Nussbaum's wearing some pretty kickass boots in the accompanying photo, and she mentions that the University of Chicago lesbian and gay alumni association thanked her for wearing leather to a speaking engagement. But the real meat of the interview is Nussbaum's take on relationships and marriage. She handily dispatches a classic Deborah Solomon underminer question, "Do you find it difficult being a single woman in her early 60s, in a culture that values youth over wisdom," thusly:

I think that's been overplayed. I'm just happy being myself. I sing for an hour before dinner, and right now I'm singing Cherubino's aria from "The Marriage of Figaro," and playing the part of a teenager is natural to me. I also go clothes shopping with my friends. It's one way I have fun.

Basically Solomon is saying "don't you hate being single, and also old?" And Nussbaum's like, "I'm busy singing opera, fuck you." But since marriage is just as important a subject for philosophy professors as it is for actors (as long as they're women), Solomon's gotta ask, "Do you think you will marry again?" Nussbaum says,

If I thought of getting married, I would worry that I was taking advantage of a privilege that I have that a same-sex couple wouldn't have.

The question of whether this makes sense as a political stance is a complicated one, especially in light of John Marcotte's statement that if gay Californians can't marry, straight ones shouldn't get to divorce. The 2010 California Marriage Protection Act that Marcotte's spearheading may not make it onto the ballot, and apparently not everyone understands that it's meant to be a form of protest against Prop. 8 (not against divorce). But the Meghan Daum of the LA Times writes that Marcotte is "fighting not just for the rights of gays and lesbians, who surely deserve to be feted as they parade down the street in post-wedding rapture, but also for the cause of irony itself, which — in this often painfully literal society — needs all the help it can get." I don't think the cause of irony needs fighting for — even talking about its death just makes it stronger — but gay marriage certainly does. So is forgoing marriage yourself the way to fight?

Nussbaum makes a lot of other interesting points about gay marriage, arguing that much opposition to it is really about "disgust." She reminds us that people are disgusted by many things that aren't actually harmful (like "a sterilized cockroach, as studies have found"), and that the most insidious kind of disgust "is the projective kind, meaning projecting smelliness, sliminess and stickiness onto a group of people who are then stigmatized and regarded as inferior." In a way chalking homophobia up to disgust almost seems to excuse homophobes, by attributing an immoral point of view to some kind of visceral impulse. On the other hand, it may be valid to examine whether those who say they just want to "protect traditional marriage" actually look at gay people the way they look at cockroaches.

But Nussbaum's rejection of marriage may actually be better as a defense against Solomon than as support for gay rights. Solomon's not-so-subtle hints that Nussbaum must be lonely are just one version of the kind of shit single women get every damn day, and to say, "I'm single for a cause" is a decent rejoinder (though maybe not as good as, "lalalala I'm singing!"). The truth is, to reject marriage as a straight woman is kind of empowering — but to straight women, not necessarily gay ones. And while challenging stereotypes about gender and relationships might have some effect on homophobia, that effect is still tangential. In order for gays to get the rights they deserve, lawmakers (looking at you, New York State Senate) need to think about simple equality rather than the complicated calculus of reelection. Voters (looking at you, my home state of California) need to get over their disgust or bigotry or whatever makes them think that anyone else's marriage could threaten theirs. And yes, straight allies need to stand up and speak out — but that doesn't necessarily mean not getting married.

Gross National Politics [NYT]
John Marcotte: Defending Marriage By Denying Divorce [LA Times]

"Men and women — women want all the rights of men, but they're not asking to be called men… do you think… is it the word [marriage] is more important than the rights?" Portia, who is married to Ellen DeGeneres, was measured, confident, calm and clear in her answer: "Of course it's not the word." (I would have added, "Dumbass.") Portia went on to say, "Without the word, we don't have equal rights." Then she explained that a "lesser" term would imply that gay couples are lesser. Applause.

