Happy Halloween

Is it true what I've heard, that outside the US Halloween is no big deal? Halloween is October 31 and it is celebrated widely and diversely here in the US.

Do you have any special plans for Halloween? Have you done or will you do anything fun or interesting this year at a Halloween party or event?

Here in the states, the stores depend on Halloween to sell a lot of merchandise. There are parties, costume contests, what amounts to theatre in front of (and inside, sometimes) the homes of people as they try to scare or entertain neighbors and strangers with things ranging from silly to sexy, spooky to gory. In some places, kids (and often parents) in costumes go from door to door collecting candy or other treats.

Many amusement parks, ranging from small to the largest, do special entertainment in the weeks leading up to Halloween, and this is a favorite time of the year for movie studios to release horror movies, and for broadcasters to show ones from years past.

For some, there are religious or spiritual aspects to the day, and it might be called by other names.

Some interesting things can happen when people are having fun at costume parties, or cuddled up together watching scary movies.

So, as always, feel free to comment or share your stories.

South Carolina Still Prosecuting Consenting Adults

Jane covered this news but I had to examine it here, too.

From greenvilleonline.com comes this coverage of this terrible story...

LAURENS COUNTY — A father and daughter are charged with incest in Laurens County after a child was born, police say.

So we charge people with crimes now because of births?

Investigators in Laurens County were looking into an alleged sexual abuse incident when they learned that Katlyn Edwards had given birth to a child after being impregnated by her biological father, James Travis Brown, the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Consanguinamory shouldn't be a crime.

“During the investigation, we learned (Edwards and Brown) had been in a consensual relationship when she became pregnant,” the sheriff’s office said.

STOP. Consensual. That should have ended things.

According to the sheriff’s office, both Edwards and Brown claimed their relationship was “consensual and mutual” during investigators’ interviews. 

“Investigators also found other evidence to support their claim that the relationship was consensual,” the sheriff’s office said.

Are we clear that it was CONSENSUAL??? The problem is, people confess all of the time because they don't think consensual sex would be a crime, but it still is in some places. So don't talk! Use your right to remain silent.

I wonder what the evidence is? My guess is either texts or video. Be careful, lovers!

Edwards was arrested on Monday without incident and taken to the Laurens County detention center. She is not currently listed as being jailed.

She shouldn't have been arrested in the first place!

The child died at a medical facility in Charleston, South Carolina, according to the statement. 

How sad.

“It is beyond my comprehension how this could take place between a father and daughter,” Laurens County Sheriff Don Reynolds said.

Really? How long have you been in law enforcement? This happens all of the time, especially in reunion GSA situations. We don't know if this was a reunion situation, but their surnames are different. That could be for any number of reasons.

“At this time, I can’t confirm the baby died from complications related to incest, however we wonder if that’s the case."

Most children born to these relationships are healthy. Most children born with serious health problems in the US don't have those problems are a result of consanguinity.

"We are working with medical professionals and the Solicitors Office regarding that aspect of the investigation and will update everyone if there are any additional charges.”

Since they don't mention murder or signs of abuse, my guess is he's talking about prosecuting them for, essentially, having a genetic problem. Well guess what? If people in consanguinamorous relationships could feel confident in being completely honest with medical professionals, it is less likely that children will suffer with health problems. So we need to stop arresting and discriminating against them and, instead, offer services and study them so we can help people.

The Sheriff's press release is here. You can leave a comment on it. I sure did.

People of South Carolina and Laurens County in particular: Stop putting people in jail for sharing love and sex. There is no good reason to continue to persecute consenting adults for loving each other as they mutually agree.

To the persecuted defendants: So sorry what has been done to you, especially after losing a child. If you can, move someone better as soon as you can. There are countries that don't treat adult lovers are criminals, and you will also not be criminalized in New Jersey or Rhode Island.

Urge Japan to Increase the Freedom to Marry

Like so many other places, Japan needs full marriage equality.

That includes the consanguineous freedom to marry. Fortunately, Japan doesn't criminalize consanguinamory. Unfortunately, consanguineous lovers are still denied their right to marry. 

There's a new petition that seeks to change that. Please consider signing this petition and spreading the link to others.

https://www.change.org/p/for-the-japanese-civil-code-to-allow-consanguineous-marriage

Dear Mr Takashi Yamashita 

Today, Japanese law permits consanguineous relationships but not consanguineous marriage. Incest between consenting adults is legal in Japan but Japanese law discriminates against incestuously oriented consenting adult (CIAO) people by prohibiting them from marrying, even if they have children. This is unfair and harmful. 

