Today's Battles

At Mercatornet, trying to sort out the Junk Science from the Real Science. And all against a background of prejudiced (as in "conclusion pre-judged beforehand") religious belief.

Over at the Grauniad, where human rights for transgendered children are discussed. This article, unlike many, is sympathetic to them. And a follow-up at EdgeBoston discussing the same article, and replying to a sceptic about the whole concept.

On to The Young Turks, and attempting to correct some minor, and some not-so-minor misinformation about Intersex in an article that discusses human rights.

And in other news...

On Wednesday, the Legislature dealt its final blow to this year's Common Ground Initiative, possibly the most expansive push for legal protections for gay and transgender Utahns in state history. The effort had the backing of popular Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., positive signals from the LDS Church, and, on most issues, the support of public opinion, according to a Salt Lake Tribune poll.

Even so, a House committee Wednesday rejected Rep. Jennifer Seelig's HB160, which would have offered two, unmarried cohabiting adults -- including same-sex couples -- safeguards of inheritance rights and medical-decision making for one another.
...
Equality Utah crafted the Common Ground Initiative in response to statements made by the LDS Church after passage of California's Proposition 8. Even though it supported the ballot measure, which banned same-sex marriage in the Golden State, the church said it "does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."

Despite those comments, the LDS Church did not endorse Equality Utah's initiative.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, at their hypocrisy. Except that I genuinely should be. I shouldn't just accept it as the usual stuff, say one thing, do another. "That was then, this is now" should not be the standard to which any group claiming any form of moral mandate is held to. It's just that anything else would have been most out of character for those showing such lack of charity.