A recent poll shows a huge shift in American attitudes toward gay marriage, from a 32 percent approval in 2004 to 53 percent today. I am one of those people who changed their minds.

This is a phenomenal video of the immigrant rights community in southern Arizona & their battle last summer against Governor Jan Brewer's draconian legislation regime....

Radio Report and News Article: Obama Declares Defense of Marriage Act Unconstitutional - NPR All Things Considered:

A copy of the draft law says that any woman trying to entering a shelter would first need the approval of a committee from eight government offices. She would be subject to a medical exam that might include a virginity test and essentially be confined to the shelter.

I am a strong supporter of International Women's Day (March 8th, which will be the 100th anniversary of IWD).

After parking in a deserted grove of pecan trees, the men order the young wife and mother out at gunpoint, shouting at her to undress. Six of them rape Taylor that night. Once finished, they drive her back to the road, ordering her out again before roaring off into the darkness.

Torture by the Military? Who is ruling the military? Many Egyptians protesting in the streets of Tahir Square do not realize the implications of not having a leader representing them ready to take a place in representing them during discussions with the military who is the real …

CNN's Anderson Cooper takes on the Egyptian government's claims about its treatment of protesters and journalists.

A fascinating overview of the issues surrounding the expansion of immigrant detention in Essex County, New Jersey, & around the country....

...if Republican elected officials* in Iowa get their way:

Postulate: Over time, democracy always degenerates into authoritarianism.

Fascinating debate about the MSM's power or lack thereof over the outcome of the revolution on the streets of Cairo....

The case sparked national outrage. Advocacy groups Change.org and Color of Change launched ambitious online campaigns that have already gotten thousands of signatures.

In a statement today, Political Research Associates condemned the murder and demanded an end to "the export of homophobia to Uganda by American conservatives."

An Ohio mother of two was sentenced to 10 days in jail and placed on three years probation after sending her kids to a school district in which they did not live.

The judge, Patricia Cosgrove, says that prosecutors refused to consider the lesser, misdemeanor charges & forced her to rule on the felonies:

"The US-based Human Rights Watch accused Egypt of "widespread discrimination" against its Christian and other religious minorities in its annual report for 2010 released Monday, which also highlights repression of political dissent.

'The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip plans to raze another 180 Palestinian houses, on top of the 20 it recently demolished in the southern town of Rafah, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights charged on Thursday.

Although more women are joining the military than ever before and some are seeing combat, women's primary role, as far as the military is concerned, is patriotic.

"Since the brutal repression of nationwide dissent following the 2009 elections, authorities are now increasing their crackdown on Kurds.

"'Freedom in the World 2011' was accompanied by a press release, overview essay and regional maps, all of which highlighted the lack of democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, currently a hot topic in the British media in light of events in Tunisia.

"Count to ten; & take a deep breath!"

A second time around, this expose on the culture of corruption & secrecy that allows Border Patrol officials literally get away with murder was even more rewarding & meaningful: it is an absolute must-read, regardless of your political persuasion.

Every day in the United States, citizens are deputizing themselves to police pregnant women.

"Jerusalem--African migrants en route to Israel are subject to torture, rape and assault by traffickers in Egypt's Sinai desert, Israeli Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said, citing interviews it conducted with victims.

"The massacre of 21 Copts at a New Year's Eve mass has been called 'a watershed moment'.

"The Obama administration is expressing alarm over reports that thousands of political separatists and captured Taliban insurgents have disappeared into the hands of Pakistan's police and security forces, and that some may have been tortured or killed.

Italy's La Repubblica has a report on the phenomenon of widespread slavery in Mauritania.

Zach Neff is all high-fives as he walks through his college campus in western Missouri. The 27-year-old with Down syndrome hugs most everybody, repeatedly. He tells teachers he loves them.

If David Bahati succeeds in passing the death penalty for homosexuals in Uganda, we need to pray for our own deliverance in the United States. [...]

In an interview with the ultra conservative American Family News Network's OneNewsNow, [Dr.

Iranians convicted for same-sex activities are on death row and awaiting hanging, including several who were minors when arrested, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

"Growing up in Richmond, B.C., I, like more than a few Canadian children, dreamed of becoming secretary-general of the United Nations. The ideal of engaged global citizenship enraptured me, a political refugee from Idi Amin's Uganda.

"Iran's state TV said Friday it will air new footage of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, the latest in state-orchestrated broadcasts on a case that has raised an international outcry.

"On October 31, 2010 Palestinian blogger Waleed Hasayin was arrested by security forces in the West Bank on charges of expressing blasphemous opinions on his blog and several Facebook pages he created under a pseudonym.

-----> NOTE: I accidentally typed in an incorrect url-- use THIS ONE instead! (These videos are from a pro-democracy Iranian blogger): "Where else in the world would you find police smashing up people's cars and throwing rocks at people's homes?

"An official with Kenya's largest gay rights organization says there is panic among its members following remarks made by Kenya's prime minister that homosexuals should be arrested.

