Jen posted about Texas’ “obscene device law” back in October, when the Supreme Court refused to consider whether the law is unconstitutional.

Marti found this Dildo Diaries video (it’s an eleven-minute edit of the full documentary) at YouTube. If you can’t look at dildos online at work, don’t watch it. But come back when you get home.

“Anti-gay blogger charged with inciting murder”: A French man accused of advocating the killing of gay people on a Web log has been charged with incitement of murder in the Caribbean island of Martinique…

“Edwards slammed for hiring pro-gay bloggers”: Two bloggers hired recently by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards were criticized Tuesday by a Catholic group for posts they had written elsewhere on the Internet…

If you didn’t tune in to the Super Bowl last night, here’s one of the commercials you missed:

King Kaufman reports there was another similarly homophobic ad after that one:

Two ads after the Snickers spot, a CBS ad for “Survivor” showed some guy saying, “Me and Richard became friends — not in a homosexual way.”

You know, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

AOL Sports Blog points to the commentary on Tony Dungy’s post game speech found over at OutSports:

Sorry, Tony Dungy and Colts owner Jim Irsay – God did not want you to win the game. If such a deity exists, he/she/it has bigger things to worry about.

Irsay and Dungy’s overt prostelyzing was nauseating, made even worse by Dungy’s upcoming appearance before an anti-gay Christian group. This kind of in-your-face God-squadding suggests that they are in some way superior, and they need to be called on it.

As a friend wrote me about Dungy after the game: “He is the sort of fundamentalist who truly believes that his way is the only way and thus wants to shove it down everyone’s throat, and feels further emboldened by a meaningless football victory that he feels infuses him with even greater legitimacy.”

Read my previous post on Tony Dungy’s upcoming attendance at an Indiana Family Institute special event dinner here.

Dr. Gao Yaojie has been placed under house arrest so that she cannot attend Vital Voices Global Partnership’s annual awards ceremony, where she would be honored for helping AIDS sufferers.

Dr. Gao Yaojie has been confined to her apartment in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou since Feb. 1, according to her friend, Hu Jia, himself a well-known advocate for Chinese AIDS patients. Friends and relatives of Dr. Gao who have tried to visit her found police officers outside her apartment, Mr. Hu said. Dr. Gao, 79, is apparently being confined alone.

“Now her phone is cut off,” said Mr. Hu, who has spoken to members of Dr. Gao’s family. “She can’t even call out for help if something goes wrong.”

The awards ceremony will be held on March 14th in DC. Senator Clinton is an honorary co-chairwoman of Vital Voices Global Partnership, a group that invests in women leaders.

Via TheLawyer.com:

Sullivan claims that Charney broke his attorney-client privilege, bringing the 125-year-old firm into disrepute when he published his grievances on a website, greedyassociates.com, before officially bringing them to firm management.

…snip….

Sullivan is also claiming that Charney stole and leaked documents to the press.

Previous posts here, here, here and here.

ETA:

The New York Sun reports in more detail: “[Sullivan & Cromwell] also suggested that Mr. Charney stole proprietary documents from an office adjacent to his, and then leaked them to the Wall Street Journal.” (Heel click: ATL)

UPDATE:

Read the Sullivan & Cromwell v. Charney complaint here.

Rachel Samantha Smith and Rachel Lacy Crites, two teens reported missing on Jan. 19th, have been found dead in a car belonging to the family of one of the girls.

Investigators said they had no evidence of foul play in the teens’ disappearance. In a statement released Jan. 22 by Montgomery County police, detectives from the Family Crimes Division said they were “concerned about the mental state of both girls and want to make certain that the teens know that whatever concerns or problems they may be facing can be worked out.”

Their concern stemmed in part from a diary entry made by Crites that, according to WRC-TV, read: “Wherever I end up laying, whether buried or cremated, I want to stay with my true love, buried next to her. This is my choice. I’m sorry.”

The Washington Post reports the deaths appear to be suicides. NBC4 shared that the girls may have made a suicide pact in an article published on January 22nd.

(Heel click: The Republic of T.)

John Scheich has stepped down from his position as the president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Law Association (which he had only been elected to days ago) over comments he made about Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell shortly after Aaron Charney filed his complaint against Sullivan & Cromwell.

In a January 18 ABC news story, John Scheich, the first-vice president of LeGaL, stated that “Sullivan Cromwell is far from prejudiced in any way” and that “I don’t know Aaron Charney or the details of his case, but if I had to line up on one side or the other, I would have to line up with David H. Braff [an openly gay partner at the firm] and Sullivan Cromwell.”

Law.com reports that “Scheich said he disaffirmed his statement to ABC and apologized to Charney.”

It seems the weird behavior from the Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell parties witnessed on Friday was not a sign that we’d be seeing a settlement soon.

News emailed to Above The Law by a reader:

Sullivan & Cromwell filed its own action against Charney [yesterday] — and it was started by an order to show cause seeking a preliminary injunction!!!!

The case is on for next Thursday, February 8, before Judge Bernard Fried.

I think this means the case is far from settling, if S&C started their own lawsuit. I will try to get my hands on the complaint.

That’s right, it’s now Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell and Sullivan & Cromwell v. Charney.

That’s index number 600333/2007.

Updates will continue.

Initiative 957, an initiative requiring all married couples to file “proof of procreation” within three years of a marriage, was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance in response to a ruling made by the Washington Supreme Court last year stating gay and lesbian couples could be prevented from marrying by the state because Washington has a legitimate interest in preserving marriage for couples who can procreate. I-957 has been accepted by Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed.

A press release from the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance states that I-957 would:

• add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage;
• require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled;
• require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “unrecognized;”
• establish a process for filing proof of procreation; and
• make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

I-957 needs 224,800 signatures by July 6th to make it on to the November ballot.

Today’s New York Post reports that Dina Matos McGreevey will not “make any divorce deals with her homosexual hubby until they resolve their ‘profound differences about what [their] daughter should be exposed to.’” James McGreevey filed for divorce from Dina Matos McGreevey yesterday.

(Heel click: Viviane’s Sex Carnival)