Some choice quotes:

"I'm over the age of 40 and that's all you're going to get from me, but I have never been able to maintain a relationship of the length or the quality that Tom and Lewis have."

"Turn on the television. We have a wedding channel on cable TV devoted to the behavior of people on the way to the altar. They spend billions of dollars, behave in the most appalling way, all in an effort to be princess for a day. You don't have cable television? Put on network TV. We're giving away husbands on a game show. You can watch The Bachelor, where thirty desperate women will compete to marry a 40-year-old man who has never been able to maintain a decent relationship in his life."

"That's what we've done to marriage in America, where young women are socialized from the time they're five years old to think of being nothing but a bride. They plan every day what they'll wear, how they'll look, the invitations, the whole bit, they don't spend five minutes thinking about what it means to be a wife. People stand up there before god and man even in Senator Diaz's church, they swear to love honor and obey, they don't mean a word of it. So if there's anything wrong with the sanctity of marriage in America, it comes from those of us who have the privilege and the right and have abused it for decades."

A former labor activist, Savino was elected in 2004 and serves Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. But now that this speech has put her on the national radar, who knows how far she can go?

"We Have Nothing to Fear from Love and Commitment" [The Awl]
Senator Diane Savino's NY State Senate Bio

[Buenos Aires, December 1. Image via Getty]

Lesbian women dress up as brides during a protest outside the registry office as Alejandro Freyre and Jose Maria Di Bello attend a news conference inside before their marriage was blocked in Buenos Aires on December 1, 2009. Argentina's Supreme Court has taken up the issue of same-sex marriage, just hours after a lower court blocked Latin America's first legal wedding of the two men. AFP PHOTO / JUAN MABROMATA (Photo credit should read JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)

I've had the unenviable task of reading both Prejean's Still Standing and Palin's Going Rogue in the last couple of days, and I gleaned the following striking similarities:

Both were self-described "jocks" turned beauty queens.

Palin: "I thought it was a horrendous idea, at first. I was a jock and quite square, not a pageant-type girl at all. I didn't wear makeup in high school and cut my hair short because I didn't like wasting time primping. I couldn't relate to the way I assumed most cheerleader types thought and lived, and figured it was those girls who were equipped for the pageant thing.
On the other hand, there was the scholarship money."

Prejean: "When I told my parents and my sister about it, they looked at me like I was crazy. They knew me as the girl who scraped her knees sliding into second base, who got a fat lip jumping up for a rebound in the midst of flying elbows at a basketball game. But a beauty contest?"

Both were accused of skipping public appearances, but say they had good reasons.

Palin: "My opponents and the press had a field day with that one: "Palin a No-Show at Chamber Of Commerce Luncheon Debate." [...] I couldn't make the media understand why I had chosen to skip another rubber-chicken campaign stop and instead attend this significant military exercise. I tried to explain: the Chamber of Commerce be here next week; our troops would not."

Prejean: "The reason I was not at the press conference is that I had not been invited to be at the press conference. The first I heard of it was when a reporter asked me to comment on it a few days in advance. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. [...] This was the second time in about a week that he and Shanna had "scheduled" an appearance for me (the other was the pro-gay marriage public service ad) when in fact they had never invited me at all and knew I would be out of town — and then portrayed me as running out on them!"

Both say they have the same views on gay marriage as Barack Obama.

Palin: "I explained to Schmidt that I oppose homosexual marriage, but that didn't seem too controversial in the campaign since the Democrat candidate for president held the same position."

Prejean: "When I later googled "Obama," "marriage," and "man and a woman," I found that Barack Obama's answer was almost identical to my own, although he managed to work in opposition to Proposition 8."

Both say they resisted pressure to give "safe" answers.

Palin: "The bottom line was that these were political answers — and I couldn't force myself to play it safe and sound like a politician. On top of that, there were probably ten cards for a single topic with a different set on nonanswers on every one. So in the end I'm thinking, Okay, which nonanswer do you want me to give?

