Samoa Setting a Bad Example With Law Changes?

Laws should work against abusive, predatory behavior and stop interfering in the relationship rights of consenting adults. Looks like Samoa, which is tinkering with "sex crime" laws, still has a long way to go. This report was at rnzi.com... [POSSIBLE TRIGGERS]The Attorney General, Aumua Ming Leung Wai, says the Crimes Act 2013 is an updated version of the crimes ordinance, which is over 50 years old and was missing a lot of new offences.He says voyeurism is a new offence created under the act, and new cyber-crime offence provisions have been included as well as prohibiting the distribution of indecent material using mobile phones.This report is vague. I'm assuming by voyeurism, they are referring to stalkers, or situation where someone expects privacy but is being watched. What qualifies...

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Posted in: consanguineous,incest,law

Showtime's The Borgias Season 3 Episode 3

Don't read this entry yet if you don't want spoilers.Curt Wagner at redeyechicago.com reports on where the series is going and interviews Francois Arnaud, who plays Cesare. Thanks to Wagner and Arnaud for how this was handled...After fighting with Alfonso (Sebastian De Souza) at their wedding reception, Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger) crawled into bed with Cesare, who was shocked but didn't exactly protest his sister's boldness."Only a Borgia it seems, can truly love a Borgia," Lucrezia said. "Why deny yourself a pleasure for which we're already accused?"With her reputation already slandered by rumors that the two are lovers, Lucrezia seeks comfort in the arms of her only safe harbor.Whether or not it really happened between them, it happens...

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Posted in: allies,brother-sister,consanguineous,love,media,prejudice,siblings

Showtime's The Borgias Season 3 Episode 3

Don't read this entry yet if you don't want spoilers.Curt Wagner at redeyechicago.com reports on where the series is going and interviews Francois Arnaud, who plays Cesare. Thanks to Wagner and Arnaud for how this was handled...After fighting with Alfonso (Sebastian De Souza) at their wedding reception, Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger) crawled into bed with Cesare, who was shocked but didn't exactly protest his sister's boldness."Only a Borgia it seems, can truly love a Borgia," Lucrezia said. "Why deny yourself a pleasure for which we're already accused?"With her reputation already slandered by rumors that the two are lovers, Lucrezia seeks comfort in the arms of her only safe harbor.Whether or not it really happened between them, it happens...

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Posted in: allies,brother-sister,consanguineous,love,media,prejudice,siblings

Case in Georgia Highlights Arbitrary Restrictions

The age of consent in the US state of Georgia is 16. A girl who is 16 can legally consent to group sex with complete strangers, or sex with a 50-year-old man who has been her next-door-neighbor all of her life, or a 30-year-old cage fighting champion. But she can't consent to have sex with a certain someone she knows. Amanda Thomas reports at douglascountysentinel.com...A Mableton man is facing an incest charge after the 17-year-old victim apparently gave birth to his child.Richard Andrew Cosden, 44, appeared in Douglas County court Wednesday charged with 12 counts of incest. According to Assistant District Attorney Anna Vaughn, the victim's mother became suspicious that Cosden could possibly the the child's father."She did take a toothbrush of the defendant and swabbed the mouth...

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Posted in: boundaries,breaking up homes,children,family reaction,father-daughter,Georgia,incest,law,prosecution

The B in LGBT

Assumptions are made about bisexuals that might not be true for any individual bisexual, and there are even gays, lesbians, and allies of gays and lesbians who deny bisexuality is even a real thing. But it is. And bisexuals are not all the same.Jillian Page wrote at montrealgazette.com about the diversity of bisexuals, and about polyamory.It can be difficult sometimes being a bisexual polyamorous person (at heart) in a committed relationship with a monogamous person.Yes, it can.I’ve been reading yet another good article on the UsBiGirls site, this one about the different types of bisexuality. More on that article below.Basically, love transcends gender for me. It’s about the inner spiritual connection. Not that I don’t love sex — I am not...

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Posted in: bisexual,LGBT,myths

The B in LGBT

Assumptions are made about bisexuals that might not be true for any individual bisexual, and there are even gays, lesbians, and allies of gays and lesbians who deny bisexuality is even a real thing. But it is. And bisexuals are not all the same.Jillian Page wrote at montrealgazette.com about the diversity of bisexuals, and about polyamory.It can be difficult sometimes being a bisexual polyamorous person (at heart) in a committed relationship with a monogamous person.Yes, it can.I’ve been reading yet another good article on the UsBiGirls site, this one about the different types of bisexuality. More on that article below.Basically, love transcends gender for me. It’s about the inner spiritual connection. Not that I don’t love sex — I am not...