"A vote last week by the United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Committee has LGBT and human rights activists outraged over the decision to remove "sexual orientation" from a resolution that protects people from arbitrary executions.

"More than one in three South African men questioned in a survey admitted to rape, the latest evidence in the country of a violent culture of patriarchy.

Thrown in jail for getting pregnant? That seems like a particularly absurd violation of women's reproductive rights. But it's actually an established policy in Allegheny County, PA.

Not long ago, relatively few Jews around the world could name Canada's prime minister. Today, there are many hundreds who, though they did not know his name just weeks ago, now do.

BEIJING - China has sentenced a woman to a year in a labor camp for "disrupting social order" by retweeting a satirical message urging Chinese protesters to smash the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, an international rights group said.

Once again, the United Nations has damaged its own purported values and reason to exist when it praised Libya's human rights record last Tuesday while condemning America's.

As much as $19 billion is stolen from American workers annually in unpaid overtime and minimum wage violations and through the human trafficking of legal immigrant workers.

The Obama administration got a new "shellacking" this morning, this one entirely voluntary. In the name of improving America's image abroad, it sent three top officials from the State Department to Geneva's U.N.

The PA said it formally and completely stopped physical torture in its numerous detention centers as of October 2000, especially following protests by the donor countries which complained that their tax-payers' money was being used to torture suspected political opponents in t …

The United States faced a barrage of calls to investigate allegations of torture and shut down Guantanamo Bay detention centre on Friday in its first review by the UN's top human rights assembly.

GENEVA -- The United States is submitting its human rights record to the scrutiny of other nations - both allies and adversaries - for the first time, as the Obama administration opens itself up to a committee shunned by his predecessor.

"Ultimately…women must be involved in the peace process not only because they suffer disproportionately, or because they have previously been excluded, but because their contribution to the world is invaluable."

"We don't want the world to see us as victims," said Afifa Azim, general director of the Afghan Women's Network, which is working in collaboration with the Kroc Institute. "Afghani women must be at the table if the peace process is to move forward. No women, no peace."

"Yesterday half a dozen anti-genocide organizations joined together to send a letter to the UN Security Council, urging them to ensure the security and human rights of people in Sudan amid reports of the Sudanese Government targeting IDPs who had spoken to representatives from th …

"Iranian authorities have amputated the hand of a convicted thief in front of other prisoners, state radio reported Sunday, in a possible step toward restoring the punishment to common use and carrying it out in public.

" US Senator John Kerry on Friday warned of tougher sanctions against Sudan if the governments of north or south placed obstacles in the way of a January 9 referendum on southern independence.

"South Africa on Friday accused the UN Security Council of moving faster to end conflicts in regions outside of Africa, as African nations demanded more help for peacekeeping operations."

Two articles / videos: President Obama Films 'It Gets Better' Video To Combat Gay Bullying

In January 2011, South Africa will be back in the United Nations Security Council. Is it likely to do any better than the last time round?

To be fair, the South African government's prior performance in the council was underrated. After all, it was incredibly energetic. It put African issues squarely on the UN agenda. It played a central role in the push for UN reform. And in most decisions, South Africa was with the diplomatic mainstream.

Yet all it has been remembered for is its defence of "rogue powers'" and its refusal to support resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Many in the human rights community and in the US and European diplomatic communities saw these decisions as a betrayal of the spirit of South Africa's own democratic transition and the international support that had facilitated it. Their criticisms defined the general perception of South Africa's performance.

O'DONNELL: A federal judge recently ruled that we have to overturn Don't Ask Don't Tell. There are a couple of things we need to say about that. First of all, judges should not be legislating from the bench.

The Mormon Church chided its members Tuesday to consider whether their attitudes toward all people — including gays — followed Christian principles, responding to activists' demand that a church leader withdraw anti-gay statements.

The tragedy in all this is that a UN body, established for the protection of human rights, has become a human rights violator.

Academics, intellectuals—even journalists—are, presumably, concerned with objective truth and trained to recognize and avoid bias or extreme distortion.

" A woman celebrating the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident has been charged with assault for accidentally splashing champagne on a security guard outside the Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong.

A brave Cape Flats woman has spoken out about her horrific rape ordeal at the hands of her trusted doctor the day before her son's burial.

If all you ever read about gay people in Africa is in the western media (including gay media), you would be forgiven for thinking it's one endless horror story.

...[Tyler] Clementi's death last month, following suicides by several other homosexual teens in recent weeks, has also prompted a sharp debate in religious communities, a discussion that includes an unusual degree of soul-searching in addition to the more typical defensiveness.

"Dr. Burns's Quest for Truth "A New York opthalmologist collects and shares millions of photographs in what he sees as a mission "to help and to heal." [Note: Many of these photos are quite upsetting]

Turkey's Human Rights Hypocrisy

The devastated parents of a U.S. student who committed suicide after a film of him having sex was streamed live on the internet by his roommate have broken their silence.

In Cairo a little over a year ago, President Obama proclaimed "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." After reminding his Arab audience that "six million Jews were killed" by the Nazis, he added immediately that, for their part, the Pales …

September 21, 2010 on SBS Insight (Australia): "The French Senate has voted to ban the burqa in public places. Similar laws are being considered in Belgium, Spain and Italy.

