Culture

Incest is a ‘fundamental right’, German government committee says

Laws banning incest between brothers and sisters in Germany could be scrapped after a government ethics committee said the they were an unacceptable intrusion into the right to sexual self-determination. “Criminal law is not the appropriate means to preserve a social taboo,” the German Ethics Council said in a statement. “The fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination is to be weighed more heavily than the abstract idea of protection of the family.

San Francisco’s World Famous Fetish Festival Turns 30

Some things are classically San Franciscan. The Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard’s curves and the celebration of alternative sexuality known as the Folsom Street Fair are treats as signature to San Francisco as Rice-A-Roni. The 30-year-old culmination of Leather Week, this year happening on Sunday, attracts visitors from around the world as well as locals.

Two London chefs are trying to come up with a burger that tastes like human flesh

Two London chefs are this week trying to come up with a burger that tastes like human flesh, while Hannibal is busy cooking lung and loin bourguignon over on NBC, but exactly what flavour do we have? It’s a macabre thought, but one carnivores can’t help but idly wonder from time to time when eating the wide array of animals that we do. What with cannibalism being illegal and all, we only really have the unreliable testimonies of murderers and long-dead explorers to go on.

Census: Marriage rate at 93-year low, even including same-sex couples

The Census Bureau reported Thursday that the nation’s marriage rate is the lowest since 1920, and the first-time inclusion of same sex married couples did little to reverse the decline. According to Pew Research Center analysis, the marriage rate of Americans 18 and older hit a bottom of 50.3 percent in 2013, down from 50.

The Biblical Stance That Has Canada’s First Christian Law School Locked in a Major Debate Over Gay Rights

A plethora of debate continues to rage surrounding a proposed Canadian law school’s mandatory requirement that students and faculty sign a pledge affirming that they will not enter into same-sex relationships. While the council of the Law Society of New Brunswick, the province’s independent legal body, decided in June to offer accreditation to the School of Law at Trinity Western University, an opposing resolution was passed by members Saturday, asking that the decision be overturned. The nonbinding resolution passed 137 to 30, according to a press release from Trinity Western University, which is planning to open Canada’s first Christian law school in 2016.

Student’s ‘Virginity Rocks’ t-shirt banned from Arkansas middle school

Fayetteville 13-year-old Cloe Rubiano is saving herself for marriage, but school officials think she should keep that to herself. Robiano, a student at Ramay Junior High, purchased a t-shirt at a Christian festival that reads “Virginity Rocks” on the front, and “I’m loving my husband and I haven’t even met him” on the reverse, which sums up her beliefs on sex and marriage. But school officials banned the shirt and forced the teen to wear a school-issued gym shirt instead, because the Virginity Rocks message could lead to uncomfortable conversations about sex, 5News reports.

Federal Judge Envisions ‘Rape License’ for ‘Right to Rape’

“But,” continues Posner—I didn’t know there were any “buts” when it comes to rape—”some rapists derive extra pleasure from the fact that the woman has not consented. For these rapists, there is no market substitute … and it could be argued therefore that, for them, rape is not a purely coercive transfer and should not be punished if the pleasure to the rapist (as measured by what he would be willing to pay—though not to the victim—for the right to rape) exceeds the victim’s physical and emotional pain.

This College Actually Lets Students Minor in Craft Beer

Some college graduates might joke they minored in beer studies. But that’s actually the case for a new group of students at Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York. This month, the college announced it would start offering a craft-brewing minor to all of its students.

Sheriff: South Carolina man killed 5 children at same time

A father accused of killing his five children will face murder charges as soon as he’s brought back to South Carolina, said Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty. Authorities found the remains of the five children — ages 1 to 8 — Tuesday on a dirt road off Alabama Highway 10 near the Oak Hillcommunity in Wilcox County, said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Sgt. Steve Jarrett.

Chicago Firefighters Say They Were Sent Home for Refusing to Remove Patriotic Stickers

Four suburban Chicago firefighters say they were suspended after refusing to remove patriotic stickers posted on their helmets and lockers. The Maywood firefighters say they were ordered to go home for refusing to remove stickers of American flags after their fire chief implemented a ban on all stickers. “I’m floored that he would even consider this two days before 9/11,” said firefighter Dan McDowell.

Planned Parenthood Sex Ed Website Now Takes Teens to Porn Site

The main web site behind Planned Parenthood’s attempt to lure students with a sex educational campaign that leads to abortion now points those teenagers to a web site promoting pornography. The pro-life group Iowa Right to Life discovered the change and how the Planned Parenthood Teenwire web site — which is linked to by thousands of web sites across the country and whose URL is printed on sex ed literature distributed in schools nationwide — now points to a porn site. “Over the holiday weekend, we became aware of a new danger for Iowa children and teenagers,” Iowa Right to Life told LifeNews.

Over 100 teens swarm Memphis plaza, ‘knocking out’ shoppers

CBS affiliate WREG reported that three people are now recovering after a mob of teenagers ran through a busy shopping plaza, seemingly picking out customers and Kroger employees at random to attack. A video of the incident has been shared with local news stations in the area and is quickly going viral. It shows a young adult lying still on the ground as others repeatedly kick him and stomp his head.

U.S. Colleges See Gay Students As Growth Market

Growing up as a fundamentalist Christian in Austin, Texas, Josh Bergeleen says he “didn’t know that gay was a thing.” That changed when he went off to college at Emory University in Atlanta, and he came out at 18, shortly after beginning his freshman year. Four years later, Bergeleen credits Emory’s welcoming environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students as a key factor not only in his discovering his own identity, but in helping him stay on track to graduate from the business school this year.

The girl with three biological parents

“A lot of people say I have facial features from my mum, my eyes look like my dad… I have some traits from them and my personality is the same too,” says Alana. “I also have DNA from a third lady. But I wouldn’t consider her a third parent, I just have some of her mitochondria.

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