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Zach Wahls Defends Gay Marriage To Iowa Legislators

A 19-year-old University of Iowa engineering student defended gay marriage in a rousing testimony in front of the Iowa House of Representatives on Tuesday. Zack Wahls spoke out against a resolution which would end civil unions in Iowa by describing his own experience as the son of two lesbian partners.


"Our family really isn't so different from any other Iowa family," said Wahls. "When I am home, we go to church together, we eat dinner, we go on vacations."

Wahls emphasized the typical nature of his upbringing, as well as his own success. He is an Eagle Scout and a small business owner. He also scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. "If I was your son, Mr. Chairman, I believe I would make you very proud," he said.

A sixth-generation Iowan, Wahls finished his testimony on an impassioned note. "In my 19 years not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple," he said. "And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character."

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Right-Wing Utopia: Gays Can’t Marry and Straights Can’t Divorce
14 aug  |  Let’s be fair to our anti-gay-marriage, social conservative friends. They don’t just want to keep gay people from entering the bonds of matrimony — they also want to keep straight people from ever getting out of them.
By Roy Edroso
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Unarmed man tasered 13 times by West Australian Police.
5 oct  |  West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has described vision of an unarmed man being tasered 13 times as damaging for the reputation of the state's police force. The footage was released today as part of the Corruption and Crime Commission's (CCC) report on the use of Tasers by WA Police. The report found a growing trend among police to use the weapon predominantly for compliance or on those More.. resisting arrest. In this instance, the man was surrounded by a group of police officers when he was tasered after refusing a strip search at the East Perth lockup in 2008. . . read more
It's a nice day for a white wedding
15 jul  |  By Sean Maguire

In social policy it's fair to say that Australia is usually a follower of trends. We seem, for a highly-educated Western country, to take ages to do things that the rest of the world already sees as self evident.

With the announcement that Argentina has passed laws that allow gay people to marry and adopt children the strange backwardness of the Great Southern Land is only becoming more obvious.

So to you Julia Gillard, who has made a non-traditional life partner arrangement, why don't you bite the bullet, reneg on your outdated views of marriage and lead Australia to a more equitable future.   . . read more

Dude, don’t be gay
19 aug  |  Gay marriage is the topic that isn’t. The reason why it’s not discussed in this Federal Election seems to be as potent as if it were. Everyone has an opinion but the majority parties don’t and everyone is left wondering what the conclusion will be. It’s odd that Australia, a country that comes out in full bloom during Mardi Gras and publicising itself to every news station in the world seems to be so tentative surrounding the very reason for its existence.
By Sumer Dayal
 . . read more
Teen Fakes Pregnancy For School Experiment
27 apr  |  The Young Turks take a look at a fascintating story that's come out of a U.S secondary school. They write: "A Gaby Rodriquez, a seventeen year old from Washington, pretended to be pregnant for six and a half months for a school project, a social experiment to experience what it's like to be a pregnant teenager."

What do you think about this type of social experiment? Is it right to play around with something so serious? Tell us and remember...Disqus!  . . read more

Washington, Gay Marriage and the Catholic Church- D.C.'s same-sex marriage law has put the archdiocese in a bind
10 jan  |  Washington, Gay Marriage and the Catholic Church- D.C.'s same-sex marriage law has put the archdiocese in a bind . . read more
Witness: "The Colony"- Al Jazeera's study of China's impact in Africa
8 sep  |  Witness: "The Colony"- Al Jazeera's study of China's impact in Africa  . . read more
Boies on Prop 8 Ruling: No Legitimate Argument Against Gay Marriage
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On your conscience be it
22 oct  |  By Sean Maguire

One day I would really like to get married; to walk down the aisle to stand before a priest or celebrant and sign my name on a dotted line to make myself legally one with a woman.

I want all the legal benefits that come with marriage; I want to have power of attorney, the ability to make life altering decisions in a hospital and the baby bonus if we're lucky.

Marriage as everyone knows- especially those who will participate in a conscience vote in Australian parliament- is a legal commitment between man and woman. 

Love is really irrelevant.

It would be nice to be in love when I get married but marriage throughout the ages has never had a focus on love- it's been about, securing by law, someone to reproduce with and to ensure they don't reproduce with someone else.

Something gay people can't do, so why make marriage irrelevant? . . read more

ANZAC Day: A New Zeitgeist Accepting Crassness- by Sean Maguire
25 apr  |  In the last couple of years it's become an Australian standard to see hundreds of young people huddled in the cold, in boxing kangaroo beanies, with Australian flags on the shores of Gallipoli.

The tackiness of the image has been much discussed, but still thousands of young people make the self-styled pigrimage to the site of our baptism of fire every year.

On the eve of Anzac day that tackiness came to full force when Allison Langdon, a Channel 9 journalist, spoke about the 'fun' to be had, with a fun run planned near to the site where Australian and New Zealand troops first stormed Turkish beaches. 

How ridiculous.

This is a day of solemity.

This is a day to remember the everyman that was betrayed and led to their ultimate destruction by the ultimately stupid leaders and stupid politicians that put them there. This is a day not to question why it happened, but to question why we continue to make the same mistakes. 

And finally for all the fucking idiots standing on a beach in Gallipoli, this is a day to remember that like our current wars, you're remembering an invasion where there was no right for us to be there.  . . read more

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"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan (1986)