The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Transgender Law Center have filed a federal lawsuit against a Tennessee law that requires HIV-positive sex workers to register for life as a “violent sex offender.”
The aforementioned advocacy organizations filed the lawsuit on behalf of the state LGBTQ+ advocacy groups OUTMemphis and four “Jane Doe” plaintiffs who were convicted under the law. The plaintiffs, which include a transgender woman, allege that they have faced discrimination and life struggles because of their violent sex offender status. These struggles have forced the trans woman to continue doing sex work, since finding a job can be difficult for someone on the registry.
Another plaintiff said that they were sent back to jail after violating the registry’s requirements. The plaintiffs allege that the law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by handing harsher punishments to people with HIV, a chronic disease covered by the ADA’s anti-discrimination statutes. Tennessee is the only state with this law, according to the Edge Media Network.
“This statute solely targets people because of their HIV status and keeps them in cycles of poverty while posing absolutely zero benefit to public health and safety,” said Molly Quinn, executive director of OUTMemphis. “HIV stigma is becoming a thing of the past, and it’s time for state law to catch up.”
The lawsuit lists Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN), Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch, and Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada as defendants.
While sex work is a misdemeanor crime in Tennessee, the HIV criminalization law turns the crime into a felony. An estimated 83 Tennesseeans are currently in the registry because of it. Tennessee legislators passed the law in 1991 near the height of the AIDS epidemic when over 100,000 Americans had died from the illness, and scientists were still trying to find effective medical treatments against it.
In 2021, Illinois, New Jersey, and Virginia repealed their felony HIV criminalization laws. However, in 2022, Pennsylvania signed a law making it a felony to pass on a communicable disease when they “should have known” that they had it — the law included HIV.
As of 2022, 35 states have laws that criminalize HIV exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many of the laws were passed at a time when little was known about HIV and millions were dying from the virus.
Medical professionals have said that HIV criminalization laws do nothing to stop the spread of the virus and may even encourage people not to get tested for fear that the knowledge could subject them to criminal penalties.
“Many of these state laws criminalize actions that cannot transmit HIV – such as biting or spitting – and apply regardless of actual transmission, or intent,” the CDC wrote. “After more than 40 years of HIV research and significant biomedical advancements to treat and prevent HIV transmission, many state laws are now outdated and do not reflect our current understanding of HIV.”
A 2018 Williams Institute study on HIV criminalization in Georgia found that “Black men and Black women were more likely to be arrested for HIV-related offenses than their white counterparts.” While 26% of HIV-related arrests were of white males, 46% of HIV-related arrests were of Black males. Additionally, 11 % of those arrested were white females, while 16% were Black females.
The same-sex sexual activity recorded included courtship, mounting, genital contact, copulation (sexual intercourse) and pair bonding. Same-sex animals also raise young together.
The research revealed that same-sex sexual activity has been identified in more than 1,500 animal species, including spiders, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Overall, same-sex contact was reported in 261 mammalian species, representing approximately four per cent, belonging to 62 families and 12 orders.
Some penguins are gay, get over it. (Getty Images)
The scientists found that it was more common in mammals than other species, such as birds or insects, with more than 80 per cent of mammal groups experiencing same-sex behaviour in a number of long-term field studies.
The behaviour was recorded slightly more in males, with male-on-male activity observed in 199 species, while for the females it was seen in 163 species.
There were a variety of explanations for this, with some hypotheses suggesting that animals might engage in same-sex relationships as a “consequence of mistaken identity”, “limited availability of individuals of the opposite sex” or “indiscriminate sexual behaviour.”
Same-sex interactions in animals an ‘evolutionary conundrum’
The authors of the study wrote: “Same-sex sexual behaviour is any behaviour that is usually performed at some stage during reproduction with a member of the opposite sex, but which is instead aimed towards members of the same sex.
“Same-sex sexual behaviour as it is used here does not denote sexual orientation (ie an overall pattern of sexual attraction/arousal over time), sexual orientation identity (the sexual orientation that individuals perceive themselves to have), categories of sexual beings (homosexuals, heterosexuals, etc), nor sexual preference.”
The scientists overwhelmingly concluded that same-sex activity can play an “adaptive role” in “maintaining social relationships and mitigating conflict”, but noted that since the relationships do not “contribute directly to reproduction”, it is considered an “evolutionary conundrum”.
However, they warned that their findings should not be used to analyse the evolution of sexuality in humans.
The study’s authors also argued that since the relationship between animals and sexuality has only recently been investigated by ecologists, it is likely to be under-researched, and could benefit from further investigation.
In the US, UK and across Europe rules around age verification to access porn sites are tightening. But the Australian government has just bucked the trend by saying it won’t force porn sites to implement age verification – yet.
Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland suggested that concerns about privacy, plus any age verification processes needing to be robust and hard to circumnavigate, meant that it was not currently appropriate to force sites to adopt age verification in the country.
In the US, Pornhub, one of the world’s biggest porn sites, has blocked access in states such as Virginia and Mississippi, in reaction to tougher age verification rules being introduced there. France and Germany are steaming ahead with age verification measures, and the UK’s Online Safety Bill, expected to be passed soon, is designed to make it tougher for minors to access online porn, among a raft of other unrelated measures.