Prejean: "Roger wanted me to reinforce the first part of my answer, and buck the whole question back to the right of states to regulate marriage. He wanted me to punt."

Both feel persecuted by the liberal media.

Palin: "Reporters from across the nation camped out at the end of our driveway in Wasilla and on the ice in front of our home. [...] Every once in a while a friend or family member would think they could trust a reporter, and so they'd talk to them. And almost 100 percent of the time Todd and I would get a call later from a panicked loved one saying, "Geez! We can't win! That reporter took what I said all out of context." Or even worse, "I never said that!" We assured them we knew, it was okay, it was just the unproductive game some chose to play."

Prejean: "Somehow the liberal media can get away with these degrading, disgusting jokes about a conservative woman, while still touting themselves as open-minded and tolerant. What is Sean Hannity or some other conservative media figure (male or female) had said something like this? Especially if he said it about a liberal woman? But for some reason it was perfectly acceptable for these men to belittle me on live television. Laura Ingraham pointed out the one-sidedness of "tolerance" in her television debate with Gloria Feldt (a liberal feminist who said I — another woman! — needed a "heart transplant" instead of breast implants). Laura commented — quite rightly — that she would be taken off the air if she spoke of liberals the way these media figures were speaking about me."

This last illustrates the most fundamental similarity between the two women: they believe that they are special, and have been singled out for special scrutiny. As we mentioned before, the conservative media is every bit as prone to attack journalism as the much-maligned liberal media, and Hannity, Ann Coulters, and others have said plenty of nasty things about liberal women. Palin and Prejean have both experienced sexism — Perez Hilton's post-pageant comments about Prejean
were a particularly noxious example. But instead of making them more sensitive to the problems of other marginalized groups, like gays and non-conservative women, their difficulties have only served to heighten their exceptionalism.

Still Standing is actually a more enraging book than Going Rogue, in that it deals more closely with its author's upsetting views on social issues. Prejean writes,

If it isn't right for the public schools to teach a single faith perspective, how can it be right for them to teach an anti-faith perspective, to teach that homosexuality is a normal lifestyle, when to faithful Catholics and Evangelicals and others who support traditional morality, it isn't? This sort of double standard in our public life is dangerous, but it's what political correctness is doing to us: it is putting just not just our freedom of speech, but our freedom of conscience at risk.

She also says,

I think my whole ordeal reveals just how the culture of political correctness uses shaming, blackmail, and other forms of emotional abuse to force people and organizations to either stick to our beliefs and suffer the consequences, or throw away our beliefs just to be left alone.

What she doesn't acknowledge is that people with beliefs the exact opposite of hers have been facing this choice for decades. Neither Palin nor Prejean seem to understand that while they ask America to sympathize with their victimization, they're also asking us to support policies that victimize others. Prejean's views on gay marriage and Palin's beliefs about reproductive rights (and welfare, and healthcare reform) aim to restrict people's freedom to live the way they want. To espouse these views while complaining about handlers who try to rein them in and reporters who criticize them reveals a staggering egocentrism. This is just one more thing Palin and Prejean have in common, and perhaps the reason both of them are still appearing on television long after each has arguably lost her relevance: both of them are tireless promoters of themselves.

Still Standing: The Untold Story Of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, And Political Attacks [Amazon]
Going Rogue: An American Life [Amazon]

Setoodeh argues that between Perez Hilton, Adam Lambert, Kurt on Glee, Marc on Ugly Betty and "the dozens of squealing contestants" on Projet Runway, it seems that one stereotype — "fey" — is the only kind of homosexuality represented. Back when Will & Grace, The L Word, and Queer Eye were on, there was a more multifaceted image of what it means to be gay. He adds:

Lesbians face a different problem. They are invariably played by gorgeous, curvy women straight out of a straight man's fantasy-Olivia Wilde on House, Sara Ramirez on Grey's Anatomy, Evan Rachel Wood on True Blood-and they're usually bisexual. How convenient.

