Canada
Brian Anthony Cutteridge, a 37-year-old Vancouver man, stood trial in a rare bestiality prosecution. Cutteridge, who is alleged to have sexual relations with a Rottweiler after a veterinarian reported the condition of his dog to the SPCA, is the author of a pro-bestiality pamphlet entitled “On the legal prohibition of zoophilia in Canada and the United States,” in which he argues “anti-zoophilia laws … infringe upon fundamental individual freedoms” … The National Post reports that Alberta doctors bill the province for the treatment of homosexuality as a mental disorder, leading Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman to complain that the province has not moved to ban such billing. In 2010, doctors billed the province five times for such treatment. Between 1995 and 2004, the province was billed to treat gays and lesbians more than 1,750 times but in 2010, activist Rob Wells released government record leading then health minister Gene Zwozdesky to change provincial regulations so that homosexuality would no longer be considered a mental disorder … The Global Commission on Drug Policy which includes former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour and former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso, urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to reconsider mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana offenses. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the measures, contained in the government’s omnibus crime bill, targeted drug traffickers, not substance abusers or experimenting teenagers … The Montreal Public Health Department wants to establish three so-called safe injection sites in the city. Health Minister Yves Bolduc who supports the so-called harm reduction program, insists that the criteria for locating facilities is limited to “social acceptability” … Angus Reid Public Opinion found that 65 per cent of Canadians say bullying should be a criminal offense even if no physical violence is involved and 19 per cent think bullying should be a crime only if it involved physical violence … The National Hockey League launched the “You Can Play” project aimed at making hockey’s locker rooms from the minors to the pros “free of homophobia” … McGill University in Montreal opened Delta Lambda Phi, the first all-gay fraternity in the country.
United States
Rick Santorum, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, symbolically signed a draft version of the Oklahoma Personhood Amendment petition demanding that the state recognize that human life begins at conception. Over 155,000 signatures must be submitted by the end of May to put the measure on the November ballot … Mitt Romney, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, pledged to “get rid” of Planned Parenthood funding in an interview with CNN: “Look, the idea that we’re subsidizing an institution that provides abortion, in my view, is wrong” … A Doonsebury cartoon by Gary Trudeau mocked pro-life legislative efforts was pulled by more than 60 newspapers including the liberal Oregonian of Portland because the words “transvaginal exam” were considered in poor taste. Trudeau called several state-level abortion restrictions “lunacy.” In 1985, he satirized the movie The Silent Scream in his cartoon although ultimately those strips were not distributed … Jessica DelBalzo, a pro-abortion activist from Flemington, N.J., admitted that she loves abortion in an article for RH Reality Check: “I love abortion. I don’t accept it. I don’t view it as a necessary evil. I embrace it.” She also wrote that “there is no need to suggest that abortion be rare. To say so implies a value judgement, promoting the idea that abortion is somehow distasteful or immoral and should be avoided.”
International
The Daily Telegraph carried out an investigation in which it filmed abortionists carrying out illegal sex-selective abortions and falsifying paperwork about it. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said “sex-selection is illegal and is morally wrong” and ordered an investigation into the reports … Two surveys conducted six years apart by Yolanda Sanchez-Sandoval of the University of Cadiz in Spain found that despite complications and rough spots, 77.7 per cent of parents who adopted said their lives were happier after adopting a child … Writing in the Sexual Health journal, Richard Crosby of the Kinsey Institute Condom Research Team admitted “we chronically underestimate how complicated condom use can be,” yet he was unwilling to abandon condoms as a key to battling AIDS … Voters in Zurich, Switzerland passed a ballot initiative to create new garages or sex-boxes for prostitutes to ply their trade away from residential areas with the goal of lessening the burden of traffic in high-prostitution areas and making the streets safer for women who sell their bodies. The new facility will be open from 7 pm to 5 am and feature showers, toilets, and medical attendants.