The New York Times has an interesting-looking review of On Hostile Ground, a documentary which gives credit where credit is due, by showing the heroic actions of three abortion providers who put their lives on the line every day to make women’s reproductive rights a reality.

History was made April 1 in Amsterdam when three couples of gay men and one couple of lesbians were married under the world’s first law allowing legal marriage between same-sex couples [Advocate.com]. I suppose this is a positive development, but given my serious reservations about the gay marriage issue, I mark it with reserved applause at best. It’s not that I think gay people should be denied the privileges that str8 couples get. It’s that I don’t think that the government has any business extending or denying benefits to people on the basis of who they’re sleeping with–whether that person is a member of the same sex, a member of the opposite sex, transgendered, intersex, or anything else. So, yay for civil liberties / equal access being extended. Boo for the continued State privileging of marriage.

Slate‘s The Best Political Weblogs looks like a very interesting feature, although their declaration that by featuring selected blogs they are somehow democratizing journalism, would be more convincing if they actually featured weblogs from people other than their well established, published journalist buddies.

The Equal Rights Amendment has been re-Introduced in Congress. Rock on. Here’s hoping that (1) it actually gets through this time, (2) it doesn’t paralyze NOW into a one-issue group for the next several years, and (3) Phyllis Schlafly stays in her cave for the duration. The ACLU‘s heavy-handed self-congratulations patting itself on the back over its feminist record is rather hypocritical, but that is another post entirely….

The ACLU has published a press release which endorses John Conyer’s introduction of legislation to ensure that the widespread problems with our voting system that were highlighted in last year’s election, are resolved. The press release also criticizes President Bush and the Republican Congress, who have not lifted a finger to do anything about the bill or the problem as a whole. The House has not scheduled any hearings on election irregularities and has no timetable for addressing it. ACLU representative Christopher Anders testified to the Democratic Caucus of the House:

Although the 2002 and 2004 elections may seem distant, Anders added, we are already very late if we want to get the reforms in place to achieve equality in the polling place.

Gee, the problems of the electoral system disproportionately disenfranchise poor and minority voters. If it weren’t for the problems that this bill aims to fix, George W. Bush would not have been elected President. And now the Republican Congress and Republican President are not willing to take concerted action to ensure fairness in voting. What a surprise!