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Posted in: bisexual,LGBT,myths

Zimbabwe Still Prosecuting Consenting Adults

I found this report at newsdzezimbabwe.co.uk and I had a difficult time believing it...Cousins Patrick Zingwena, 24, and Josephine Muonde, 19, whose love for each other led to a sexual relationship have escaped jail and will have to perform 140 hours of community service.They are consenting adults. Why should anyone care if they are cousins? First cousins can legally marry in many countries around the word, and such marriages are common. In about half of US states, the bigotry against marriage equality does extend to banning marriage between first cousins, but other states are more reasonable. The two cousins, who were found naked in bed by another relative, were found guilty of having sexual intercourse within a prohibited degree of relationship...

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Posted in: Africa,consanguineous,courts,cousins,family reaction,incest,lack of equality harms,media,persecution,prosecution,Zimbabwe

Bloggers Test Anti-SLAPP Law in Defamation Suit

Shirley SherrodThere is a case pending in Washington, D.C. that involves the intersection of blogging and defamation and tests D.C.'s brand new anti-SLAPP law.  SLAPP stands for "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" -these injunctive laws are designed to provide defamation defendants immediate substantive protections against meritless libel suits -suits filed solely to silence a particular voice.We all recall when former federal employee Shirley Sherrod had a video of her public comments edited and blog-posted by the recently-deceased conservative blogger, Andrew Breitbart.  The [deceptively] edited video made Sherrod, then a USDA official, look like she was making publicly racist comments about a white farmer seeking...

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Posted in: Andrew Breitbart,blogging,First Amendment,free speech,Shirley Sherrod,SLAPP,United States Circuit Court of Appeals

Group Calls on New Zealand to Keep Evolving

New Zealand just adopted the limited same-gender freedom to marry, but as this article at stuff.co.nz by Kristy McMurray shows, there's more progress to be made.A group is calling for the Government to consider legalising multi-partner marriages. The group set up a Facebook page just before the Marriage Amendment Bill passed through Parliament last week, legalising gay marriage. A statement on the page described multi-partner - or polyamorous - marriage as "responsible, adult, committed non-monogamy," and said all committed loving relationships between adults regardless of number should be respected and given legal acknowledgement. I wasn't able to find the group. Usually, I'm pretty good at that. However, people could ask to...

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Posted in: allies,freedom to marry,New Zealand,polyamory,polygamy,solidarity

Group Calls on New Zealand to Keep Evolving

New Zealand just adopted the limited same-gender freedom to marry, but as this article at stuff.co.nz by Kristy McMurray shows, there's more progress to be made.A group is calling for the Government to consider legalising multi-partner marriages. The group set up a Facebook page just before the Marriage Amendment Bill passed through Parliament last week, legalising gay marriage. A statement on the page described multi-partner - or polyamorous - marriage as "responsible, adult, committed non-monogamy," and said all committed loving relationships between adults regardless of number should be respected and given legal acknowledgement. I wasn't able to find the group. Usually, I'm pretty good at that. However, people could ask to...

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Posted in: allies,freedom to marry,New Zealand,polyamory,polygamy,solidarity

300th Blog Post - Thank You Readers

We here at the Law Blogger [the attorneys of Clarkston Legal, also known as Karlstrom Cooney] would like to thank our loyal readers and those that follow this blog.This is our 300th post.  Three hundred: a perfect game in bowling; an excellent batting average in the bigs; the length of Noah's Arc, in cubits, and one of this blogger's favorite movies.We started this blog with our first post back on March 30, 2009, on the topic of a lesbian couple litigating their right to adopt a child here in Michigan.In the four years that we've been up and running with the Oakland Press, there have been almost 160,000 page views and we've received 438 published comments.  Minor league stats in the overall blogosphere, but hopefully relevant to our...

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Posted in: 300,child custody,divorce,family law,juvenile lifer law,lawyer,Oakland Press,SCOTUS,Second Amendment

Rhode Island Should Make a Bold Move For Equality

Rachel Weiner reports at washingtonpost.com on developments in Rhode Island...In Rhode Island, an entire delegation to the state Senate backs gay marriage - and it’s the Republicans.Rhode Island Public Radio reports that all five Republican members of the state’s upper chamber will support a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. The state House voted in favor of gay marriage earlier this year; it’s now before the  Senate Judiciary Committee and could see a vote in the full Senate by the end of the week. Other states within the US are progressing, too, including Illinois, Nevada, and Delaware. In other countries, New Zealand just adopted the limited same-gender freedom to marry, France is coming online, and there is progress...