Should we even be worried about fictional characters? Actually, yes: According to Setoodeh, "A survey by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found that of the people who say their feelings toward gays and lesbians had become more favorable in the past five years, about one third credited that in part to characters they saw on TV."

While it's true that there have been serious setbacks — Maine and California reversing existing laws legalizing gay marriage — is toning it down the answer? Setoodeh says"maybe": "It's not that gay men and women should pretend to be straight, or file down all their fabulously spiky edges," he writes. "The key is balance."

What I don't like about this argument is that it makes being intolerant of gay people a problem for gay people. When really, if you're intolerant of gays, you're the one with the problem — and it's everyone's problem.

Kings Of Queens [Newsweek]

Prejean's careful to say that she "takes responsibility" for the tape, which she made by herself when she was 17 and sent to a boyfriend she "loved and cared about." When it comes to the release public discussion of the tape, however, she blames an ongoing smear campaign against her — and Fox News' Sean Hannity, unsurprisingly, is only too happy to indulge her. He compares her to Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, and Ann Coulter and, in what might be the Softball Question of the Year, asks, "Do you think conservative women are targeted for their views?" "Absolutely," says Prejean.

She may be right that, because she's young, attractive, and female, her sex life gets more attention than, say, Hannity's. It's tempting to say that this is because she tried to pass judgment on other people's lives, and that's certainly part of it. But really, it's not just conservative women who are subject to sexual scrutiny — it's all women. And for Prejean to claim that she, as a conservative, is being uniquely "silenced" simply shows that she's not paying attention. First of all, appearing on multiple television shows to promote your book doesn't constitute silence. And second of all, perhaps Prejean should listen more closely to the ways her conservative supporters describe liberal women.

Prejean actually gets a remarkably fair treatment on Today, with an opening segment implying that she lost her job as Miss California for her views on gay marriage, not for being an impossible employee. Nonetheless, Prejean takes her appearance as an opportunity to claim that "so many Americans believe that [...] they should be silent, and free speech doesn't exist," and that "there's an extreme double standard that conservative women are under attack for whatever it is." After Meredith Vieira pushes her a bit on her claim that she's been "Palinized," she cites Keith Olbermann's criticism of her, and adds,

If Sean Hannity [...] said anything about Sonia Sotomayor or Michelle Obama, he would be off the air. And that's the reason I wrote this book.

But in fact, Sean Hannity has said plenty of bad things about Sonia Sotomayor, and he remains on the air to give Prejean far more publicity than she's earned. Though she doesn't deserve to have her sex life made public, she also doesn't deserve some kind of immunity from all media slings and arrows, especially when she is promoting a book. She says her sex tape was "the biggest mistake of my life," but I can think of a bigger one: forgetting that freedom of speech cuts both ways, and that if she's allowed to speak out against gay marriage (and get enormous media exposure doing it), other people are allowed to criticize her.

Carrie Prejean: "I'm Still Standing" [MSNBC]
Sean Hannity Interviews Carrie Prejean About Her Sex Tape [YouTube]

In this clip, Portia explains when she knew she was in love with Ellen, and why she was reticent to come out of the closet.


Here, the couple discusses how their lives and well-being have been positively affected by coming out of the closet, and how their love for each other overcame Portia's fear of public rejection concerning her sexual orientation.

Gay marriage opponents in Maine used the same strategist who got the job done in California, and the same bullshit. The Associated Press reports that the organization "Stand for Marriage based many of its campaign ads on claims - disputed by state officials - that the new law would mean 'homosexual marriage' would be taught in public schools." Apparently, not enough voters asked the obvious question: What the fuck does that even mean? They just heard "homosexual" and "schools" and decided it was worth showing up to take a stand against equality. Again.