The Japanese Constitution promises equal rights and is interpreted to prohibit discrimination on all grounds, so why is it that CIAO people cannot marry ? CIAO people may have children and they need to be protected by the law and have the same legal rights as other children are who have legally married parents. CIAO people and their children should not be subject to social stigma or institutional incestophobia. They should not be deprived of rights that others have who are in consensual adult relationships: for example: the right to marry the person they love, and the right to have a mother and a father who are legally married to each other. 

Not all CIAO people may want to marry, but those who wish to marry should not be barred from doing so. To refuse to allow them to marry is a breach of their civil rights, and to treat them as different from other people is to discriminate against them. 

All people who believe in equality and human rights should support the rights of CIAO people to marry. 

Your help in this matter will be most appreciated. 

Thank you very much on behalf of CIAO people everywhere today and in the future. 

As the Minister of Justice, will you please initiate the reform of Japanese laws so that in future CIAO people who wish to marry are able to do so. 

Yours sincerely,Richard Morris

Make it so!

Others May Consent to Something You Wouldn't

I'm bumping up this good entry from a while back...

“Anonymous” left a comment on the post "Bigotry Expressed.” My response is below.

Thank you, Anonymous, for your thoughtful consideration and for comment.

I do not think she makes a good argument, because she expresses blanket certainty about diverse things about which she could not possibly be certain. There are adult children who are emphatic that they freely consent to have sex with a parent, some of whom claim to be the initiator, and others who would like to, but haven’t. It is their experienced word against her inexperienced word. Has she interviewed everyone involved and performed careful psychological analysis of each case?

If she had said that some apparently consensual cases could be the result of selfish grooming on the part of a parent, and explained that dynamic, then she would have a good argument.

“It seems pretty reasonable to presume that if a parent is having sex with their child, even an adult child, that the parent groomed the child into the sexual relationship.”

That may be reasonable to presume in some cases, but is a presumption that may or may not turn out to be true. Let’s assume the parent was a primary custodial parent. Is it impossible that a child could grow up having a healthy relationship with that parent, and after getting out of the home for college, the military, or any other form of establishing themselves, that adult child realizes that they have a sexual attraction to their parent? I do not think that is impossible. In addition, consider when the parent did not have primary custody or any custody, as is the case in so many Genetic Sexual Attraction cases.

We Get Haters on Tumblr

Come see for yourself.

Spirit Day

Thursday, October 18 is Spirit Day. Among varying activities, people wear purple in support of LGBTQ youth, against bullying.

Nobody should be bullied, harassed, or discriminated against because of their gender, sexuality, or relationship diversities or those of their family  members or friends.

Are you observing Spirit Day? Leave a comment telling us about it.

How You Can Help

Coming Out Day

Even with the US Supreme Court decision bringing all states online with the limited monogamous same-gender freedom to marry, and some recent laws enacted for the protection and rights of LGBT people in the US and other countries, life can be tough for someone whose identity and orientation doesn’t fit in to a little heterosexual, monogamous, "traditional"-gender-role box or whose relationship doesn’t meet the local sex police’s approved standards. Sometimes, a person or the people in a relationship want to come out of the closet. Sometimes they need to come out. For some of these people, it is a little less difficult if they do so as part of a communal event, such as National Coming Out Day.

National Coming Out Day is today, October 11. Here’s the official website, at least for the US. There is much helpful information there, regardless of where you live.

The more people that come out, the more the others around them will realize they do know and appreciate people who are LGBT, or polyamorous, or consanguinamorous, and that such people and relationships deserve equality. So coming out helps progress.

On the other hand, it is understandable that any given person, couple, triad, or quad decides to stay in the closet for now. There’s still so much hate, so much prejudice and persecution, and even unjust laws that hinder the life and love of people who are good citizens and just want to be themselves. I support the decision of anyone who believes they need to be reserved for now for the sake of their safety and family.

The decision to come out is yours. Do you want to come out, and to whom? Your friends? Your family? Your coworkers? Your classmates? Your neighbors? Your crush? The whole world?

Also, if someone comes out to you, the decision to be an ally is yours. If your classmate, coworker, neighbor, friend, parent, child, or sibling comes to you and says they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, polysexual, pansexual, transgender, polyamorous, or in a consanguinamorous relationship, what will you do? Will you choose love and acceptance?

Even if you are heterosexual, monogamous, and nonconsanguinamorous, you may want to come out as an ally for full marriage equality. That alone can take courage, but it helps.

If you are planning to come out, or you do come out, please feel free to share your experience here by commenting.