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Posted in: boundaries,consanguineous,freedom to marry,law,LGBT,marriage equality,polyamory,Rhode Island

Rhode Island Should Make a Bold Move For Equality

Rachel Weiner reports at washingtonpost.com on developments in Rhode Island...In Rhode Island, an entire delegation to the state Senate backs gay marriage - and it’s the Republicans.Rhode Island Public Radio reports that all five Republican members of the state’s upper chamber will support a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. The state House voted in favor of gay marriage earlier this year; it’s now before the  Senate Judiciary Committee and could see a vote in the full Senate by the end of the week. Other states within the US are progressing, too, including Illinois, Nevada, and Delaware. In other countries, New Zealand just adopted the limited same-gender freedom to marry, France is coming online, and there is progress...

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Posted in: boundaries,consanguineous,freedom to marry,law,LGBT,marriage equality,polyamory,Rhode Island

Excellent Article on Polyamorous Triad

This article by Patrick Barkham at guardian.co.uk has been getting much notice in polyamory circles. It involves a FFF triad with a cisgendered woman and two trans women. Zoe O'Connell, left, Sarah Brown, centre, and Sylvia Knight, who live together in a polyamorous relationship. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the GuardianThe article starts with a young man and woman falling in love and marrying, and then says years into the marriage...The young man became Sarah, now a chatty, self-assured city councillor who lives in Cambridge. A stereotypical way of describing trans women in childhood is to say they feel like "a girl trapped in a boy's body," says Sarah, but she believes few people think at that level. "As a kid, I assumed that...

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Posted in: boundaries,coming out,family reaction,freedom to marry,lack of equality harms,law,LGBT,love,media,polyamory,same-sex,UK

Excellent Article on Polyamorous Triad

This article by Patrick Barkham at guardian.co.uk has been getting much notice in polyamory circles. It involves a FFF triad with a cisgendered woman and two trans women. Zoe O'Connell, left, Sarah Brown, centre, and Sylvia Knight, who live together in a polyamorous relationship. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the GuardianThe article starts with a young man and woman falling in love and marrying, and then says years into the marriage...The young man became Sarah, now a chatty, self-assured city councillor who lives in Cambridge. A stereotypical way of describing trans women in childhood is to say they feel like "a girl trapped in a boy's body," says Sarah, but she believes few people think at that level. "As a kid, I assumed that...

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Posted in: boundaries,coming out,family reaction,freedom to marry,lack of equality harms,law,LGBT,love,media,polyamory,same-sex,UK

Michigan Supreme Court Considers Family Court Judge's Lack of Candor

Wayne Circuit Family Court Judge Deborah Ross AdamsTruly, divorce is Hell.  No one can attest to this more directly than embattled Wayne County Family Court Judge Deborah Ross Adams.After 3-years of her own gruelling divorce proceeding [understandably transferred from Wayne County to the Oakland County Family Court] during which Judge Adams ducked media-scrutiny of the disintegration of her 30-plus year marriage, the good Judge really hit the jackpot when her attempts to "right a wrong" at the midnight hour of her divorce went totally awry. The divorce case went awry due to Judge Adams' own self-defeating and over-reaching conduct.  Both the Judicial Tenure Commission and a Special Master appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court found...

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Posted in: Cyril Hall,divorce,Judge Deborah Ross Adams,Michigan Supreme Court,Oakland County divorce,Oakland County Family Court,Oakland County Judge Mary Ellen Brennan,Wayne County Circuit Court

Natural Consanguinity

Thanks to a friend of FME who sent me this article. Back in 2007, Heidi Ledford reported at nature.com about a study of a fish species revealing some interesting facts.Timo ThünkenGiven a choice, the cichlid Pelvicachromis taeniatus, often found in aquariums, prefers to mate with siblings nearly three times out of four.Doesn't sound like the Westermarck Effect is present in them.And males who shacked up with their sisters spent more time guarding their fry and less time fighting with their mate than unrelated couples.Sounds like they are protecting their genes.The end result was happy families and healthy kids.Imagine that.While a normal copy of a gene can sometimes mask a mutation, offspring that inherit two mutated copies lack any...

