Disturbing story from the USA, text taken from ToTheCenter.com:

“The Supreme Court today decided against an animal cruelty law which would have criminalized having photographs or video depicting animal cruelty. And why? To save free speech.

The Supreme Court ruled that to allow such a law would step on the First Amendment, which promises free speech. The ruling passed in an 8-1 vote.

The vote by the Justices overturned a conviction for a man who had been selling dog-fighting videos, according to the LA Times.

The original law had been passed back in 1999, when a surge of dominatrix videos were being sold showing women stepping on and killing small animals. The law was mostly overlooked, but had recently gained attention again when some lawyers used it to fight dog fight videos.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. defended the decision by stating that the government does not have the right to outlaw or criminalize certain subjects of free speech just because some people did not like the photos/videos. The one opposing vote came from Justice Samuel Alito.”

Well, all the Dommes I know are, without exception, animal lovers. None would dream of harming any being, human or otherwise, who couldn’t give consent. Of all the BDSM activities condemned by mainstream society, I’m saddened that one of the very few deemed now to be “okay” is crushing animals to death for fun. It’s negative publicity like this that makes it all the more difficult to explain to outsiders that we kinky folk are actually, on the whole, very nice people!

(image courtesy of Fibrilliform)