At long last, Saudi Arabia has found a way to let women drive cars in the KSA.

Demonstrations are planned for Pope Benedict's four-day state visit to England and Scotland, with the main focus likely to be on a Protest the Pope campaign march in central London on Saturday, Sept 18. Other separate protests are planned, including a bus poster campaign by a g …

Turkey must pay about $170,000 (euro133,000) to the family of a slain ethnic Armenian journalist, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday, saying the state failed to protect him despite threats against his life.

As a gay diplomat seeks US asylum, Saudi Arabia seems torn between wanting a civilised image and appeasing traditionalists

A human embryo is not distinct in kind from a human being, but a human being at an early stage of development.We must speak for human embryonic Life as we speak for all human life.

An indignant President Obama complained last week, "I can't spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead." Fine.

"Kenyan officials today welcomed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to a signing ceremony for Kenya's new constitution, in direct contravention of the state's legal obligations as an International Criminal Court signatory, to arrest the indicted sitting head of state.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is in Chad for a regional summit, and human rights groups are pleading for his arrest. Bashir presided over the conflict in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people were killed and over 2.5 million displaced.

TP: "......................."We've got a campaign to get rid of these judges. What do you think of that?" he called out to a man in a gray trucker hat at the fair.

Police turned a planned press conference against Palestinian Authority government policy into an illegal rally – and then banned it, injuring participants in the process.

After 11-months of international scrutiny, Caster Semenya was officially cleared last month to compete as a woman -- but it seems the South African runner's metaphorical marathon is far from over. You didn't think the debate over her sex would be settled once the I.A.A.F. issued its ruling, did you? (Yes? Aw, your naive optimism is cute. No? Wise cynic, teach me your ways.) The New York Times reports today on Semenya's Sunday win in the women's 800 meters and quotes a couple competitors who haven't exactly been put at ease by the I.A.A.F.'s verdict.

Caster Semenya's coach says the South African athlete is happy to turn her back on negative comments about her.Semenya, 19, returned to competition in July after 11 months on the sidelines following a series of gender tests.

She made it three wins from three with another 800m win in Berlin on Sunday, finishing in one minute 59.90 seconds.

Pvt. Anthony Smith is the type of guy who stands up for what he believes in. That's why he decided to hold his commanding officers accountable for punishing him and fellow soldiers after they refused to attend an evangelical Christian rock concert at the Fort Eustis military post in Virginia.

After a day of training at Fort Eustis, Smith and other trainees were normally released to have personal time, but on May 13, Smith and dozens of others were "required" to march in formation to a concert headlined by an evangelical Christian rock band. Smith spent six months training at Fort Eustis before moving to Arizona to serve on active duty with the National Guard.

Israel continues to be the demon poster-child of the Left. The prime example of a repressive regime and abuser of human rights. On the Left, people became outraged and agitated over Israel more than over any other cause.

"Shocking Images of Dead Kurdish Fighters"

The normal jolt most of us get when we run into someone well-known was accentuated for me when I turned to see Christopher Hitchens standing a few feet away from me at a party on the night of the recent UK election.

The theory that minorities exaggerate the hardships they face in the modern world has become a rather prevalent one in recent years, and it stems from people not understanding the full impact that racism has had on our society through the decades and centuries.

Taliban militants have publicly executed an Afghan woman for alleged adultery, it emerged today. The victim, a 48-year-old widow, was given dozens of lashes before being shot dead on Sunday in the remote Qades district.

Wow! Conservative lawyer Ted Olson - who won the case finding California anti gay marriage Prop 8 unconstitutional - responds honestly, intelligently and rightly to every stupid question FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace asks him.

Bipartisan legislation that would mandate a comprehensive plan to combat violence against women worldwide is poised for a potential congressional vote, marking tough new action by the United States on a problem that's commonplace across the globe.

"US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the mothers of three young US nationals detained without charge in Iran for 12 months renewed appeals Friday for the trio's release."

"Roy Brown, Main Representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), spoke to the UN Human Rights Council yesterday, protesting against slavery in states like Mauretania, and laws against "apostasy" in states like the Maldives.

If you heard about an attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in which hundreds of civilians were killed, would you assume that the attack had been perpetrated by Israel? According to Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, you very likely would - and you'd be wrong.

To NGOs, the gems represent the repression they campaign against. But these riches could transform my country...

The National Organization For Marriage (NOM) has embarked on a disastrous 23-city "Summer for Marriage Tour 2010," spreading the gospel of one-man-one-woman marriage to tens of supporters and encountering well organized counter protests in almost every city.

"When women's rights activist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar flew out of Saudi Arabia last week for a holiday in Italy with her family, she was hoping for a brief respite from what she describes as the 'gender apartheid kingdom.' She wasn't so lucky.

"Iran amputated the hands of five convicted thieves inside a prison in the western city of Hamedan on Thursday, the semi-official ILNA news agency said.