1. Father loses parental rights
2. Mayor poses in bondage gear for magazine /li>
3. Lawrence County treasurer charged with embezzlement
4. San Francisco's gayest week
5. Three Men and a Woman
6. An Artist Who Fights Hard
7. Inside Las Vegas' foot fetish parties
1. Father loses parental rights
2. Mayor poses in bondage gear for magazine /li>
3. Lawrence County treasurer charged with embezzlement
4. San Francisco's gayest week
5. Three Men and a Woman
6. An Artist Who Fights Hard
7. Inside Las Vegas' foot fetish parties
Father loses parental rights
by Staff Writer
San Antonio Express-News
September 9, 2005
A father who went to jail last year rather than give up custody of his youngest child to Child Protective Services has had his parental rights to the toddler terminated.
The girl, who is nearly 3, was permanently returned to the custody of her mother by 150th District Judge Janet Littlejohn on Thursday.
In the two-day proceeding, current and former CPS caseworkers testified that Chico Dyke represented a danger to his daughter because of his background of violence and abuse toward women.
Dyke, a father of five, was witnessed leading a woman he identified as his mistress by a dog leash and collar, according to court records.
Witnesses also testified that Dyke was known to practice a form of sadomasochism that called for his daughters to make a choice of lifestyles upon reaching age 16.
Under terms of the judge's order, the child's mother was awarded permanent sole custody with the stipulation that she not resume her relationship with Dyke and that she undergo counseling for the next two years.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090905.2B.roundup.802c153.html
To respond, write to: letters@express-news.com
Mayor poses in bondage gear for magazine
by Canadian Press staff writer
AZ Central (The Arizona Republic)
September 8, 2005
A women's advocacy group is upset with St. John's Mayor Andy Wells for appearing on a magazine cover in bondage gear and cowering in fear.
Joyce Hancock, president of the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women, said Wednesday that Wells has always been supportive of women's rights, gay rights and minority issues.
But she said his decision to appear in the magazine, Current, wearing a bondage-style restraint and a leather gag with a red ball in his mouth, flies in the face of his reputation.
"I really think people need to make sure the mayor knows that this is not acceptable," Hancock said.
"It feels mocking. It feels trivializing, minimizing an issue of violence and I think it really is beneath a person in a position of leadership."
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0908MayorBondagePhoto08-ON.html
To respond, go to http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Lawrence County treasurer charged with embezzlement
by Torsten Ove
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 8, 2005
Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco, the target of a public corruption probe for more than a year, was charged yesterday with stealing more than $47,000 in taxpayer money.
Felasco, 38, of New Castle, turned himself in for arraignment in Ellwood City on charges of theft, embezzlement and related offenses.
State Attorney General Tom Corbett said Felasco, who had been living in Ohio, abused his position of power to pilfer taxpayer money for his own use.
State police and the attorney general have been examining the treasurer's office and the county Tax Claims Bureau for months. The investigation has focused on Felasco's conduct as treasurer, tax claims director and chairman of the Lawrence County Housing Authority.
The charges also state that Felasco fraudulently used the treasurer's office cash to purchase a van for $2,690 and for numerous hotel rooms where authorities say Felasco and his wife, Jeannine, held swinger parties.
Yesterday's charges don't address other allegations raised against Felasco, a former auto mechanic who was first elected treasurer in 1996.
Last year, he was the target of a sting by the New Castle News, which accused him of using his county-owned cell phone in connection with an Internet site called "Jeannie in a Bottle," a swinger's club that held sex parties at hotels and a club the Felascos rented next to a church.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05251/567626.stm
To respond, write to the author at tove@post-gazette.com or the editors athttp://www.post-gazette.com/contact/comments_form.asp?ID=40
San Francisco's gayest week
by Ray Delgado
Gay.com
September 7, 2005
To many gays and lesbians across the globe, getting to San Francisco for the Gay Pride festivities at the end of June is like a pilgrim going to mecca. At least once in your lifetime you have to see the gayest city in the world roll out the rainbow carpet.
Establishments around the city celebrate Gay Pride for an entire month, but who can stay for an entire month? A better bet is to hit the city at the end of September for the gayest week in San Francisco, when all things leather are celebrated with the Folsom Street Fair, followed by the Castro Street Fair, the gayborhood's big block party the next weekend.
The Folsom Street Fair, traditionally held on the last Sunday of September, is scheduled for Sept. 25 and will attract tens of thousands of S&M and leather community devotees. A fair number of straight devotees attend the festival, as well as the usual assortment of gawkers and 'fair weather' leather gays who dust off the chaps and harness once or twice a year.
Folsom, known as the grand daddy of all leather events, features a weekend of events and dance parties culminating with the street festival that stretches for five blocks along Folsom Street. Whipping booths, porn stars, S&M displays — it's all showcased here, along with dance areas and various food vendors.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.gay.com/travel/article.html?sernum=9542
To respond, Comment is available at the end of the article.
