South Carolina Sued for Choosing Gender of Intersex Foster Child, Performing Surgery: VIDEO

A South Carolina couple is suing the state after it made the unprecedented decision to perform irreversible and unnecessary sexual-reassignment surgery on a toddler in its care who was born intersex, WSFA reports:

Mark and Pam Crawford, adoptive parents of the now 8-year-old child, spoke to the media Tuesday morning about the lawsuits filed in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center and other advocates in federal and state courts.

The Crawfords say the child was born with intersex condition, which means a person is born with a sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the definition of a typical man or woman.

The suit alleges the South Carolina Department of Social Services decided to perform "dangerous and mutilating surgery" in April, 2006. The decision to make the 16-month old a girl took away the child's right to choose his or her sexual identity later in life, the suit states.

Named in the suit are the Department of Social Services, The Medical University of South Carolina, Greenville Health System and several other caregivers.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Mark Sanford Wins South Carolina Congressional Race: VIDEO

Anti-gay, 'traditional marriage' defending, adulterous trespasser and Republican former Governor Mark Sanford has won his election to the 1st Congressional district House seat.

Said Sanford: "I just want to acknowledge a God not just of second chances, but of third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth chances ... because that's the reality of our shared humanity."

Congratulations, South Carolina.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

National Republicans Dump Mark Sanford

Following reports that his ex-wife caught him trespassing, the NRCC has cut ties with former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who is running for a special 1st District Congressional seat, Politico reports:

Blindsided by news that Sanford’s ex-wife has accused him of trespassing and concluding he has no plausible path to victory, the National Republican Congressional Committee has decided not to spend more money on Sanford’s behalf ahead of the May 7 special election.

“Mark Sanford has proven he knows what it takes to win elections. At this time, the NRCC will not be engaged in this special election,” said Andrea Bozek, an NRCC spokeswoman.

Mark Sanford's Ex-Wife Allegedly Caught Him Trespassing

It looks as though anti-gay, 'traditional marriage' defending, Republican former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who left office over and extramarital affair and is now running in a special election for the state's 1st Congressional District seat, may be toast again.

The AP reports:

Documents acquired by The Associated Press Tuesday say Jenny Sanford confronted her ex-husband leaving her South Carolina home on Feb. 3. Her attorney filed a complaint the next day and she confirms the documents are authentic.

In them, she says he was using his cellphone as a flashlight as he left. The couple's divorce settlement says neither may enter the other's home without permission.

Sanford has been ordered to appear in court two days after his election.

Anti-Gay Congressman Tim Scott Chosen to Replace Jim DeMint

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) has been chosen to join the U.S. Senate by Governor Nikki Haley as a replacement for outgoing Senator Jim DeMint who is leaving to join the Heritage Foundation.

Right Wing Watch reports:

Scott was elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave after defeating Strom Thurmond’s son in the GOP primary with backing from Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin.  He’s considered a rising star in the party -- after the 2012 election he was elected to serve as the liaison to leadership for the rising sophomore class.  Like DeMint, he embraces both the Religious Right’s anti-gay, anti-choice social agenda and the Tea Party’s anti-government, anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda.  No wonder he’s a Fox News favorite – and no wonder Fred Barnes, writing in the Weekly Standard, calls Scott an “ideal replacement” for DeMint.

Scott holds particular appeal for conservatives after this year’s elections in which people of color overwhelmingly supported President Obama.  If appointed, Scott would become the only African American member of the U.S. Senate.  In 2010, he was one of 15 black conservative candidates backed by “Operation Black Storm,” a project of Alan Keyes’ Patriot PAC.  Only Scott and Allen West were elected. Scott shares West’s politics but not his tendency to spout ridiculous rhetoric about President Obama being a Marxist tyrant. That may be one reason West will soon be a former member of Congress and Scott may soon be a U.S. Senator.

And David Badash notes that Scott is known as the “Chick-Fil-A Teavangelical” because it was there that he met a born-again Christian who shaped his life.

News: Dianne Feinstein, Indiana Poll, Kelly Clarkson, UKIP

As of this writing, almost 50,000 people have signed a petition calling on the White House to designate Westboro Baptist a hate group.

South Carolina's Rock Hill Herald apologized after running an advertisement for guns next to a news story about the shooting. "Advertisements are usually placed days before the newspaper lands on your doorstep. In this case, the advertisement in question was placed Thursday morning," wrote editor Paul Osmundson. "But we at The Herald should have recognized the unfortunate juxtaposition of the advertisement with stories and a photograph about gun violence."

In the wake of the Connecticut shooting, Fox is airing repeats of Family Guy and American Dad tonight instead of new episodes that contain "possibly sensitive material."

From author Liza Long's piece on raising and caring for a mentally ill and potentially dangerous son, "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother": "No one wants to send a 13-year-old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, 'Something must be done.'"

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she plans to introduce an assault weapons ban next month. "It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation, and the possession. Not retroactively, but prospectively. It will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets," she said. "There will be a bill."

The U.S. Army's experiments in chemistry: "In 1953, a catastrophic amount of EA 1298—a version of mescaline—had been injected into a patient named Harold Blauer, who had a violent reaction: shock, coma, and then death. Blauer, a professional tennis player, had been admitted to the institute for depression, and was never told that he was part of a military experiment."

Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank on his forthcoming retirement: "I'm hoping to get paid well to do what I do now for nothing."

Latest polls show Indiana voters split on legalizing gay marriage: "The survey taken for the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University and WISH-TV found that 45 percent of those surveyed supported allowing gay people to wed, while 45 percent opposed the idea. Ten percent had no opinion."

Homeland actor Mandy Patinkin was very excited to hear that Fox New York morning show host Dave Price's wife was going into labor.

Kelly Clarkson announced today via Twitter that she and her manager's son, Brandon Blackstock, are getting married.

Can the Spice Girls really exist without Victoria Beckham?

Martin Short knows all the right people in his SNL monologue.

For sperm, it's not just the head that matters, but length too: "Most fertility research has focused on the size of sperm and the size of the swimmers' heads, but a new study suggests the variability in the length of sperm also may put a wrench in successful reproduction. Like a factory churning out products of inconsistent sizes, ejaculates with varying sperm lengths can be a problem, said James Mossman of Brown University in Rhode Island."

British conservatives upset with Prime Minister David Cameron's push for marriage equality appear to be turning toward anti-EU political party UKIP. From Reuters: "UKIP, which wants Britain to exit the EU, has pledged to exploit Conservative divisions over the issue and polls showed its support reaching new highs, putting it in third place ahead of Cameron's junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats."

RIP: "Gustavo Archilla, whose marriage in Canada in 2003 after almost six decades of a quiet and committed relationship inspired supporters of same-sex marriage, died on Nov. 27 on Marco Island, Fla., where he lived. He was 96."

Finally, an inflatable bee beard.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/16/3144695/liberal-icon-frank-eyes-high-profile.html#storylink=cpyFinally, an inflatable bee beard.