The Ongoing Redef

A couple of interesting stones embedded in the hillside of the slippery slope down which we are presently tumbling presented themselves to TOF's attention recently.



The first is a bit of news from Germany:

Laws banning incest between brothers and sisters in Germany could be scrapped after a government ethics committee said the they were an unacceptable intrusion into the right to sexual self-determination.

“Criminal law is not the appropriate means to preserve a social taboo,” the German Ethics Council said in a statement. “The fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination is to be weighed more heavily than the abstract idea of protection of the family.” 

That is, nothing should stand between a man and the pleasure of his johnson so long as there is a willing female receptacle. One is especially delighted to see this opinion handed down by an "ethics" committee. What could possibly be next?

Meanwhile, down under in New Zealand, we now have two adult men marrying each other to the outrage of... (are you ready for this?) ...the homosexual community. (h/t Mark Shea)

Travis McIntosh and Matt McCormick wrote their wedding vows yesterday, brimming with"nervous excitement" about their big day.

The Dunedin men will marry tomorrow, but their move has horrified gay groups.

The pair are heterosexual best mates.

Why? (TOF hears you ask) well because the two "mates" (it just means good buddies in Australian) tied the knot because of a newspaper contest to see who would go the furthest to win two tickets to the 2015 World Rugby Cup (apparently a sporting contest of some sort involving football but without any protective equipment).

However, gay rights groups have condemned the union.

Otago University Students' Association Queer Support co-ordinator Neill Ballantyne, of Dunedin, said the wedding was an"insult" because marriage equality was a"hard fought" battle for gay people.

"Something like this trivialises what we fought for." The competition promoted the marriage of two men as something negative,"as something outrageous that you'd never consider", Mr Ballantyne said.

LegaliseLove Aotearoa Wellington co-chairman Joseph Habgood said the competition attacked the legitimacy of same-sex marriages.

Imagine that! Trivializes marriage? Who'da thunk it?
(Yes, yes. The Students' Association has a Queer Support co-ordinator. Who knew?)

This is somewhat reminiscent of a case in England a number of years ago in which two aged sisters wanted to enter into what was then called a Civil Union (because there ain't no slippery slope leading to its being called "marriage") and were denied a license on the basis that they were not lesbians and wanted only to avoid losing the house they had lived in all their lives to British death taxes should one of them die before the other. Imagine: wanting to get married only in order to get some legal benefit! When they were denied a license, they went to the European Court, which upheld the decision.