The Australian government said that rather than passing porn age verification laws, it would introduce a new industry code based on educating parents about how to prevent their children accessing porn, including the use of filtering software. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, the government agency for online safety, has been charged with working with the porn industry to create the code.
I wonder what really is driving these ultraconservative republicans? It has to be religion! It can not be conservatism because some of the deepest red states have the highest level of porn usage. The republicans love to watch people have sex, and from the statistics, these red states love trans and gay porn. So it has to be religion and forced control over others to follow their church doctrines, regardless of their own personal beliefs. They seem to want a national Christian Taliban. Hugs
A Texas judge has halted the state’s anti-porn bill. (Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A federal judge has ruled that Texas’ anti-porn legislation violates the First Amendment, halting the bill just one day before it was set to go into effect.
The bill, known as HB 1181, was due to be implemented on Friday (1 September) and would require adult websites to use “reasonable age verification methods”, such as government ID, to ensure users who are accessing explicit content are aged 18 or older.
Alongside this, porn websites would have been forced by the legislation to display health warning on their website in 14-point font, which reads: “Pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain function.”
If adult websites fail to adhere to these regulations set out in the law, HB 1181 would enable the Texas attorney general to sue such sites for $3 million a year.
On Thursday (31 August), however, senior US District judge David A. Ezra of the US. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a final-hour preliminary injunction against the bill, describing it as “unconstitutional on its face”.
Ezra’s decision comes after Pornhub – alongside several other adult sites such as FakeTaxi.com, BangBros.com and SpiceVids – and the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), filed a lawsuit against Texas over the bill.
The judge described the legislation as “not narrowly tailored” and “chills the free speech of Plaintiffs and adults who wish to access sexual materials”.
“The state has a legitimate goal in protecting children from sexually explicit material online,” Ezra added.
“But that goal, however crucial, does not negate this Court’s burden to ensure that the laws passed in its pursuit comport with established First Amendment doctrine.”
Texas’ defence was based in ‘ideology and politics’
In response to the ruling, Alison Boden – executive director of Free Speech Coalition – said in a statement: “This is a huge and important victory against the rising tide of censorship online.
“From the beginning, we have argued that the Texas law, and those like it, are both dangerous and unconstitutional.
“We’re pleased that the Court agreed with our view that HB 1181’s true purpose is not to protect young people, but to prevent Texans from enjoying First Amendment protected expression.
“The state’s defense of the law was not based in science or technology, but ideology and politics.”
Bolden added: “The ruling rebuffs nearly every argument made by state legislatures, and not only in Texas.
“While Texas presented the most straightforward path to securing a ruling like this, the issues are the same whether in Utah, Louisiana or Virginia. Anyone who attempts to bring a case in those jurisdictions faces little hope of success.
“We are thrilled with the decision and thank our co-plaintiffs for joining this battle and defending the industry. We are confident that the law will ultimately be struck down permanently.”
Mike Stabile, director of public affairs at FSC, told Rolling Stone the ruling would have an impact on other state’s which are seeking to pass similar laws.
“The court said in no uncertain terms that this scheme in Texas is ineffective and unconstitutional, and it rejected nearly every single argument the state made,” Stabile explained.
“Unfortunately for the religious groups pushing this legislation, the copycat legislation in Louisiana, Utah, Virginia and other states suffers all the same inherent problems,” he added.
“There’s been a lot of murmuring on the right that they’d finally found a way to censor adult content online. This ruling shows that their confidence was entirely misplaced, and is unlikely to survive a court challenge.”
Currently, there are a number of anti-porn laws being discussed in states across America, which are copycat bills of each other and seek to restrict access to explicit materials across the board.
My heart weeps for all the beautiful trans folks out there, especially the younger ones, just trying to live their lives with some dignity and respect and maybe a little joy, and they’re constantly barraged by crap like this from crap like this.
In 12 countries around the world, people can be put to death for having a same-sex relationship, while in 66 states private, consensual same-sex sexual activity is criminalised, according to the Human Dignity Trust.
“Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder.” — Vivek Ramaswamy. This is false. Being transgender is not a mental health disorder. Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, or psychological distress as a result of the incongruence between their sex and their gender identity. Gender dysphoria is a diagnosis in the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and can be given to children, adolescents or adults.
I feel for the transgender children in America who have to listen to Vivek Ramaswamy and the Republican presidential candidates telling them they have a "mental disorder" and don't know the first thing about their lives. Shameful demagoguery.
18 House “Republicans” voted today against an amendment that would have defunded drag shows and pride month events at the Defense Department. Time to name and shame:
Duncan appeared here in January 2023 when the House approved his bill to ban vaccine mandates at Medicare and Medicaid-certified health facilities. In 2015, Duncan co-sponsored a bill that sought to place a ban on same-sex marriage in the US Constitution. In 2018, Duncan co-sponsored a bill allowing adoption agencies to ban same-sex parents.
