james nunn | blog

Last month, I blogged about how the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Deleting Online Predators Act. It appears that online opposition to this has been growing, and a newish site has been created to combat this legislation.

The Save Your Space site aims to “show the public, the media and the U.S. government the importance and amazing power of social networking, blogging and chat room sites.”

They have started an online petition, and want to get 1 million signatures before September 4, 2006. So far, they have 3,261 signatures, so they have a long way to go. Add yours if you care enough.

Saturday night, our intrepid group headed north-west to Denton to attend a toga party hosted by Layton and his roommates. We were a little unsure of what to expect, given that this was a college-party and in Denton, but those fears soon subsided once we had arrived. Naturally, we all looked fabulous!

Photos will be posted once we find our camera (actually, we know where it is … we just have to get it).

… planets, that is.

According to a BBC news story, Astronomers have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet after approving new guidelines defining what constitutes a planet.

I was just reading about a planned multi-state campaign led by the Family Policy Network “to allow parents to give permission before public school children can take part in non-academic clubs which promote homosexual activity.”

In the article, one of the FPN’s spokesmen states, “Basically the legislation will seek to require public schools to notify parents of a Gay-Straight Alliance club and require them to sign a permission slip to allow their children to participate.” The spokesman then goes on to suggest that he expects this to cause club participation to decrease.

Just to put this into perspective, the FPN establishes itself on a set of principles that are titled, “FPN Principles for Opposition to Homosexuality.”

Now while I don’t agree that high school students should need their parent’s permission to join clubs, I do think that if such a policy is in place, that it apply to all groups within the school system, not just one particular one.

Don’t forget to visit the GLSEN site to actually find out what kind of good work GSA’s actually do.

Well I thought I might do a weekend recap.

Friday night I did the usual coffee gathering with Frisco Pride members, and was suprised to see six new members in attendance (the largest we’ve had in a long time). Later we did a salad at Cotton Patch Cafe and then headed home to watch Boys Briefs 2, which was hosted by Danny Roberts. It was really enjoyable. Sometimes with these short films, you can get some depressing movies that overwhelm you. This series of shorts, didn’t have any of those.

Saturday, as I was loading the dishwasher, I pulled a muscle in my back. Talk about a great way to mess up weekend plans. I tried to recover, but it gradually got worse, so I ended up laying down and napping. The worst part of this was the reality that I was not going to be able to head to a Frisco Pride cocktail event that evening. I’d been looking forward to it for a while, and here I was moving about like an 110-year old. I did manage to cook some pretty tasty fried rice for dinner, and then proceeded to watch the two remaining films I had from NetFlix: The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and FAQS.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye was really good, and actually quite educational. I was suprised to learn some of the history of evangelical television, and the fact that Jim and Tammy Baker were responsible for starting “The 700 Club”, “Trinity Broadcasting Network” and “PTL.” I was also suprised at the involvement of Jerry Falwell into the destruction of both Jim and Tammy’s lives, not to mention the apparent deceit that he manipulated to push Jim and Tammy out of PTL.

FAQS was less educational, however provided a great deal of eye candy … if you are into that kind of thing. Adam Larson (from MTV’s Road Rules) appears as a gay basher, who discovers his sexuality. The lead character, Joe Lia (India) is a little unbelievable, but has some cute naked scenes which make up for the mediocre acting. The ultra-hottie of the show is Spencer (played by Lance Lee Davis) … talk about a nice chest

Most of Sunday, I watched mind-numbing television while trying to “click” my back into place. Sunday evening we had Bobby, Ian and Kean over for dinner, and enjoyed cooking some kebabs on the new grill (the old one needed a part replaced that didn’t seem to be availble *sigh*). Chris was very happy with the new acquisition.

We finished our weekend by watching Comedy Central’s roast of William Shatner. It was okay.

I just made a post about same-gender equality in Australia over on my personal blog.

Earlier this week, I received an email about a new class that was going to be offered during the fall 2006 semester titled, “Sex and Addiction.” Of course, I had to sign up, especially when I read that the course will include:

a mixture of discussion, lecture and experiential content for this course which will focus on:

• The effects of drugs on sexuality and relationships
• The effects of sexuality and relationships on addiction and relapse
• Sexual addiction: definition, causes, levels, relationships with drug use
• The core issues that are usually shared among people addicted to sex, drugs or relationships
• The addictive nature of some relationships

Good stuff, no?

I found this interesting article in a “The Australian” opinion piece the other day. It discusses the efforts of a Liberal Party (read, conservative party) MP, Mr. Warren Entsch to introduce a private member’s bill that will provide legal equality to same-sex couples.

What grabbed my attention in this article was the introduction,

AMAZINGLY enough, a politically conservative, rabidly heterosexual former crocodile trapper has managed to get a grip on something most other straight Australians cannot: gay and lesbian relationships aren’t just about the bonking. (emphasis added)

Pretty cool, huh? As an FYI, bonking is sex.

The article goes on to say that Entsch recently stated on a national radio interview that the he has to “focus the gay rights debate on inequity rather than sexuality.” He has sent a letter to all Coalition MP’s (the Coalition comprises of the Liberal Party and the National Party, another conservative political party), which included a summary of the areas of federal legislation that his bill would amend to correct the inequity he is speaking out against.

Sadly, the christian fundies are at it over Entsch’s support of providing a fair and equitable Australia. According to opinion piece, “Entsch has received a number of letters and emails mentioning the Bible and faeces.” Ah, good to see christian values are alive and well down under.