1. City: Cutts St. sex parties aren't allowed
2. Where I Come From
3. NLA distributes donation checks
4. City wants sex parties stopped
5. So long Mom and bye-bye Daddy
1. City: Cutts St. sex parties aren't allowed
2. Where I Come From
3. NLA distributes donation checks
4. City wants sex parties stopped
5. So long Mom and bye-bye Daddy
City: Cutts St. sex parties aren't allowed
by Elizabeth Dinan
Portsmouth Herald News (New Hampshire)
January 5, 2007
PORTSMOUTH — A biweekly "swingers" party has been hosted at the same city residence for 17 years, according to Internet postings by "Middle Door" party host and property owner Joseph A. Ranguette.
Because of his party postings, Ranguette's 42 Cutts St. triplex has been under police surveillance for more than a year, and the city attorney warned it will remain under scrutiny.
"We've advised the property owners that the conduct represented by their Internet material appears to be a violation of city ordinance and needs to be ceased," said City Attorney Bob Sullivan. "The bottom line is that it's zoned for residential use, and this kind of activity is not considered by the city to be normal residential use of the property."
That activity, as represented online by the Middle Door, includes alternate Saturday night sex parties "for couples and singles to explore themselves, unleash their passions, discover their sensuality, try something new, watch others enjoy, or take part."
Photographs of the interior of the Cutts Street residence, also posted on the site, showcase beds, a "voyeur room" with a swing over a bed, adult items and a downstairs buffet.
According to city documents, State Police Sgt. Richard Mitchell brought the matter to local police Sept. 29, 2005, by forwarding an anonymous, handwritten complaint sent to local state police headquarters. The complaint reported the timing of the swingers parties, directed police to the Middle Door Web site and said "the neighbors want it stopped." It also reported "people arriving in bus-like vehicles from out of state," parking problems and the opinion that charging an attendance fee for swingers — with the exception of single females — constitutes prostitution.
According to city documents, on Oct. 13, 2005, Police Lt. Timothy Brownell took over the investigation and filed with the city pornographic images printed from the Middle Door's Web site, along with explicit photos of people claiming to be party participants.
Public record shows that on March 7, 2006, Sullivan wrote a letter to the Ranguettes reporting city officials learned from "multiple sources" about the "impermissible" use of their residential property. Sullivan explained the residential zoning designation for the neighborhood and reported he was advised that a "social club" was "holding regular meetings" at the address.
"While it would be inappropriate to provide the complete details in this letter, I am in possession of a significant volume of file materials which suggest the Middle Door activities are sexual in nature and involve activities not ordinarily expected to occur in residential neighborhoods," wrote the city attorney.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/01052007/nhnews-ph-p-swingers.html To respond, write to: the author at edinan@seacoastonline.com or go to http://www.seacoastconnects.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2269
Where I Come From
by Regina Lynn
Wired
January 5, 2007
I haven't always been comfortable with sexuality. And without the internet, I wonder how long it would have taken to evolve from judgmental to judicious, from ignorant to educated, from fearful to relaxed.
I can tell you that where I am now is a much better place to be than where I came from. It's a journey that gives me hope for the future, because I know I am just one of many who has opened my heart through online community.
I grew up in a small, conservative town in rural northern California where the saloons are outnumbered only by the churches. Our high school was just about evenly divided between whites and Hispanics, and so homogenous that if you said "the black girl" or "the gay guy" or "the Jewish boy," everyone knew exactly who you meant.
… in college, I had a friend whose new girlfriend rapidly became known as "the kinky one." Over pizza one night, he told us a story of tying her to her dorm bed and pleasuring her for hours, until she wept and begged for him to fuck her. As he spoke, her eyelids went heavy-lidded, and she got this secret smile as she nodded and linked her arm around his. Now, I recognize her expression as bliss. But then, I could not separate consensual bondage play from sexual assault. I left the room.
Finally, just after college I attended a "passion party" where one woman showed us how sex toys worked while another modeled lingerie. I was anxious, and a bit disgusted, at the eagerness I saw all around me, as people joked about the toys and fondled the undies. I couldn't figure out why the other women were lighting up as they passed the devices around.
I understand where people are coming from when they're freaked out by how other people express their sexuality. I don't agree with homophobia, with narrow definitions of love, with declaring that it is OK for some people and not for others, with abstinence or with defining "right ways" and "wrong ways" to have sex. But I know if you grow up in a family that doesn't talk about sex at all, or that teaches you to be disgusted by other people's sexual choices or passes along bias, it can be a long road to realizing that your prejudices are wrong.
I believe the internet will help us create a more tolerant society, and provide time for people to explore and bring their new understandings into the rest of their lives. It does not surprise me that we leap into virtual worlds to explore what we aren't encouraged to do elsewhere. Sex is a force that can't be held back for long.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72413-1.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1 To respond, go to: http://www.wired.com/support/feedback.html?headline=Where%20I%20Come%20From&story_id=72413§ion_path=/columns&ftype=feedback&msg_type=1&aid=1306
NLA distributes donation checks:
Largest Leather Association chapter encourages "kink" community to get involved
by Beth Freed
The Dallas Voice
January 4, 2007
The largest chapter of the National Leather Association – located in Dallas – goes beyond embracing "kinky" behavior to encouraging invested community involvement through their various activities, according to the group's leaders.