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Posted in: brother-sister,children,consanguineous,incest,science

Natural Consanguinity

Thanks to a friend of FME who sent me this article. Back in 2007, Heidi Ledford reported at nature.com about a study of a fish species revealing some interesting facts.Timo ThünkenGiven a choice, the cichlid Pelvicachromis taeniatus, often found in aquariums, prefers to mate with siblings nearly three times out of four.Doesn't sound like the Westermarck Effect is present in them.And males who shacked up with their sisters spent more time guarding their fry and less time fighting with their mate than unrelated couples.Sounds like they are protecting their genes.The end result was happy families and healthy kids.Imagine that.While a normal copy of a gene can sometimes mask a mutation, offspring that inherit two mutated copies lack any...

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Posted in: brother-sister,children,consanguineous,incest,science

Stuff Poly Folks Hear

Here's a sample conversation that many polyamorous people can expect to have with those prejudiced against polyamory...Prejudiced Person: "Oh, polyamory? So you want to sleep around on your wife and you want her to say she's OK with that? You are so selfish. You just want to have a harem."Polyamorous Husband: "Actually, my wife has two other partners and I have one."Prejudiced Person: [pause] "You're sick for wanting her to have sex with other people and making her do that."Polyamorous Husband: "I didn't make her do anything. She's an adult who makes her own decisions. Actually, she's the one who told me she's polyamorous. She very much likes the way things are."Prejudiced Person: "So the two of you will sleep around with anyone? Casual sex is emotionally damaging you know."Polyamorous Husband:...

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Posted in: polyamory,prejudice

Stuff Poly Folks Hear

Here's a sample conversation that many polyamorous people can expect to have with those prejudiced against polyamory...Prejudiced Person: "Oh, polyamory? So you want to sleep around on your wife and you want her to say she's OK with that? You are so selfish. You just want to have a harem."Polyamorous Husband: "Actually, my wife has two other partners and I have one."Prejudiced Person: [pause] "You're sick for wanting her to have sex with other people and making her do that."Polyamorous Husband: "I didn't make her do anything. She's an adult who makes her own decisions. Actually, she's the one who told me she's polyamorous. She very much likes the way things are."Prejudiced Person: "So the two of you will sleep around with anyone? Casual sex is emotionally damaging you know."Polyamorous Husband:...

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Posted in: polyamory,prejudice

Michigan Legislature Looking to Ban Open-Carry in Schools

There is a little-known loophole in our gun laws that allows a person that has a concealed pistol license (CPL) to openly carry a firearm into a school, provided the weapon is visibly holstered.  Given recent headlines, State Representative Andy Schor, (D Lansing), is attempting to close this loophole with House Bill 4104.Hopefully, these terrible headlines will render the state gun lobby ineffective, and HB 4104 gets passed and signed by Governor Rick Snyder.  Who could forget last December when the Governor, on the eve of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, was poised to sign gun legislation that would have broadened and strengthened weapon possession laws, but had a change-of-heart and vetoed the bill.The open-carry in schools exception...

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Posted in: Andy Schor,concealed pistol license,concealed weapon,Governor Rick Snyder,gun lobby,Nicholas Looman,open carry laws,Second Amendment,Senator Mike Green

April 19 is the National Day of Silence in US

GLSEN's National Day of Silence takes place Friday, April 19.It's a day of silence, especially in schools, to bring awareness to the prejudice and inequality suffered by LGBT people. Along with all allies, I also think poly people and consanguinamorous people should participate. Everyone should have the freedom to be themselves without being bullied. Every adult should have the right to share love, sex, residence, and marriage with ANY and ALL consenting adults, without prosecution, bullying, or discrimination. LGBT, poly, and consanguinamorous students and faculty still have to deal with hateful policies and attacks, but with your help, that will continue to chan...

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Posted in: academia,allies,LGBT,persecution,prejudice,solidarity,USA

Revisiting the Legal Nitty-Gritty of Polygamy

A very kind reader sent along a description of the legal theory by which the polygamous freedom to marry can be accomplished, and I will offer my thoughts as well. It's a long essay, Ultimately, the thing to take away is that our laws can accommodate people in any form of polyamory who want legal recognition of a marriage (polyagamy). Since as far as the government involvement is concerned, marriage is mostly about financial and "who has responsibility for whom" issues, contract and business law has already demonstrated that three or more people can have legally recognized relationships. I had previous written about this here.There is an ongoing discussion among polyamory activists regarding a legal model of polyamorous marriage (i.e., the...

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Posted in: freedom to marry,group,law,polyamory,polygamy,quads,triads