Same sex couples can now legally marry in California! A domestic partnership option for gay couples was already in place, but the California Supreme Court today struck down state laws that limited marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

That brings the number of states to have legalized gay marriage to a grand total of two (California and Massachusetts), but with the current trend of constitutional amendments being brought in to “defend” the institution of marriage, it’s nice to hear some good news on the queer civil rights front across the border.

If you’re a legal geek like me, or if you’re interested in seeing how judges reach their conclusions, you can read the full text of the court’s decision here.

According to the United Nations, human trafficking is now the third most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world, after weapons and narcotics.

This week’s New Yorker has a piece about a woman in Moldova who works as a repatriation specialist, bringing home the victims of human trafficking. Some of it makes for harrowing reading, but there are also these incredible shows of strength and determination - strength that I can’t imagine holding onto after what some of these women have been through.

It’s also amazing to read about what this organization - called the International Organization for Migration - has achieved, sometimes even tracking down women who call them with no idea what country they’ve been taken to.

The transit strike this weekend in Toronto provided a stark reminder of the value of blue collar workers, so it seems particularly appropriate that today is May Day, otherwise known as International Workers’ Day.

May Day began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago, a result of police attempts to disperse a group of striking workers who were rallying for the implementation of the eight-hour work day. It’s now a formally recognized public holiday in many countries around the world, and is still a focal point for protests. May Day anti-capitalist protests in the UK have often erupted into violence (I remember the news reports from one in particular a few years ago. It was unseasonably warm and sunny, and police panicked and surrounded protesters, refusing to allow them to leave the protest site in London’s city centre) and the US chose to hold its own Labour Day in September partly to break the association.

Our Labour Day in Canada, as in the US, is always the first Monday in September, but May 1st still holds significance here - especially in Quebec where it has been seized upon as a day of protest by trade union groups.

Events organized around May Day in Toronto this year include Mayworks, Toronto’s festival of working people and the arts, and Saturday’s May Day of Action, demanding status for immigrants and refugees. In slightly more unusual May Day happenings, the virtual community Second Life is using it as the launch pad for a new project enabling players to form trade unions - Union Island.

So let’s all take a moment today to remember the workers who fought for the rights and conditions we now enjoy. And to think about the fights we still have ahead of us: for longer paid maternity leave, for national daycare, and for equal pay.

I’ve been a little wary of comedians since one I gave a mediocre write-up to last year accused me of being a lesbian with no sense of humour.

I worry about this trend in comedy lately of stand-ups trying to be as “edgy” and close to the bone as possible. Nobody wants to own up to their discomfort for fear of looking like a bad sport.

I feel like it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. British comedian Johnny Vegas dragged a woman in her late teens up on stage last week and groped her breasts without consent, in an “act” that sounds like it went on for a good few minutes. Nobody intervened when he started pulling up her skirt, even though she tried to pull it back down again, and nobody intervened when he climbed on top of her and started kissing her. Everyone just sat and watched the whole thing unfold, until finally the opening comedian came on stage and covered them both with his coat.

The article above doesn’t mince words in its condemnation of Vegas, but other reviews of the set have expressed only mild discomfort, or praised Vegas to the skies for his genius in making his middle class audience uncomfortable. I’m basically too outraged for words.

Naomi Alderman finds something to love about the new Grand Theft Auto in The Guardian today, debunking claims that it is “horrifically violent, verging on pornographic, and that a majority of the gameplay is taken up with finding creative ways to murder prostitutes.” Her own enjoyment of the game, she says, come from the incredible graphics and the quality of the gameplay.

Okay, fair enough, but the object of the game is still to shoot people and win gang wars, right? I find it hard to fathom why so many intelligent people insist on defending this game, whose major appeal I once heard summarized as, “you can sleep with a prostitute and then shoot her so you don’t have to pay.”

Creative, indeed.