Denmark PM Sets Date Marriage Equality Legalized

Excellent news! As I blogged about last October, the Government of Denmark has announced that it will be enacting marriage equality in the near future, and today comes word that the date will be June 15th, 2012.

At her weekly press conference, Tuesday, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the government is putting the finishing touches to a bill that will come into force on June 15th, allowing homosexuals and lesbians to walk down the aisle in the church of their choice – if they can find a priest who’s willing to conduct the ceremony.

“It will always be up to the individual priest as to whether he or she is prepared to bless gay couples but this legislation provides homosexuals with the same rights as heterosexuals,” said the PM.

Way back in 1989, Denmark was the very first country in the world to have state-sponsored recognition of same-sex couples when they enacted registered partnerships, which was essentially what we would now call civil unions or comprehensive domestic partnerships. Now, there are well over a half-dozen countries which have full marriage equality, led by the Netherlands in 2000 and followed by Canada, Argentina, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden and Norway.

Denmark is a European country of 5.5 million people, about the size of Minnesota or Wisconsin. When Maryland and Washington defend their marriage equality laws at the ballot box later this year, even more people (5.8 million and 6.8 million, respectively) will gain access to marriage equality.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

SUCCULENT SUNDAY: Argyroderma, pale Martian globes with purple topknot

Also posted at SentientMeat.Net

This Argyroderma startled me the other day. I hadn't noticed the bud forming until it I saw its shocking purple petals fully unfurled and sticking straight up.

Argyroderma grown by Mr Sentient Meat

You'll have to take my word that this flower is a purple of such intensity and depth that I've rarely seen a color to rival it. Cameras have a hard time capturing intense magenta and deep purple; my camera is no exception. In real life the petals are a much darker, deeper purple—rather than the hot magenta in this photo. You almost begin to doubt your own eyesight... as if someone has fiddled with the color knobs of the world.

Argyroderma, same bloom fully open the following day

Argyroderma is native to the quartz fields of the Knersvlakte north of Vanrhynsdorp in southern Namaqualand, in South Africa's Northern Cape. All known species in Argyroderma are from this same region.

Like all its relatives known by the monickers "Split Rock" or "Living Stone", Argyroderma is a mesemb—a member of the ice plant family Aizoaceae, formerly Mesembryanthemaceae. Try saying that 3 times fast. I have yet another geeky confession: sometimes I walk around the house repeating this family name to myself: mess-emm-bree-ann-them-AY-see-ee. If I had to explain myself, I guess I'm practicing so that I don't stumble if I have to say it in public. Try it again yourself: meh-semm-bree-ann-theh-MAY-see-ee.

This particular plant was sold to me as Argyroderma 'Purple'. I'm guessing it's cultivated from Argyroderma delaetii, a solitary species which in Nature can have white, yellow, purple, or occasionally even red flowers—in the same population.

Argyroderma blooming in habitat, photo by Etwin Aslander

See Also

Argyroderma delaetii at CactusArt.Biz 

Court, Doreen. (Third Edition, 2010). Succulent Flora of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Publishers. ISBN-10: 1770075879. ISBN-13: 978-1770075870.

Map of Status of Gay Rights in Africa

Joe.My.God links to this interesting map about the state of the law towards homosexuality throughout Africa, provided by ILGA.

Interestingly, friend of MadProfessah.com, Rod McCollum is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for an international AIDS conference and is posting some amazing first person reports of his trip on his blog, Rod 2.0. Check it out!