"We're just trying to benefit the community", said co-chair Hardy Haberman. "That's part of our goal, is for people to embrace who they are and live fuller lives".
Through the Beyond Vanilla conference held last fall, the group raised $5,000 each for AIDS Interfaith Network and Bryan's House, which provides programming for families coping with HIV/AIDS.
"The money that we receive from these groups is unrestricted funds, which enables us to use them for a variety of different ways through all of our different programming", [Mary Marshall, volunteer coordinator for AIN] said. "It is so helpful because we can use the funds where they're needed most, without having someone telling us what to do with it. We wouldn't be able to do what we do if it weren't for these community group donations".
Haberman said that many of the NLA members are also paying members of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom Political Action Committee. At the monthly meetings, various handy tricks for the bedroom, usually of the S/M persuasion, are demonstrated for the 50 to 60 people who show up on average, according to Haberman.
"Y'all have a lot more fun at your board meetings than we do"! said Thomas, after a "pervertable" demonstration with a ceiling fan duster (or lint trap cleaner, depending on your perspective).
The group is pansexual, meaning they include everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexuality, relationship status (monogamous or polyamorous) or "kink" (as long as it's legal, Haberman added).
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to: http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_4358.php To respond, write to: the author at freed@dallasvoice.com or the editors at editor@dallasvoice.com
City wants sex parties stopped
by Elizabeth Dinan
Portsmouth Herald News (New Hampshire)
January 4, 2007
PORTSMOUTH – A biweekly "swingers" party has been hosted at the same city residence for 17 years, according to Internet postings by "Middle Door" party host and property owner, Joseph A. Ranguette.
Because of his party postings, Ranguette's 42 Cutts St. triplex has been under police surveillance for more than a year, and the city attorney warned it will remain under scrutiny.
"We've advised the property owners that the conduct represented by their Internet material appears to be a violation of city ordinance and needs to be ceased", said City Attorney Bob Sullivan. "The bottom line is that it's zoned for residential use, and this kind of activity is not considered by the city to be normal residential use of the property".
That activity, as represented online by the Middle Door, includes alternate Saturday night sex parties "for couples and singles to explore themselves, unleash their passions, discover their sensuality, try something new, watch others enjoy, or take part".
Photographs of the interior of the Cutts Street residence, also posted on the site, showcase beds, a "voyeur room" with a swing over a bed, adult items and a downstairs buffet.
According to city documents, State Police Sgt. Richard Mitchell brought the matter to local police Sept. 29, 2005, by forwarding an anonymous, handwritten complaint sent to local state police headquarters. The complaint reported the timing of the swingers parties, directed police to the Middle Door Web site and said "the neighbors want it stopped". It also reported "people arriving in bus-like vehicles from out of state", parking problems and the opinion that charging an attendance fee for swingers – with the exception of single females – constitutes prostitution.
According to city documents, on Oct. 13, 2005, Police Lt. Timothy Brownell took over the investigation and filed with the city pornographic images printed from the Middle Door's Web site, along with explicit photos of people claiming to be party participants.
Public record shows that on March 7, 2006, Sullivan wrote a letter to the Ranguettes reporting city officials learned from "multiple sources" about the "impermissible" use of their residential property. Sullivan explained the residential zoning designation for the neighborhood and reported he was advised that a "social club" was "holding regular meetings" at the address.
"While it would be inappropriate to provide the complete details in this letter, I am in possession of a significant volume of file materials which suggest the Middle Door activities are sexual in nature and involve activities not ordinarily expected to occur in residential neighborhoods", wrote the city attorney.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/special/010407special6.htm To respond, write to: the author at edinan@seacoastonline.com or go to http://www.seacoastconnects.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2269
So long Mom and bye-bye Daddy
by Lori Borgman
McClatchy Newspapers (via The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)
January 2, 2007
If you like hearing yourself called "Mom" or "Dad," you might want to get it on tape. Those days may be rapidly disappearing.
In Spain, all birth certificates have been changed from listing "Mother" and "Father" to "Progenitor A" and "Progenitor B."
The old classic "Daddy's Little Girl" now becomes, "You're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold, you're Progenitor B's little girl to have and hold."
Earlier this year, the Commonwealth of Virginia issued a birth certificate to an adoptive couple that read Parent 1 and Parent 2.
Canadians have erased the term "natural parent" and replaced it with "legal parent."
The roles once determined by a man, a woman and a pregnancy are now increasingly determined by the state.
The Commission on Parenthood's Future, a nonpartisan group of scholars and leaders concerned with marriage, family, law and culture, recently released a white paper titled "The Revolution in Parenthood." The revolution is that the "two-person, mother-father model of parenthood is being fundamentally challenged."
So long, Mom. Bye-bye Daddy.
Polyamorists (meaning "many loves") are also being heard. The Heartland Polyamory Conference was held this fall in French Lick, Ind. I'm not sure how successful it was. Their Web site featured a four-day schedule grid that had only two events listed – lunch and dinner. In any case, polyamorists also are clamoring for recognition in the redefinition of family. Meet the fam, progenitors A, B, C, D, E, ad infinitum.
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To read this entire article, go to: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/16365988.htm To respond, write to: the author at lori@loriborgman.com or the editors at nsletters@news-sentinel.com