Wingnut Alert!

I love the Illinois Family Institute.

No, really. Any time Rod Blagojevich has me wondering why I'm a Democrat, or whether my life has a purpose, all I have to do is open up one of the e-mails from IFI, and suddenly I'm renewed.

Take today, for instance. Today's e-mail had the catchy title "Illinois Library Pulls Porn DVD."

PORN? In our libraries? Shocking.

So, I read through the article, expecting to find out that "Behind the Green Door" had somehow slipped onto the shelves of the Bloomington Public Library. But nowhere in the article was the name of the film mentioned.

Only when I read the comments did I find that some other reader had also done some digging, and determined that the offending title was....

Shortbus.

I know, odd name for a porn flick, right?

As it turns out, Shortbus is an independent Canadian film from 2006 that was nominated for 11 independent film awards and won six.

About the film:

"Numerous New York City-dwellers come to the exclusive club Shortbus to work out problems in their sexual relationships. Rob and Sophia are a happily married couple, except for the fact that she has never experienced sexual climax. This irony follows her to work, because she is a couples counselor who frequently has to deal with the sexual issues other couples have. Two of her patients are Jamie and James, a gay couple who have been monogamous for five years and counting. James wants to bring other men in to the relationship, and his own history with depression may hint at an ulterior motive. Ceth (Pronounced like Seth) may be the perfect addition to their family, but Caleb, a voyeur from across the street, may have his own ideas about that. Sophia visits Severin, a dominatrix with secrets of her own to reveal."

Now, I can understand why the Illinois Family Institute would find any mention of monogamous gay couples offensive. And while the film was unrated in the U.S., it was rated "R" in Canada and given similar ratings in every other country where it was released.

Every other country except Singapore, where it was banned. You know Singapore -- where they don't have jury trials, beating someone with a cane is considered justice, executions are an everyday occurrence, and state-sanctioned censorship is okee-dokee.

Congrats to the IFI and Bloomington library for joining Singapore. Fantastic company.