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An academic has enraged homosexuals with his claim that recipients of the sperm of gay donors should be told that a "gay gene" could be passed on to the child. The suggestion has been dismissed as pathetic by a gay rights organisation. Genetics experts, however, generally agree there is evidence of a genetic component to sexual orientation – but argue the link is complex and ill-defined. After a complaint to the Human Rights Commission, New Zealand's biggest fertility service, Fertility Associates, has decided to accept sperm from gay men – previously barred because of a supposed higher HIV risk. Responding...

Male U.S. representatives with daughters are more likely to vote in favor of abortion rights and "more liberally on a range of women's issues" than male representatives without daughters, according to a working paper published this month in the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Washington Post reports. Ebonya Washington of Yale University examined the 105th Congress members' familial compositions and the National Organization for Women's ratings of its male members. The ratings, which are based on members' votes on 20 women's issues, range from zero -- which means they consistently vote against NOW's position -- to 100 -- which...

New studies confirm that women suffer serious side effects after aborting. The first victim of abortion is the unborn child. And for years some women's groups and pro-life activists have drawn attention to the negative effects on the women involved. Recent research on the psychological impact of abortion shows that it raises the risk of mental health problems, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Jan. 3. A New Zealand study, carried out by David Fergusson of the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, was described by the newspaper as "the most detailed long-term study to date into the divisive question."...

As a House manager in Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment case, Asa Hutchinson stood before U.S. senators and pleaded for the group, which included his brother, to turn the president out of office for lies told in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. Now that Hutchinson wants to be Arkansas governor, his role in Clinton's prosecution doesn't rate a footnote in the Republican candidate's official campaign biography or a mention in most political gatherings. "It's something that's a historical fact but it's also something that's in the past," Hutchinson said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "It's a burden...

Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the February 12, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer NOT everyone was pleased with the way former US Vice President Al Gore was given "celebrity" treatment when he spoke as a crusader against global warming in Manila. Two scientists from the University of the Philippines yesterday lamented how Gore's "doomsday" pronouncements apparently received more attention than the more detailed analyses and solutions offered by Filipino environmental experts. They also challenged and branded as "exaggerated" what the former US leader said about Manila Bay "overflowing" because of the greenhouse effect. Too much use...

Proponents of a petition legalizing small amounts of marijuana launched their campaign Tuesday, recruiting volunteers, serving snacks and urging Nevada voters to support a "tax-and-regulate" proposal on the November ballot. "Our marijuana laws don't work," said Neal Levine, executive director of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana. The group is largely funded by the Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. This is the latest in a string of legalization efforts backed by the group. In 2002, Nevada voters overwhelmingly rejected a petition that would have legalized up to 3 ounces of marijuana. A similar petition failed to qualify for the...

Bob Barker pleaded with city officials to close the Los Angeles Zoo's pachyderm exhibit and allow its three elephants to retire to a sanctuary. Appearing jovial when he arrived at Friday's City Council meeting, the veteran game show host and longtime animal rights activist turned serious when he began to talk about the zoo's elephants, Gita, Ruby and Billy. "I came here today to ask, to beg you ... to vote to release those elephants from that zoo," Barker said. "They have lived in misery." Gita and Ruby are ill, leaving only Billy on display. A fourth elephant, Tara, died...

A red-faced auction house was forced to withdraw a letter it believed was written and signed by the late President Ronald Reagan while he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease after it discovered it was a forgery. The autographed letter was supposed to be auctioned off this month, but Bill Panagopulos, president of Alexander Autographs in Greenwich, Conn., told CBSNews.com the letter was withdrawn after the forger came forward and admitted his handiwork. Originally it was believed Reagan wrote the note to a friend in February of 1998, about four years after he mostly disappeared from public view following his announcement...

TORY chairman Francis Maude yesterday accused Margaret Thatcher's governments of hounding his gay brother into his grave. He blamed homophobic Tory policies for driving gay men into ghettos. Charles Maude died, aged 42, from an Aids-related illness in 1993. Francis said: "If the government had been more willing to recognise gays...a lot of people like my brother would not have succumbed to HIV and lost their lives."