National Organization for Marriage director Brian Brown "was elated by Tuesday's result, saying it shows that 'that even in a New England state, if the voters have a chance to have their say, they're going to protect and defend the commonsense definition of marriage.'" Which is exactly the problem. The states that have legalized gay marriage have done so "through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote," while all 31 states that have put it to a popular vote have shot it down. Opponents of marriage equality see this as evidence that legislators are out of touch with the people and have no business telling folks what should and shouldn't be legal, conveniently forgetting that actually, that's what we elect them to do. Also, that when it comes to securing rights for an oppressed minority, if the majority would rather just keep on with the oppressing, our elected representatives and courts have a duty to stand up and protect more vulnerable citizens.

In The Daily Beast, Linda Hirshman lays out a persuasive argument for getting gay marriage off the ballots. Noting that the ostensibly liberal "Bow Out" movement opposing federal court involvement in gay marriage was founded by people who thought the Supreme Court overstepped its bounds when it insisted that public schools be racially integrated — and p.s., they've also got a big beef with Roe v. Wade — Hirshman underscores the absurdity of their position. "Painful as it is to them, as sincere supporters of abortion rights/gay marriage/your issue here, these wise ones think the federal courts should follow the election returns. Only when a majority of states have legalized something should the federal courts find that it was a fundamental constitutional right all along." If that seems even the tiniest bit logical to you, try this: "Imagine what the law would look like if the Brown court had waited until a majority of states were ready to pass the Civil Rights Acts."

The idea that we should just be patient until hateful bigots naturally come around to accepting the full equality of all citizens, and not rush into any crazy measures like writing that equality into law, is almost certainly not, despite the claims of said hateful bigots, what the founding fathers had in mind. On the output of legal scholars waving the Bow Out flag, Hirshman writes:

What these academic treatises ignore is the concern that Madison and others had that what they called the tyranny of the majority was legitimate. A majority, Madison predicted, often whipped up by demagogues, would oppress a helpless minority, a group so naturally small it could never hope to protect itself at the polls alone-using the government to deprive them of those aspects of life fundamental to a free society. No kidding.

According to the AP, "Richard Socarides, who was an adviser on gay-rights issues in the Clinton administration, said the loss in Maine should prompt gay-rights leaders to reconsider their state-by-state strategy on marriage and shift instead to lobbying for changes on the federal level that expand recognition of same-sex couples." At this point, it looks like he may be right. The fear, of course, is that it will backfire and leave the whole country farther behind, instead of just 31 states with a slight bigot majority. But given how successful demagogues have been at whipping those majorities up, and that — as Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, put it — "lies and fear can still win at the ballot box," waiting for reason and compassion to prevail among voters doesn't seem like the way to go.

Defeat In Maine A Harsh Blow To Gay-Marriage Drive [AP]
Get Gay Marriage Off The Ballot [Daily Beast]

Related: Washington Post Does Puff Profile Of NOM's Executive Director

What's particularly loathesome about the piece, by Jan Moir, is the sanctimonious tone, that actually has the audacity to pass mournful judgment on a ghoulish culture of celebrity death-eaters. "In the morning, a body has already turned cold before the first concerned hand reaches out to touch an icy celebrity shoulder." Nothing like what we're doing here with Stephen Gately, a 33 member of the Irish boy band Boyzone, who died last week in Spain, and whose death has saddened fans across the UK.

Moir, too, is deeply, deeply saddened. Take this supremely backhanded description of Gately's public sexuality, all couched in the terms of a respectful eulogy: "Gately came out as gay in 1999 after discovering that someone was planning to sell a story revealing his sexuality to a newspaper. Although he was effectively smoked out of the closet, he has been hailed as a champion of gay rights, albeit a reluctant one." Understandably reluctant initially, perhaps - the man was a member of a boy-band - but ultimately someone who made his 2006 civil union a cause celebre and was regarded as a role model for many young people.

