Yes, that’s right! Because it is so difficult for heterosexual people to find support, advocacy, and information about their sexuality, Texas has decided that if colleges or universities fund LGBT awareness programs, they must also provide an equivalent program that promotes “traditional moral values”. This means that if your school has an Ally or other diversity training, they will have to provide an equivalent program to train people about what it means to be straight. I mean, there are certainly no relationship models for straight people anywhere in pop culture, media, politics, academia, religion, business, or any other facet of society, so it is obvious that we need dedicated, focused outreach to really help educate Americans about what it means to be straight.

“Republican Representative Wayne Christian’s budget amendment was approved with a lopsided 110 to 24 vote, The Dallas Morning News reported. The amendment would force state colleges and universities using state funds to promote diversity programs based on sexuality or gender to spend an equal amount of money to promote “family and traditional values.”” Read the rest of the article.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
(Columbus, OH) — NLA-International, a leading organization for activists in the pansexual leather community, is now accepting nominations for its annual writing awards for excellence in SM/leather/fetish writing for books, articles, novels, and short fiction first published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2010. The deadline for nominations is 31 January 2011. Winners will be announced on April 17 at the National Leather Association’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Spring Iniquity XX (April 15-17, 2011) in Houston, TX and mark the National Leather Association’s 25th anniversary. The five award categories are:

Non-Fiction Book (Geoff Mains Award)
Non-Fiction Article (Cynthia Slater Award)
Novel (Pauline Reage Award)
Short Fiction (John Preston Award)
Anthology (Samois Award)

Nominations for the Cynthia Slater Award (non-fiction article) may have appeared in print or online publications (which should indicate a specific date of publication). Eligibility for all other awards (short fiction, novel, non-fiction book, and anthology) requires print publication. If you or someone you know has published a book, article, or story dealing with any aspect of SM, leather, fetish, or kink sexuality please consider nominating it for one of the above awards. Authors and publishers are encouraged to nominate themselves by submitting copies of their work. Nominated works should foster education and promote awareness and a positive image of the leather/SM/fetish community. They should entertain and educate, while building awareness and tolerance of the community and showcasing the talents of its members. There are no submission fees, but the judges will require either three print copies of the nominated work or a digital copy (PDF). Nominations may be sent to the committee chair, Steve Vakesh, at: stevevakesh@gmail.com.

NLA-I has convened an award jury of nine readers, whose number include noted erotic writers and leading community activists. The judges are rotated regularly and their names withheld until after judging is complete to prevent lobbying by nominees. Last year they reviewed more than 100 submissions.

Now in their fourth year, the NLA-I’s writing awards have received widespread appreciation and support. A “leather first,” they have become the preeminent awards for SM, leather, and fetish writing. Past winners include Gloria Brame, Jack Fritscher, Lee “Bridgett” Harrington, Anneke Jacob, Jeff Mann, Jack Rinella, david stein, Cecilia Tan, Claire Thompson, and Alyson Tyler. NLA-I President Vince Andrews hopes that these awards will “continue to recognize, celebrate, and inspire the best in SM, leather, and fetish writing as the NLA celebrates its 25th anniversary.”

Two things I love about this video- the intentional milisecond before the censor bar slides up and hides his digidick, and the bing! sound effect it makes when they are ready to get down to business

It’s like having an experienced kinky teacher (and not just anyone… we’re talking Jay Wiseman, Dylan Ryan, and GrayDancer to name a few) to meet with you, whenever and wherever you want, to talk about an ever-expanding range of topics, from beginner’s bondage and sex ed on to more advanced play and techniques, and also overarching subjects like safety and communication. The organizational structure, where you can follow an established curriculum, view standalone videos, or follow video series like “Tie ‘em Up and Fuck ‘em” (my personal favorite) or “Full Contact Dom”, is particularly impressive and stands out from other sources of kink information on the web today.

There are limits, of course, to what you can learn through video, and Kink Academy instructors are the first to acknowledge that. But if you’re looking for a springboard to expand your kinky horizons, or perhaps looking for a way to delight and inspire others with the gift of learning, I can think of no place better to start.

Yep, nothin but win here. Move along now, nothin to see but win.

Hell, one might even think of it as an ancient attempt at providing the faithful with Bad BDSM Advice (<— awesome kinky webcomic!)