In filing for divorce, wife of Jeff Duncan (R-SC)– another GOP "strong advocate for traditional family values"– said he's been screwing anything that moved including shady DC lobbyist Liz Williams. He's one of the ones trying to shut down the U.S. government for Trump pic.twitter.com/QCioH2i1TH
Honored to receive the Friend of the Family Award this week from the Faith and Freedom Coalition for my conservative voting record in the 116th Congress and commitment to defend the family, protect religious freedom, and stand with Israel. @FaithandFreedompic.twitter.com/uV8he0xTKv
When Jeff Duncan left his "Faith and Freedom BBQ" at the end of August, after calling Melody Duncan his loving and supportive wife, he then went "directly to the home of his paramour." https://t.co/LuZIDcipYF
Hanson last appeared here when the same outlet exposed her arrest record for facilitating prostitution. She made her JMG debut when she was exposed for using the photos of minority women in campaign materials, claiming that they support her. The women said they’d never heard of her. Hanson’s campaign manager spoke at last year’s public hearing on the local Pride event to declare that the festival had provided children with “dildos and butt plugs.”
EXCLUSIVE: Gabrielle Hanson fought Franklin Pride, but celebrated her scantily clad husband at Chicago Pride https://t.co/toLuP98piF
This person, speaking out against Pride at a Franklin BOMA meeting, has the same name and background as the person identified as Gabrielle Hanson’s campaign manager. pic.twitter.com/T1xtFNFaEd
NEW from @formvscontent: “Records show @CityOfFranklin Alderman and mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson. was charged with money laundering, organized crime, in addition to her admission of conviction(s) of promotion of prostitution.”
Remember these were 8th grade students. Children in 8thgrade in the United States are 13 or 14 years old. They enter 8thgrade at 13 years of age and leave at 14 years of age under normal circumstances. These students should by then known parts of the human body, both male and female. Yet one mother claimed the teacher was making a little girl talk about feeling each other’s breasts. Also by then most people clearly know their sexual attractions and feelings. Yes there are gay kids in those schools and in those classrooms. Remember kids have computer, TV, Movies, they have books with LGBTQIA people in them … well in some states still, they know of same sex couples and families. Some people think young people simply are blank slates with no desires or sexual feelings until either they’re married at 12 or they suddenly get them when they turn 18. These are the same people that think little girls should be forced to carry to term a pregnancy, giving birth, but are too fragile to know that some girls like other girls? How stupid has this country gotten? The last paragraph of the article says: “The book has long been used to teach students about the Holocaust. Its sexual passages reflect similar experiences that teenagers undergo throughout puberty.” Hugs
In the passage, Frank describes her genitals and wanting to see a female friend’s breasts.
A Texas school district has fired an 8th-grade English teacher for having students read a passage from The Diary of Anne Frank in which the titular writer describes her genitals and lesbian attraction.
The Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District (HFISD) of Jefferson County, Texas — a near coastal region about 80 miles east of Houston — fired the unnamed teacher after she assigned students a reading from Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation. The adaptation is an illustrated, comic book version of the diary that Frank, a German-born Jewish teen, wrote in the late 1940s while hiding from Nazis. Frank was 13 to 16 years old when writing the diary.
Grace Linn compared today’s book bans with Naziism and said her late husband didn’t fight in WWII for this.
In one section of the graphic adaptation, Frank asks a female friend if she’d feel comfortable exposing their breasts to each other. In the three-panel scene, Frank’s friend refuses and they both remain clothed. In another section, Frank walks amongst nude female statues and admits, “I must admit, every time I see a female nude, I go into ecstasy. If only I had a girlfriend!”
In yet another section, Frank writes about her own genitals, describing their changing physical appearance as she experiences puberty. This section was omitted from the book’s 1952 English edition but eventually restored in its 1980s republication.
HFISD notified parents on Tuesday via email, “It was brought to the administration’s attention tonight that 8th-grade students were reading content that was not appropriate. The reading of that content will cease immediately. Your student’s teacher will communicate her apologies to you and your students soon, as she has expressed those apologies to us.”
By Wednesday, the district fired the teacher. While district officials said the book had never been approved, “it was on a reading list sent to parents at the start of the school year,” KFDM reported, and the middle school’s principal reportedly approved the syllabus that mentioned the book.
Nevertheless, one parent told the aforementioned news station, “It’s bad enough, [the teacher is] having them read this for an assignment, but then she also is making them read it aloud and making a little girl talk about feeling each other’s breasts and when she sees a female she goes into ecstasy — that’s not ok.”
The fired teacher has reportedly hired an attorney, but this isn’t the first time that the book’s lesbian content has angered parents.
A Florida principal removed the book from the Vero Beach High School library for being “not age appropriate” after a local chapter of the anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty complained the book was “not a true adaptation of the Holocaust” and contained “graphic” and “sexually explicit” illustrations.
The book has long been used to teach students about the Holocaust. Its sexual passages reflect similar experiences that teenagers undergo throughout puberty.
HIV criminalization lawsPhoto: Shutterstock
Jamie F
Anne FrankPhoto: Public domain, via Wikipedia
Scottie's Playtime 