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Helen Mirren has described the traumatic moment that influenced her decision not to have children. The Oscar winning actress revealed in a new interview that a sex education film she watched as a convent school girl was so "disgusting" it put her off motherhood for life. She said: "I went to a single sex convent school, and even in Biology classes we weren't taught about sexual reproduction. I was about 13, 14, just at that age where you begin to be self conscious about your physicality and about boys and all of that. "They sat us all down, girls and...

"Mom and Dad" as well as "husband and wife" have been banned from California schools under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who with his signature also ordered public schools to allow boys to use girls restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa, if they choose. "We are shocked and appalled that the governor has blatantly attacked traditional family values in California," said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute. "With this decision, Gov. Schwarzenegger has told parents that their values are irrelevant. Many parents will have no choice but to pull their children out of the public...

Some residents of a gay-oriented retirement community have worries that adding too many straight neighbors might reopen the closet door. ___ SANTA FE, N.M. -- The first generation of openly gay Americans chalked up a lot of firsts -- a gay-rights march in Washington, openly gay politicians in national office and out-of-the-closet actors on sitcoms. And now, this generation will be the first to have, just in time for its twilight years, gay senior condo communities. It's an extension of the gay ghetto, this time with walkers. But at RainbowVision, a development that opened last year on the edge of...

Those guffaws floating over Colorado on Sunday morning didn’t come from the comic strips in the newspaper but from the Sports section. With stunning velocity, Denver Bronco Travis Henry is racking up statistics not usually charted in professional sports; he has scored nine illegitimate kids with nine different women. Henry is outdistanced, however, by former NBA Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy who had 14 out-of-wedlock children by nine women. Of course both are lapped by super-stud and premier athlete Seattle Slew, the Triple Crown winner who begat 1,066. But in contrast, Slew’s progeny were planned and a source of pride celebrated...

DUBAI (Reuters) - A one-legged Emirati father of 78 is lining up his next two wives in a bid to reach his target of 100 children by 2015, Emirates Today reported on Monday.Daad Mohammed Murad Abdul Rahman, 60, has already had 15 brides although he has to divorce them as he goes along to remain within the legal limit of four wives at a time."In 2015 I will be 68 years old and will have 100 children," the local tabloid quoted Abdul Rahman as saying."After that I will stop marrying. I have to have at least three more marriages to...

Proponents of same-sex marriage have introduced a ballot measure that would require heterosexual couples to have a child within three years or have their marriages annulled. The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance acknowledged on its Web site that the initiative was "absurd" but hoped the idea prompts "discussion about the many misguided assumptions" underlying a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a ban on same-sex marriage. The measure would require couples to prove they can have children to get a marriage license. Couples who do not have children within three years could have their marriages annulled.

New Jersey towns have figured out a way to sidestep the highest property taxes in the U.S. Keep children out. Educating a child in New Jersey costs an average of $12,567 a year, the most in the nation and more than double the property tax parents typically pay. So local governments have hit upon a way to expand the tax base without the expense of higher enrollment: age-restricted housing. New Jersey developers have responded by building an estimated one-fifth of the country's adults-only housing, making the state the leader in a national trend spurred by baby boomers seeking new homes...

Very obese women should be denied fertility treatment, experts say. The British Fertility Society is recommending women with a body mass index of 36 and over should not be allowed access to fertility treatment. Underweight women and those classed just as obese (BMI over 29) should be forced to address their weight before starting treatment, the society said. NHS guidelines say overweight women should be warned of the health risks, but do not impose any ban on treatment. Being overweight can put both the health of the mother and child at risk through problems such as gestational diabetes and high...

PROVINCETOWN Town leaders here are holding a public meeting today to air concerns about slurs and bigoted behavior. And this time, they say, it's gay people who are displaying intolerance. Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called "breeders" by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said. ...though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes. ......[T]ensions are rising in part because of strong feelings about same-sex marriage. ...A group...

Scientists attending a conference in Oslo, Norway to discuss threats to the global ecology placed pop star Britney Spears' rapid reproductive pace at the top of their agenda, conference attendees confirmed today. While the conference had originally been organized to bring the world's greatest scientific minds together to grapple with such problems as global warming and avian flu, news of Ms. Spears' unexpected second pregnancy immediately pushed those issues to the back burner. Many of the scientists' concerns focused on the alarming fertility of Ms. Spears' husband, Kevin Federline, who appears to be able to reproduce at will. "According to...

Economically, every society needs children. Children are the producers of the future This means that children are in a sense a necessary economic good. A society that does not produce enough children, or that cannot produce enough children who grow into economically productive adults, is doomed to poverty. Every long-term investment we make, whether in the private or public sector, is predicated on the idea that there will be a future generation which will actually produce a return. It doesn't matter what economic or political system rules the present, it will need children to secure its future. Even the most...

"We can't be breeding right now," says Les Knight. "It's obvious that the intentional creation of another [human being] by anyone anywhere can't be justified today." Knight is the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, an informal network of people dedicated to phasing out the human race in the interest of the health of the Earth. Knight, whose convictions led him to get a vasectomy in the 1970s, when he was 25, believes that the human race is inherently dangerous to the planet and inevitably creates an unsustainable situation. "As long as there's one breeding couple," he says cheerfully,...

Breederville.com, Online Animal Auctions & Marketplace, Launches Media Upload to Auction Listings Breederville.com's new Media Upload feature is a free service that gives auction listers a powerful new sales tool to show buyers the value of their animal bloodline or breed. Breederville.com, Online Animal Auctions & Marketplace, Launches Media Upload to Auction Listings --(PR.COM)-- Breederville.com, Online Animal Auctions and Market Place has launched valuable new sales tools for their community members. Auction listers can now upload: - media files to show buyers their animals listed for sale - documents for buyers to review health or coggins papers - references for...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - In the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians, Thuraya Eshbear wields a powerful weapon. Babies. At 35, this wisp of a woman has 13 children, from 20 years down to 10 months. Though she can't afford to school them all, though she rarely has a minute to herself, she would gladly bear more. "I have many children so that the Palestinian people will have more than the Israelis," says Eshbear, a $37-a-week cleaner in the maternity ward of Gaza City's biggest hospital. Here, on any given day, dozens of other Palestinian women are doing their part...

Watch out, "American Idol." San Francisco's first "Gay Pride Idol" makes her debut at today's big parade and rally -- only guess what? She's not gay. Or lesbian, bisexual or transgender, for that matter. She's straight. And boy, are some people ticked. "It is a huge slap in the face," fumed one losing "Pride Idol" contestant. "Completely outraged," another Pride-proud woman from Corte Madera wrote in an e-mail to parade organizers. "This should have been an opportunity for someone . . . who lives their life as a Queer and feels the joys and the pain of being Queer." Those...

Man says he was fired for being straight April 23, 2002 By TONY WILSON Staff Writer Claiming he was fired because he is heterosexual, a Hightstown man has filed a discrimination lawsuit against his former employer, the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation of New Brunswick. The lawsuit of Michael Campbell, of the 300 block of South Main Street, also names the Mercer County HIV Consortium and St. Francis Medical Center, as co-defendants. Claiming he was a victim of "internal politics" between the agencies, his state Superior Court lawsuit further asserts that Campbell was told by a supervisor that he was looked...