Dear Friend and Reader:

As Mars and Chiron move towards an exact conjunction in Aquarius today, we’re watching the build up in a courtroom drama on marriage equality in the state of California. В It is of no small import that Mars, the planet governing sex is hooking up with Chiron, the planet of mavericks, in the sign of Aquarius, the sign of revolution, individual freedom and its expression. The hearingВ began 9:00 am PST today at the State Supreme Court in San Francisco.

As Rachel reported earlier this week, opponents of gay marriage attempted againВ to stop same-sex couples from marrying through the state’s voter initiative process with passage of Proposition 8, a measureВ which would define marriage solely as a bond between a man and woman. On Tuesday, both the CaliforniaВ State Assembly and Senate approved State Senator Mark Leno’s Senate Resolution 7 which opposes Proposition 8.

Yesterday, State Attorney General Jerry Brown posted a diary on Daily Kos, summarizing his opinion on Proposition 8′s constitutionality, excerpted below:

As California’s Attorney General, I believe the Court should strike down Proposition 8 … because it unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex couples and deprives them of the fundamental right to marry.

…Fundamental rights in California are recognized and protected by our constitution, which declares in Article I, Section 1 that “all people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights” and “among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.

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Dear Friend and Reader:

It’s amazing, isn’t it? We made it through two terms of baby Bush without losing Roe vs. Wade. Today is the 36th anniversary of the Roe decision, so take a moment to appreciate it — we’ve scraped through with three-and-a-half decades of reproductive freedom in this country. That’s my entire lifetime plus a dozen years; anyone would call that a safe margin.

Reproductive rights was priority one in the 1970s, during the second wave of feminism: the first wavers were the suffragettes, the third started in the 1990s. [This revolutionary period was also marked by Eris' presence. You can read more about Eris and the 1970s feminist movement in this article.] And, though R v. W is probably the moniker I’d stitch into the proverbial second wave bathrobe — yes, it’s morning in New York — some advances have found survival a little more challenging.

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest sexual and reproductive health care provider, started a program called Planned Parenthood International in 1971, two years before the Roe case was decided in the Supreme Court. Their primary aim has been to offer reproductive education and technology to developing countries, meaning access to birth control, condoms, abortions and explaining how pregnancy happens and how to prevent it.

In 1971, the program was funded by the US government. Then, in 1984, Reagan instituted the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, which bans US funding for international programs that perform and/or promote abortion.

There is a pretty interesting pattern that’s developed since 1984. Because the presidential inauguration falls on Jan. 20, the celebration of Roe vs. Wade always comes a couple of days after a new president takes office. And, since Reagan, the Roe anniversary has been the day for the new president to execute his pro- or anti-choice beliefs by rescinding or re-instating the Mexico City Policy.

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Editor’s Note: Papua, New Guinea supports a bill to implant HIV/AIDS patients with microchips so they can be tracked, monitored and punished for intentionally infecting others. Niniek Karmini of The Associated Press in Jakarta, Indonesia reports. –RA

Lawmakers in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips – part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease.

Health workers and rights activists sharply criticized the plan Monday.

But legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of “sexually aggressive” patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others with up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine.

The technical and practical details still need to be hammered out, he and others said, but the proposed legislation has received full backing from the provincial parliament and, if it gets a majority vote as expected, will be enacted next month.
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