Olympians, the establishment and the Swedish snow penis

Your Daily Package of newsy and naughty bits from around the world


The great Swedish snow penis

When Swedish man Emilian Sava scrubbed away a penis drawn in the snow on a local canal, he didn’t realize he was upsetting an online community of snow penis lovers. Fortunately, he made it up to them by drawing a much, much larger one.

Read more at the CBC.

Olympics open to trans people

Outsports reports that new guidelines from the International Olympic Committee opens the door to trans athletes, including trans women who have not had surgery. That’s good news for trans triathlete Chris Mosier, who will now be free to compete in Rio in 2016.

Who are you calling “establishment”?

After the Human Rights Campaign and several other progressive organizations endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, Bernie Sanders struck back by dismissing the groups as “the establishment.” Is the HRC a grassroots activist organization, or the representative of “big gay?” Either way, says Kerry Eleveld at Daily Kos, they may have given away key leverage for the LGBT community.

UK couple sues for heterosexual civil partnerships

While gay couples in the UK can now get married, heterosexual couples cannot get civil unions, an institution that was made specifically for gay couples. A straight couple, however, is now going to going to England’s high court to sue for the right to get a civil union because they reject what they call the “patriarchal” system of marriage.

Read more at the Guardian.

British MP: I use poppers

A British MP told the House of Commons he uses poppers, and urged parliament not to ban them. “I out myself as a popper user and would be directly affected by this legislation, and I am astonished to find it is proposing to be banned — so would very many other gay men,” said Crispin Blunt. The government is considering a broad anti-drugs bill that would ban nearly any substance with psychoactive properties except for alcohol and tobacco.

 

Read more at BuzzFeed.

Niko Bell

Niko Bell is a writer, editor and translator from Vancouver. He writes about sexual health, science, food and language.

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