so many reasons someone might just want to have a private space to use the restroom, and I don't think that's limited to trans-identified folks or gender-nonconforming folks, but really is a right that is for all of us," said Remy Corso, University of Minnesota Transgender Commission co-coordinator and transgender student.
The group has consulted disabled people who work with opposite sex caregivers, the chronically ill and diabetics who need to inject insulin that would prefer single-stall, gender-neutral restrooms.
...Shawyn Lee, the assistant director of the University of Minnesota GLBTA Programs Office, prefers gender-neutral restrooms...
Further in the article, Shawyn Lee indicates ze identifies as genderqueer.
Can I just say here I love my diverse community, and the work many folk like Shawyn Lee is doing? 
• San Diego News Network's 51% founders: Let's think outside of the box:
Forgive our tactless pun, but it's time to think outside the box. Check one, male or female. While easy for some, it's painful for others - when the choice between one extreme and the other doesn't fit a person's personal identity, or their body.
Some folks are born with the dilemma of indistinctness. Intersexuality is a medical reference applied to people who cannot be narrowly, biologically classified as male or female because they contain atypical combinations of physical features that relate to both male and female traits. Classifications of intersexuality include analysis of chromosomal differences, gonadal anomalies, genital ambiguity and more. These characteristics are congenital.
The most recent publicized case of defining an individual as more male or female when both traits are present is with the young South African championship runner, Caster Semenya. She may be a hermaphrodite, despite being raised as a woman and competing as a woman. Her case may cause the International Association of Athletics Federations to devise a definition of what determines male or female for the sake of classifying whether an athlete competes as male or female.
Classifications are no easy feat, within the United States, even our local and federal governments cannot agree. To date, there is no uniform, legal definition of what makes a person female or male, or more one than the other...
Another interesting read.
• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: 's Why Pregnant Women are Told To Avoid Certain Cheeses and Hot Dogs by Some Doctors:
Some doctors tell their patients not to eat cheese when they're pregnant, and women want to know why. It's because of the danger of contracting listeriosis, that's found in some cheeses.
 Listeriosis is caused by a bacteria called "listeria monocytogenes." Most people don't even know they've contracted diarrhea from something they ate, but can't recall what it might be. It could be the cheese. The problem is when you're pregnant your immune system is really compromised. It's just one more way your body prepares you not to fight off the foreign invader, your embryo -- you your baby can develop to full term.
When you're immune system is low, you can easily catch the flu when pregnant. That's one reason why pregnant women are first in line to get the novel flu vaccination. But another nasty symptom for pregnant women is a listeria infection. You don't want the runs because the contractions from your colon can stimulate your uterus to go into labor. That's why in the 1960s, most women arriving in a hospital to give birth not yet in labor were given enemas not only to clean them out before they get on the delivery table, but to induce labor contractions. So you don't want to contract listeria.
When you're pregnant, you're 20 times more likely to catch a bacteria or virus infection...
Okay then! 
• On a twitter related note, today was #thridpersonthurs, so many of us were having fun sounding like Bob Dole and James Harline today. Twitter can be a fun distraction some days, for sure. 
So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?
And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo!  |
