Never thought I was going to see the day and it happened rather quietly I think. Christopher Handley was the man in Iowa charged with having obscene materials, which were actually manga. He was sentenced to six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised released and five years of probation to run concurrently. Here's the part that just chaps my ass (ranting to commence in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…):

During Handley's supervised release and probation, Handley must also "participate in a treatment program, to include psychological testing and a polygraph examination, as directed by the U. S. Probation Officer." According to earlier court documents, this last provision is "intended to provide [Handley] with diagnosis and treatment for sexually and/or gender identity or other mental health issues."

Excuse me? You're going to treat "sexual and/or gender identity" with psychological testing and a fucking polygraph examination? Really? Oh yeah, this is the U.S…. what was I thinking. We're not that progressive although we like to think we are.

The seven books/mags/comics were finally listed and it was confirmed there was not any yaoi in that specific batch but that doesn't mean boy characters don't get the same treatment. Don't fool yourselves.  Another interesting note in ANN's article was where he bought his stuff from. Some of it was from JList, the same place I buy my BeBoy Gold from and the same place I know a LOT of people buy yaoi and hentai from. (CORRECTION: He bought "similar" materials from JList, not the specified seven)

If you haven't read the article yet, I suggest you do. It provides a lot of information we were not given before including background information on the defendant himself.

Did you read it? What do you think? Big deal? No big deal? Worried? Could care less? Please share your thoughts in comments.

EDIT: Some new information regarding the trial was added in comments. Please read the comments for clarification on the gender identity issue.

EDIT #2: Made a correction as noted above.

EDIT #3: The comments section is having some issues with the layout in Firefox. There are comments that don't appear to show but it's due to the black background showing through with the black text. Just highlight the comment and you'll see it. I'm going to work on getting this fixed.

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