Three Men and a Woman
by Stephen Elliott
New York Times
September 4, 2005
ANGELINA and I are in an art gallery that doubles as a dance club. A D.J. stands on a sheet of plywood over milk crates playing house music with a heavy bass line. It's still afternoon but already there are a few office workers here loosening their ties, putting their earrings back in.
With us is Tristan. He and Angelina have known each other 15 years, since high school. He has flushed cheeks, feminine features, wears black jeans and a leather jacket. He helps Angelina clean, shop, run chores, carries her things. Angelina refers to Tristan as her pockets. Tristan refers to Angelina as his girlfriend. Girlfriend, he feels, comes closest to summing up their relationship.
I tell him I think he should use a paragraph. That a word isn't going to explain it. But what is bothering me more is that girlfriend is the term I've been using. She told me she doesn't like it, but I use it anyway for the same reason Tristan does.
My paragraph would have to include that Angelina is married. That there is a child at the house four days a week. That not only is she married but she also has Tristan, meaning there are three men in her life minimum. That what we have is not non-monogamy, it is polyamory. That I love her and that sometimes I think this could maybe work and then other times I see nothing but a bunch of potholes, a couple landmines and a train wreck.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/fashion/sundaystyles/04love.html?oref=login
To respond, write to letters@nytimes.com
An Artist Who Fights Hard: Barbara Nitke, photographer and S/M chronicler, on eroticism, justice
by Abby Tallmer
Gay City News (New York City)
September 1, 2005
"Hi, it's so great to see you", Barbara Nitke chirped, her smile beaming beneath chicly coifed, layered, brunette hair, subtly highlighted. The very attractive, well-scrubbed woman's conservative dress – no makeup, T-shirt, tailored jeans, elegant jewelry, sensible shoes – and friendly, relaxed demeanor might lead one to mistake her for somebody's really cool soccer mom. Nitke led me into a well-appointed, East Side apartment with framed photos everywhere.
Could this ball of cheery optimism really be a firebrand pornographer who had the balls to proactively challenge the constitutionality of the federal Communications Decency Act, thereby taking on two successive Republican attorneys general – John Ashcroft and now Alberto Gonzales – in order to contest the government's effort to criminalize and otherwise inhibit sexual speech and images on the Internet?
Absolutely.
This sweet woman, born in 1950 in Lynchburg, Virginia – the heart of Jerry Falwell country – went from small town girl to professional porn photographer to artistic photographer of the less glam, off-camera moments in that industry, and finally became the unofficial official photographer of New York's bondage & discipline S/M scene. And now this self-described "voyeur", whose sexually charged images – with gay, straight, and pansexual content, in equal doses and an extremely explicit manner – have shocked many, is planning to take her challenge, rebuffed earlier this summer by a federal appellate court, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Incredibly, this same woman manages to remain the president of New York's prestigious Camera Club, a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, a working photographer in "straight" industries like law and entertainment, and, last but not least, an acclaimed, successful, working artist.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn-435/anartistwhofights.html
To respond, write to the author at atallmer@yahoo.com or the editors at editor@gaycitynews.com
Inside Las Vegas' foot fetish parties
by Aaron Thompson
The Rebel Yell (UNLV, Las Vegas)
September 1, 2005
It was a bizarre night in the decrepit casino center parking lot. The sky glowed with an evil yellow and pink color as I stood outside of a gay men's leather store. Nearby, screams from the gay youth group rang through the dead air as two men carried a large package of paper towels and weird assortments of oils and waters through the doors of the club next door.
My sister came up to the door of the swingers club and motioned me to come over to her. I was wondering about the obscene amount of paper towels I had just seen.
But that would be the least of my thoughts once I walked through the door of the Paradise Swingers Club.
I, Aaron Thompson, found myself at a foot fetish party.
Kallie, a tall woman with short, auburn hair above her shoulders, told me a little about herself.
"I've never been interested in a 9 to 5 job," said Kallie, a 22-year-old UNLV student.
Kallie also ran through the basics of the parties.
She said that sexual contact and nudity were strictly prohibited. She pointed out that to a person with a foot fetish, a naked body means little to them, as they would rather indulge in foot lust. She also told me what it was like being a married woman involved in the foot fetish world.
"My husband doesn't get it," Kallie said. "But he feels that if he can't appreciate something like my feet, why not let someone else do it?"
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/article.php?ID=225
To respond, go to http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/letters_to_the_editor.php
HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Feedback letters are an effective way to convey a positive image of alternate sexual practices such as SM, swinging, or polyamory. You can help to correct negative social myths and misconceptions about these types of practices. These letters help achieve the advocacy goals of the NCSF.
Generally, for a letter to be published, it's important to include your name (or first initial, last name), city and daytime phone (for verification only). For more information, see:
https://ncsfreedom.org/media/writelettertoeditor.htm
Please alert us to positive, negative or neutral stories about SM, swinging and polyamory at media@ncsfreedom.org