Soviet Union in 1920s: Scientific, not utopian
By Leslie Feinberg


During the 1920s, in the first decade of the Russian Revolution, signs that the struggle to build socialism could make enormous social gains in sexual freedom--even in a huge mostly agricultural country barely freed from feudalism, then ravaged by imperialist war and torn asunder by civil war--were apparent.

The Russian Revolution breathed new life into the international sexual reform movement, the German Homosexual Emancipation Movement, and the revolutionary struggle as a whole in Germany and around the world.

It was a historic breakthrough when the Soviet Criminal Code was established in 1922 and amended in 1926, and homosexuality was not included as an offense. The code also applied to other republics, including the Ukrainian Republics. Only sex with youths under the age of 16, male and female prostitution and pandering were listed. Soviet law did not criminalize the person being prostituted, but those who exploited them.

For example, author Dan Healey states, "The revolutionary regime repeatedly declared that women who sold their bodies were victims of economic exploitation, not to be criminalized, and campaigns to discourage them from taking up sex work were launched." The growth of prostitution had of course been spurred by the chaos and dislocation of people accompanying war.


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Iowans apathetic(sic) about gay marriage


DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A new polls suggests that most Iowans want to keep the state's ban on gay marriage in place.

That is if they can be bothered to care about the issue at all.

A copyright poll in The Des Moines Register finds that nearly two-thirds of Iowans want to keep the state's ban on gay marriage.


But less than half want the same ban in the U.S. Constitution