Originally, this column was going to be about the furore about LGBT ordination within the Anglican Communion, but having spotted several media stories on various issues of sexual ethics, I thought I’d turn this into a more general focus on issues of sexual ethics.
In the contemporary Anglican Communion, LGBT ordination is a thorn in the […]

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Apart from the foetid and stygian reaches of what passes for Ian Wishart’s “mind,” New Zealand politics is usually remarkably free of sex scandals. Let’s face it, very few of them are particularly attractive, are they?
All right yes, there was Don Brash’s little interlude back in 2005, but I can’t really picture most New Zealanders […]

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Benzodiazepines are prescription drugs which may have useful effects in dealing with anxiety prevention, treating epileptic seizures, muscle spasms, alcohol withdrawal and insomnia. However, there’s a sting in this tale. Prolonged use can be addictive.
 Librium (the first benzo) was discovered by accident in 1954, and then deliberately again in 1957, when Austrian scientist Leo Sternbach […]

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Armin Meiwes is probably well-known for his infamous cannibalistic consumption of a willing partner, but where did he come from before that?
As Harpers magazine recounted,  Meiwes past doesn’t give away any clues to his later atrocious behaviour.  Unlike gay serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer or Dennis Nilsen, there is no thorough account of his childhood available which […]

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I’m neither HIV+, nor do I particularly like cancer sticks. For one thing, I’ve had a history of respiratory illness myself, and couldn’t go to gay pubs because of the large number of lesbians and gay men doing chimney impersonations. Happily, along came the Clark administration and its anti-smoking legislation, which was intended to protect […]

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As you may remember, California’s Supreme Court voted recently to junk discriminatory referenda results which tried to ban same-sex marriage in their state. This incensed the Christian Right, who have now placed another referendum on the ballot to try to amend the Californian state constitution to restrict marriage to one woman and one man.  Note […]

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And while I’m incensed at the weird decision about abortion law from New Zealand High Court Judge Miller, I thought I’d praise the common sense approach of Norway, which has just moved on from the substantive equality contained within its registered partnership legislation and associated relationship equality laws, and passed legislation to provide formal equality, […]

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When the great movie ‘recasting’ craze hit the Terran Federation’s colonised worlds in 2139-2140, many new cinematic masterpieces were created. Whether Planet of the Homo-Nids classifies as one depends on what your definition of masterpiece is, and in which genre. Historians of erotic entertainment media say that it is, but they keep getting into fights […]

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In accepting the extremist anti-abortion group Right to Life New Zealand’s argument that many abortions in New Zealand are being performed ‘illegally,’ High Court Justice Miller may have opened a can of worms, so I’ve decided to provide a capsule summary of the abortion debate in New Zealand for the uninitiated.
In the seventies, availability of […]

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According to the BBC News, the Church of England has objected to the current Brown/UK Labour administration’s ‘neglect’ of their institution, which is still theoretically England’s “established church.”  But is this a valid criticism?
There are two sides to this. One is that the Brown administration fails to comprehend the role of Anglicanism in provision of […]

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