His death was "mysterious" - that is, the family hasn't gone totally public with details, although his mother cites a hereditary heart problem. The Daily Mail doesn't buy it: that evening, apparently he and his partner had brought a young man home with them, and, they conclude, obviously something sordid was at work. Well, perhaps - maybe drugs were involved. Maybe there was an orgy. Maybe it was a case of celebrity excess. Whatever the case, however sinister and sordid the death - and please, Daily Mail, do let your imagination run wild! - it does nothing to justify the following paragraph:

Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships. Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual marriages. Not everyone, they say, is like George Michael.Of course, in many cases this may be true. Yet the recent death of Kevin McGee, the former husband of Little Britain star Matt Lucas, and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise troubling questions about what happened. It is important that the truth comes out about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death. As a gay rights champion, I am sure he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine. For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see.

Let's forget for a moment about these "gay activists" with their uniform opinions (Andrew Sullivan, for one, would be surprised to hear his views characterized this way). Let's forget about this straw-man litany of disillusioning celebrity civil unions (since straight celebrity marriages are all a model of decorum and old-fashioned values.) And let's forget about the disgusting poor-taste of using the death of someone - whose body, only today, was delivered home - as an opportunity for ham-fisted, wholly irrational and mean-spirited political sermonizing. All this we'd expect. What's truly vile is, throughout, the tone of commiseration, the "isn't it a shame that his death has proved civil unions are an evil sham, and that he was such a poor role model for the gay youth we care about so very much." They'd just love gay marriage to work - it's too bad they're just inherently sinful! Simple-minded censure is one thing; chilling forked-tongue hypocrisy is quite another. It's - how did a great writer once put it? - like poinous ooze, seeping out for all to see.

A Strange, Lonely And Troubling Death . . .[Daily Mail]

• The marriage application of a gay couple was rejected by Russian courts on the grounds that marriage is between a man and a woman, despite the fact that there is no ban on same-sex marriage in Russian law. They bought tickets to Canada, where they plan to get hitched. • In the 1960s, William R. ("Randy") Lovelace, II and General Donald Flickinger set out to test whether women were suited to space travel. Over the course of their investigation, they found that women had the lung capacity to survive in space. Although most of their data has been lost, a recent paper published in Advances in Physiology rediscovers the story of the Women in Space program. •  Serena Williams has reclaimed her spot at No. 1 after she beat Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of the China Open on Tuesday. "It feels pretty good, I'm really excited," she said. •  If you're in the market for an XBOX 360 autographed by Sarah Palin, there's one selling on eBay for $1.1 million. According to the description, "The infamous Sarah Palin XBOX 360 was autographed at the governors picnic on July 24, 2009, in Wasilla, Alaska, just two days before her resignation as governor of that state. You can own this 60GB, perfect-condition, one-of-a-kind item before her expected run for president of the United States of America in 2012." • According to a UN Children's Fund report five percent of boys and up to 10 percent of girls in rich nations experience penetrative sexual abuse during childhood. Up to three times as many experience some form of sexual abuse. • U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a new report that the international community needs to invest in women and girls even though the economy is bad. He wrote, "Maintaining national commitments to children and women and enhancing social protection will not only help to ensure a more rapid recovery from the (financial) crisis but will also build a foundation for equitable growth and sustained progress. • Police have admitted that they got a tip about Jaycee Dugard only a year after she was kidnapped, 17 years before she was found. A man reported that he'd seen a girl who looked like Dugard looking at a poster about her abduction at a gas station near Antioch, California and had left in a yellow van. Officers just checked the gas station and didn't find Dugard or the van. • A bill has been introduced in the District of Columbia that would allow gay couples to marry in the capitol. The bill is almost certain to pass, but it may not become a law because Congress gets to review D.C. legislation before it takes effect. • More than 2 million babies and mothers die worldwide each year from childbirth complications, according to a study by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Doctors say such deaths could be avoided with improvements in basic health care and training for local health care workers to perform emergency Cesarean sections and other lifesaving techniques. • Egypt's most senior cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi, is preparing to issue a Fatwa against women wearing the niqab, the full length garment that covers the body from head to toe, in schools. On a recent trip to a girl's high school he asked a girl wearing a niqab to take it off, saying it's a "tradition, it has no connection with Islam." • £700 micro pigs are all the rage among Britain's top celebrities, such as Rupert Grint. "They are highly intelligent and are the fourth most intelligent species after man, monkey and dolphin," says pig breeder Jane Croft. "They really are the perfect pets, I don't know why people haven't thought of them before." • Pilot "Sully" Sullenberger, St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan, and Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Clay Zavada among the 18 finalists for the "Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year," the American Mustache Institute's highest honor. •

