“Speculative and fanciful”, but haven’t ruled it out

"Groundbreaking fertilisation technique could allow gay couples to have babies with each other"

The shocking new study overthrows the idea that it is only possible to produce children using an egg, and fertilising it with sperm. Instead, the research suggests that it might be possible to conceive children using skin cells.

In a new experiment on mice, scientists appear to have shown that it would be possible to conceive of mice using other kinds of cells. The study showed that it was possible to produce healthy offspring while bypassing the normal route of fertilising an egg with sperm.

“The practical applications of this as the technology stands at the moment are not very broad,” Dr Perry said at a press conference.

“What we’re saying is that these embryos are mitotic cells – mitotic cells are the type of cell that almost every dividing cell in your body is. And therefore potentially one day we might be able to extend what we’ve shown in these mitotic cells to other mitotic cells.

“Will we be able to do that? I don’t know. But I think, if it is ever possible, one day in the distant future people will look back and say this is where it started.”

Could we envision a day when women will be fighting for the right to reproduce?

‘Why Am I Even Here?’

"First Openly Gay Republican on GOP Platform Committee"

Over the last two days, Rachel Hoff has considered leaving the Republican Party for the first time in her life.

The think tank defense analyst from Washington, D.C., who is the first openly gay Republican to serve on her party’s platform committee, sat through a slow march of disappointments that led her to that point days before the 2016 convention. Her peers voted down every amendment that offered softened or inclusive language about the LGBT community, instead doubling down on the belief that marriage is between only one man and one woman and other socially conservative positions.

On Monday, Hoff made an emotional appeal asking the committee to replace some of those sentiments with language she had crafted, stating that marriage is a fundamentally important institution and that “there are diverse and sincerely held views on marriage” within the party. “We are your daughters. We are your sons, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, the couple who sits next to you in church,” she said. “Freedom means freedom for everyone, including gays and lesbians … And all I ask today is you include me and those like me.” By an unofficial vote of about 30 to 82, the amendment failed.

"U.S. Support of Gay Rights in Africa May Have Done More Harm Than Good"

New York Times: “The U.S. support is making matters worse,” said Mike, 24, a university student studying biology in Minna, a town in central Nigeria who asked that his full name not be used for his safety. “There’s more resistance now. It’s triggered people’s defense mechanism.”

America’s money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But they have also made gay men and lesbians more visible — and more vulnerable to harassment and violence, people on both sides of the gay rights issue contend. The American campaign has stirred misgivings among many African activists, who say they must rely on the West’s support despite often disagreeing with its strategies.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, the final passage of the 2014 law against homosexuality — which makes same-sex relationships punishable by 14 years in prison and makes it a crime to organize or participate in any type of gay meeting — is widely regarded by both supporters and opponents of gay rights as a reaction to American pressure on Nigeria and other African nations to embrace gay rights.

“The Nigerian law was blowback,” said Chidi Odinkalu, chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission and the senior legal officer for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which supports gay rights on the continent. “You now have situations of gay men being molested on the streets or taunted. That was all avoidable.”

“I’ve said to U.S. diplomats privately as well — the risk is causing more harm than good,” Mr. Odinkalu added. “You don’t want an infusion of good will to actually do harm to the community that you think you’re protecting.”

“In the same way that we don’t try to impose our culture on anyone, we also expect that people should respect our culture in return,” said Theresa Okafor, a Nigerian active in lobbying against gay rights.

NBC Sports: "Tony Dungy elaborates on his Michael Sam comments"

"On Monday, the Tampa Tribune published Tony Dungy’s answer to the question of whether he would have drafted Michael Sam, the NFL’s first openly-gay player. Dungy’s 38 words triggered a flood of debate and controversy, and plenty of pointed criticism."

Excerpt...

“I wouldn’t have taken him,’’ Dungy told the Tampa Tribune. “Not because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it. It’s not going to be totally smooth . . . things will happen.’’

Back to todays apparent qualification...

On Tuesday, Dungy issued a statement elaborating on his comments. The full text of it appears here.

“I gave my honest answer, which is that I felt drafting him would bring much distraction to the team,” Dungy says.

“I was not asked whether or not Michael Sam deserves an opportunity to play in the NFL. He absolutely does.

“I was not asked whether his sexual orientation should play a part in the evaluation process. It should not.

“I was not asked whether I would have a problem having Michael Sam on my team. I would not.”

