Friday Linkdump is working long hours

Taking the world's shortest lunch today on account of crunch time. Fortunately, I have some delicious links here with the bit of trail mix I found in my desk.

At least, I hope that was trail mix...

- I haven't posted anything about the Readercon harassment incident, and the convention failing to uphold its own harassment policy, largely because a) I was not in attendance, and b) lots of people have pretty much already said some incredibly useful things. Of those folks giving commentary, though, two really stand out for me: John Scalzi and Catherynne Valente. Also of interest, Jim C. Hines' list of resources for dealing with harassment in the SF/F community.

- A wolf preserve in Portugal is raising money to save their center. If you've got a little bit of cash to spare, you might consider dropping a few bucks their way.

- Same-Sex Marriage Unanimously Included In DNC Platform
This falls into the category of pleasant surprises for me. Thank you, DNC, for finally standing up for marriage equality.

- Biblical Standards for Marriage
Speaking of marriage equality, a friend sent me this incredibly cogent examination of standards for marriage within the Bible. It rather brilliantly points out something that really should be self-evident: that what makes a "marriage" tends to be changeable, both cross-culturally and over time, and that there's no single biblical standard. She doesn't touch much on the Leviticus issue, or Paul's commentary, though both of those have fairly easy rebuttals in my view ("How's the scampi, blended fibers, and shaving working out for you?" and "Something, something, slavery and stoning, something..." respectively). Of course, as another friend pointed out, the real rebuttal here should simply boil down to one of church and state. Civil rights are civil rights, and should not be impinged upon because a religious text says so, or appears to say so.

- The RIAA knew SOPA and PIPA were useless, yet supported them anyway
Unsurprised end user is unsurprised.

- Not A Feminist? Caitlin Moran Asks, Why Not?
The article includes this quote from the book, which is surprisingly hard to argue with: "What part of liberation for women is not for you? Is it the freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man that you marry? The campaign for equal pay? Vogue by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that stuff just get on your nerves?"

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com