Brickbat: Pirate Radio

Zimbabwean police have been
seizing
radios in villages across the country. Officials say the radios
are being used to spread hate speech. But human rights activists
worry it's part of a clamp down on media before elections later
this year.

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8 Countries Where It's Dangerous For Women To Travel

We've seen an alarming number of stories about sex attacks on female travelers in recent weeks, from a Swiss tourist who was gang-raped in India to an American student who was raped on a van in Rio de Janeiro.

It doesn't mean that women shouldn't visit foreign places or that no parts of those countries are safe. But women traveling in these areas should do so with extreme caution and a knowledge of the culture.

We rounded up eight popular tourist destinations where women should be extra cautious, based on reports from Human Rights Watch, the State Department, and crime reports in the media.

India

From the Taj Mahal to river boat cruises, India's tourism industry generates $17.7 billion each year.

But the recent gang rapes of a Swiss tourist and a New Delhi student, and a British tourist jumping from her window for fear of being raped have caused tourism to drop 35 percent since December.

And Human Rights Watch writes that reports of violence against women have been increasing, and "the government had yet to properly investigate and prosecute sexual abuse in police custody."

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro is billed as the most popular tourist destination in the Southern Hemisphere, but women should be on alert after an American tourist was raped in a van while her French boyfriend was handcuffed, AP reports.

The three suspects were arrested, but Brazil is known for its a machismo culture and history of gender-based violence, according to Human Rights Watch.

It will be hosting next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Turkey

Tourists in Turkey largely flock to historical sites in Istanbul or the country's gorgeous seaside resorts.

But violence against women is a major problem in Turkey. The State Department reports that the Embassy and Consulates have received numerous reports of crimes against women, particularly incidents involving "date rape" drugs.

The police and courts also have a bad track record with helping women who have applied for protection orders against their attackers, according to Human Rights Watch.

And an American woman traveling alone in Istanbul was killed in February.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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A History Of The Gay Rights Movement, One Of The Most Successful Political Enterprises In History

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments for two landmark gay rights cases — California's Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 

The cases came amid a huge surge in public support for gay marriage over the past decade. 

But this is just the latest fight in a near 40-year battle fought by LGBT Americans to gain recognition and rights. Here's the timeline of how that successful journey progressed. 

The Gay Rights movement burst onto the public scene with the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, but the groundwork existed even before that. Here are demonstrators protesting in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall on July 4, 1967.

Source: Infoplease, AP

This demonstration took place a week before the first Christopher Street Day, the commemoration of the Stonewall Riots. The riots — which took place on June 28, 1969 — were a retaliation by members of the gay community following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village.

Source: Infoplease, AP

Throughout the early 1970s, the gay rights movement expanded, specifically in New York and San Francisco. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from their definitive list of mental illnesses.

Source: Infoplease, AP

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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DOMA is Done: Damon Root on a Supreme Win for Gay Rights

"This week is not going to be the sweeping victory for gay
rights that many supporters and advocates hoped for," says
Reason.com's Damon W.
Root. "However, I think the Defense of Marriage Act is in
trouble, which is definitely a win for gay rights." Root, who
writes frequently about legal issues, attended both days
of oral arguments at the Supreme Court this week for two cases
pertaining to same-sex marriage.

Today's case, United States v. Windsor, looks at
whether the Defense Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Fifth
Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. Signed by President Bill
Clinton in 1996, the law denies federal marriage benefits to
same-sex couples.

"What we saw today," says Root, "was Justice Kennedy really
ready to strike down the law as an overreach of federal power, and
many of the liberal justices ready to go right along with him."

Root sat down with Reason magazine's Katherine
Mangu-Ward to discuss what today's proceedings—and yesterday's
arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, which looked at the
constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage—mean for
gay rights and personal freedoms.

About 5.30 minutes. Camera by Jim Epstein and Joshua Swain,
and edited by Epstein.

Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube
Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes
live.

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This Is America's Biggest Moment Ever For Gay Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear two huge gay marriage cases this week involving the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act and California's gay marriage ban Proposition 8. The court's decision even to consider same-sex marriage symbolizes just how much America has evolved on gay rights in an unbelievably short period of time. Back in 2004, my gay friends in Brooklyn, N.Y. used to have debates about whether it was the "right" time to fight for same-sex marriage. Massachusetts had become the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2003. The following year, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome became something of a gay hero when he ordered the city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A few days after Newsome's bold move, Jason West, then mayor of the small town of New Paltz, N.Y. got cheers from gay New Yorkers when he started performing same-sex marriages in the Village Hall. It seemed like a backlash might be coming, though. I remember one lesbian friend pointing out that she obviously couldn't be "against" gay marriage. But she wondered why activists weren't focusing on what she believed were more attainable goals — like making sure gay teens didn't get beaten up in school. Her unease wasn't unfounded. A huge backlash did come in 2004, when 13 states amended their state Constitutions to officially ban same-sex marriage. That year, just 31 percent of Americans were in favor of gay marriage, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. America has changed dramatically since 2004. Now, less than a decade later, 58 percent of Americans support gay marriage, according to an ABC/Washington Post poll. Dozens of people and organizations have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the Supreme Court to support gay marriage — from prominent Republicans to two heterosexual NFL players to 70 major corporations to the Obama administration. It was just 1986 — in my lifetime — that the Supreme Court upheld a law in my home state of Georgia that criminalized consensual gay sex. So, what's changed? For one thing, it seems like more and more people feel comfortable coming out of the closet these days (including likeable celebrities like Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, and Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City"). The other thing that's changed is the push for marriage equality itself. The New York Times' Linda Greenhouse argues that the Proposition 8 case in particular has been "speeding and enhancing public understanding and support for marriage equality." That support for marriage equality, in turn, is a sign that anti-gay bias in America is finally starting to subside. Openly gay New York Times columnist Frank Bruni once wrote that people who oppose gay marriage do so because they see gays as "lesser people." "If how we love is suspect, then so is who we are," he wrote. The opposite is also true. The surge of public support for gay marriage is a sign that more Americans now see gays as equal. In 2013, I still know some unconventional gay couples who might choose not to get married. But every single gay person I know believes same-sex marriage is worth fighting for. That's because the battle to repeal the anti-gay laws DOMA and Proposition 8 is about more than marriage equality. It's about Americans seeing gays as equal human beings. Period.SEE ALSO:&There's Absolutely No Logical Argument Against Gay Marriage Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

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