[Bruno-Turany, Czech Republic; September 27. Image via Getty]

Lesbian girls protest for their free marriage during their silence demonstration as Pope Benedict XVI celebrates a Pontifical Mass at the local airport of Brno-Turany on September 27, 2009. Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for hope and a renewal of faith in the former communist Czech Republic, as he served a large open-air mass in Brno, watched by some 120,000 faithful. The pope is paying his first visit to the Czech Republic ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution that toppled Communism in former Czechoslovakia in 1989. AFP PHOTO/ ATTILA KISBENEDEK (Photo credit should read ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images)

[Washington, D.C., September 15. Image via Getty]

Jen and Dawn Barbouroske (L) pose with their daughters McKinley and Bre following a news conference with married same-sex couples, on legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) outside the Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Jewel SAMAD (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

• In this video, Miss Universe contestants are shown participating in the "Condom Olympics" three days before the pageant on August 23. The event was sponsored by the AIDS prevention group Population Services International, and the women were asked to blow up condoms until they burst, fill them with water, and conduct condom demonstrations. A representative for the group says they were preparing the new Miss Universe to be an Ambassador for Youth AIDS and "Often times, target populations are illiterate or of low literacy and we need to find ways to reach them through engaging activities that don't rely on written materials." Conservative groups are upset that the activities didn't promote abstinence and PSI was founded by pornographer Phil Harvey. • Amber Alerts were created for stranger abductions in which a child is in danger, but LiveScience columnist Benjamin Radford argues that there are too many false alarms. Most abductions are committed by a non-custodial parent or family member and don't qualify for the notification. One study found that of all the Amber Alerts issued in 2004, police had violated protocol by issuing the alert in 70 percent of the cases. • Australian Tegan Leach, 19, is waiting to see if she'll have to stand trial for giving herself an abortion at home. Her boyfriend may be charged with supplying a drug to procure an abortion and both have been charged with procuring an abortion, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years. Police found empty Ukrainian blister packs they say may have contained pills that induce abortion. Abortion laws in Australia vary by state, but they are illegal in Queensland, where she lives, unless the mother's life is in jeopardy. • Iranian MPs have approved the the first female minister in the republic's 30-year history. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, who will be the health minister, is a hard-line conservative who has proposed introducing gender-segregated health care in Iran in the past. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominated three women for cabinet positions but MPs rejected the other two women he picked to be social security minister and education minister. • A study of 1,000 Iranian high school students suggests family history may determine whether or not teens get severe acne. Of the teens whose parents or siblings had moderate to severe acne, 20 percent had the same problem, compared to only 10 percent of those teen with no family history. • Russia's supreme court has cancelled the retrial of four men accused of being involved in the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. Prosecutors have been ordered to begin a new investigation into the involvement of the suspected gunman as well as the four men. In the decision the court sided with the journalist's family, who argued a retrial would take attention away from finding who planned the murder. • Primatologists at New York's Stony Brook University have found that pregnant female gorillas continue mating with males to prevent other females from mating with him. "It seems to us that mating is another tactic that females use to compete with each other – in this case to gain favour with another male," said one researcher, who believes this behavior may help explain how humans evolved into a generally monogamous species. • People have continued secretly visiting Neda Agha-Soltan's grave in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery even though Basij paramilitary vigilantes have threatened to harass or arrest mourners. Authorities may have decided to bury her and other opposition martyrs there because the cemetery is large and located an hour outside Tehran, but people have figured out where Neda's grave is and leave flower petals on the site. • Researchers studied 32 women with postpartum depression and found that 17 of the mothers, or 53%, felt suicidal. This group was also felt they were less prepared for motherhood and had greater difficulty responding to their infant's needs than those who were not suicidal. • Australian scientists tested cancerous breast cells and found several strains of HPVs known to have a high risk of initiating cervical cancer. "The finding that high risk HPV is present in a significant number of breast cancers indicates they may have a causal role in many breast cancers," said one researcher. "Confirming a cancer-causing role for HPV in some breast cancers establishes the possibility of preventing some breast cancers by vaccination against HPV. • Dirty Diaries, a collection of 12 short pornographic films shot by a feminist documentary maker Mia Engberg and funded by taxpayers is premiering in Sweden tonight. "Porn has always been made by men for men," said Engberg, "Above all, it's about showing sexuality through a female's perspective. It's not made to please a male audience and it's not made to make money," she added. • A 68-year-old nun was arrested for drunk driving on Long Island, New York on Tuesday after crashing into a tree. She was driving a car that belonged to the church and almost hit a group of children playing on their lawn. Police found a water bottle filled with alcohol in the car and say her blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. • A 68-year-old Salt Lake City woman who held the Guinness World Record for her long fingernails lost them in February when they broke during a car crash. She says it's much easier to move her hands now without the weight of her fingernails, which measured as long as 2 feet, 11 inches. She's not going to try to grow them out again because it took her 30 years to get them to that length and she doesn't think she'll live that long. •