Mozilla's CEO: I lost my job (caught opposing gay marriage)

— NowThis News (@nowthisnews) April 3, 2014

Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich resigns over Prop 8 controversy.
Mozilla is a web browser, like Internet Explorer and Google's Chrome.  Between you and me, I hate Chrome, but that's not what this post is about.

From an Andrew Sullivan Post...

It turns out that Eich (Mozilla's CEO) might have saved his job had he recanted, like all heretics must. But given the choice of recanting, he failed. Hence the lighting of the fires:

Throughout the interviews, it was not hard to get the sense that Eich (Mozilla's CEO) really wanted to stick strongly by his views about gay marriage, which run counter to much of the tech industry and, increasingly, the general population in the U.S. For example, he repeatedly declined to answer when asked if he would donate to a similar initiative today.

He did not understand that in order to be a CEO of a company, you have to renounce your heresy! There is only one permissible opinion at Mozilla, and all dissidents must be purged! Yep, that’s left-liberal tolerance in a nut-shell...

This is a repugnantly illiberal sentiment. It is also unbelievably stupid for the gay rights movement. You want to squander the real gains we have made by argument and engagement by becoming just as intolerant of others’ views as the Christianists? You’ve just found a great way to do this. It’s a bad, self-inflicted blow. And all of us will come to regret it.

The in-tray is inundated with your dissents, which we will air in full tomorrow, since it will some time to find the strongest counterpoints.

Anderson Cooper: "I don't believe in inheriting money"

"So he's far from miffed that his famous heiress mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, has told him he doesn't stand to inherit her fortune. In fact, he sounds relieved."

"My mom's made clear to me that there's no trust fund," Anderson Cooper, 46, told Howard Stern on his radio show Monday. "There's none of that."

"Who has inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life? From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would've been so motivated."

That question begs some research, which would/could mean he is passing on a chance to be a pioneer... or something.

"My dad (Wyatt Emory Cooper) grew up really poor in Mississippi ... I paid attention to that because I thought that's a healthier thing to pay attention to than, like, some statue of a great-great-great-grandfather who has no connection to my life."

When Anderson Cooper "came out", he said in an email to Andrew Sullivan...

I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible.

I don't know. Maybe Cooper could have made the case for using that money to advance the tide of history. That's the bottom line, isn't it? 'Money makes the world go around', pulling and tugging the moon, advancing and retreating the tides. What do you think?

"If the Equal Rights Amendment were proposed today, would it go on to become a Constitutional Amendment?"

"The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for ratification. The ERA failed to receive the requisite number of state ratifications (38) before the final deadline set by Congress of June 30, 1982, and so it was not adopted. Feminist organizations continue to work at the federal and state levels for the adoption of the ERA."

Think about it. 30 Years ago, did you ever imagine gays and lesbians being granted the right to legally marry? Compared to the ERA, gay marriage, must have seemed that much far afield, off the radar (to use a topical metaphor), a political impossibility.
I submit that the reason why the ERA didn't become the law of the land was because it's time had not come. Now that it's apparent time is here, why do you think it hasn't been picked up again?

The gay mafia has gone too far this time.

They're now directing their hate toward Pavel Datsyuk, and they're apparently on a mission to destroy him.

For those of you not familiar with hockey, Datsyuk is universally recognized as the best two-way player in the game.  I'd go farther than that:  I've watched hockey for over 30 years, and I think he's the best player, period, in the history of the game.  That would certainly be debatable, but that's a debate for another time.

This is Pavel Datsyuk:

Datsyuk won 4 Lady Bing trophies in a row -- that's the NHL's award for sportsmanship. He's the cleanest player in the league.  And he's a remarkably modest, unassuming, self-effacing man -- the most humble professional athlete I've ever seen.  Part of that humility probably stems from his humble beginnings in Russia.  His family didn't have much money; his mother died when he was 16; he wasn't drafted at all in 1996 or 1997, and went in the seventh round in 1998, because he was considered too small.

And I'm sure part of that humility comes from his faith -- he's a quietly devout Orthodox Christian.

Because the Olympic hockey tournament will be played in Russia this year, and gay rights advocates have pushed the issue to the forefront all summer, it was inevitable that some reporter would ask Datsyuk his opinion of his country's laws regarding homosexuality.  Datsyuk responded about as I expected:

"I'm an orthodox and that says it all."

More after the break.