It's believed that Suman suffers from a hormonal imbalance, but her family has been unable to afford to travel to Calcutta for expert medical treatment. WWKAD? What Would Katy Abram Do? • Margaret Bush Wilson, a civil-rights activist and head of the Missouri NAACP, has died in St. Louis at the age of 90. • Jose Garcia-Perlera, who tied up and gagged widows living alone in a series of attacks in 2007 and 2008 in Maryland, was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole. • The mom in North Dakota who was busted (heh) for breastfeeding while intoxicated can't stay out of trouble: She's been arrested twice since her sentencing. • Poor Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones. They paid a Utah newspaper to run their wedding announcement, only to have it rejected. The same-sex couple were legally married in California in June and wanted the announcement to run in Jones' hometown before a family get-together next week. "After all, our marriage is just as real and legal and entitled to celebration as any of the others that are announced each week in the pages of The Spectrum," Jones wrote to publisher Donnie Welch. Welch replied: "This simply is not true. While that may be the case in some states it is not the case in the state of Utah. As our policy is to run marriage announcements recognized by Utah law, I have made the decision not to run the announcement." • Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota has asked a judge to prevent the state from suspending its license to perform abortions in Sioux Falls. • A 35-year-old woman known only as Carole — a convert to Islam — was banned from her local pool in Paris for trying to go swimming in a "burquini." She bought the garment because: "it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends." But officials claim the "burquini" is a possible public health risk. Daniel Guillaume, a regional official in charge of swimming pools, says: "These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers." • "Everybody used to say how radical I was. I just thought I was pragmatic." — Billie Jean King, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday, the "the highest honor a civilian can receive in the U.S." • Scary, but not surprising: Pregnant women who underwent female genital cutting as girls are at increased risk of needing an emergency Cesarean section or suffering serious tears during childbirth. • Filament, a UK magazine for women featuring semi-naked men, is have problems pleasing its audience, which wants pictures of erect penises; its printers, which refuse and object to working with such content; and distributors which won't handle a women's magazine with a man on the cover. Writes Kristina Lloyd, "When set against the plethora of men's lifestyle and top-shelf magazines featuring scantily clad and open-legged women, the struggles faced by Filament highlight a deeply entrenched sexism: Men can look at women but women cannot look at men… The sexism is in the inequality. • Wow: Women's boxing will be added to the 2012 Olympic Games. Boxing was the last all-male Olympic sport.