Do you favor gay mairrage?

Regardless, I still favor the rights of people to do what makes them happy.

yes of course i favour it, as much as i favour marriage in any form.

I'm not so sure I believe that two people of the same sex should be allowed to bring up kids though. Anyone want to comment?

What's wrong with that?

Well I'll be perfectly open and take the (inevitable) abuse for it...

Sheesh, well I'm going to be attacked for this but... but, basically, kids come into this world through a guy and girl, y'know? That's just the way it is. You can't change evolution - so if that aint the way you swing then tough luck I s'pose.

Of course you can have the arguement that some kids are brought up without a dad and some kids are brought up without a mum and some kids have abusive straight parents and blah blah blah... BUT, me personally, when I was a kid I never wanted a male babysitter. There's something I just don't like about two guys wanting to raise a young child. It's something I can't put my finger on, but I just don't think that's something I'm 100% behind supporting.

By all means have gay marriages, have the age of consent for gay people lowered to 16 - I'll sign all of this. But two guys raising a child? Hmm, not so sure. Two women raising a child? Eh, that doesn't bother me as much somehow - maybe it's the whole motherly thing? I'm not 100% for that either however.

And I remember, as a kid, coming to terms with what your dad does to your mum is hard enough without realising that your dad takes your other dad up the jacksie. I dunno, there's something innately ADULT about that - something that should probably wait until adulthood. I don't think it's good for a child to have to learn about that. Seriously, to all the doubters - how would you have felt learning about this at age 11?

Just a thought. I'm now a total homophobe by ILX standards now aren't I?

i think while its ok to think negative things about this, its not something i could do myself. i am pretty uncomfortable about saying what should happen in the private sphere, and i definitely am uncomfortable about assessing straight and gay people in different ways, i dont think i'd feel so good about discriminating between gays and straights in such a way (though i do have homophobic friends that do so in many ways, and thats there business, i wouldnt criticise them too much for their homophobia, as it is an emotive issue)

ultimately, the private sphere i think is not something government should get involved in, it has big-brother overtones i'm a little wary of.

i think at base, a loving and caring environment is the most important thing for a child, and i'm not sure that many children are lucky enough to have that

calum if you're worried about the pink commandos then maybe you oughta come up with some reasoning other than 'ew, i can't put my finger on it' before writing off someone's family, yknow?

I really can't see that there's anything more 'adult' about anal sex than there is about vaginal-penetrative sex, either.

there aren't any, or very few, in the US. until this year, actually, you paid more in taxes if you were married than two single people whose incomes added up to the same. there was a reason for this but it wasn't a very good one.

And I fear the pink commandoes because the far left is the new fascism. It's rampant. The only people trying to 'silence' anyone's thoughts / ideas / words / etc are those self-proclaimed 'leftists.' As long as you're defending Mumia, homosexuals or affirmitave action, have a parade. Wanna speak out against abortion or gun legislation? Well, OK, but you're gonna feel like Pac Man being chased around by Michael "Blinky" Moore and his legions of white privelaged armchair activists and limousine liberals.

I think you're mixing up several different kinds of sexual information that parents can share with their children. Parents are generally expected to tell young children at the very least some very schematic things about reproductive sex, especially when they start asking questions about where they came from. But there isn't quite the same burden when it comes to the mechanics of sex-for-pleasure acts -- it's usually talked about a much later date, if at all, if so usually around when kids start experimenting with sex themselves. And further, I don't think parents are expected to tell their kids -- regardless if they're 2 or 99 -- what they like to do in bed with any great detail. If a young child asks their parents about love-making that's not attached to baby-making (three hypothetical instances where this might happen: 1) gay parents have already told their kids the mechanics of reproduction, but are asked why they're making love even though they can't make babies 2) straight parents have already told their kids the mechanics of reproduction, but asked why they're making love even though they don't want more babies 3) parents simply want to tell children that sex can be a deep expression of love) parents can always say something like slightly euphemistic like "well, even if we don't make babies, we still like holding and kissing and hugging and touching each other's bodies -- that's how grownups express how much they love each other."

In other words, if I was eleven and had gay male parents, I probably wouldn't be told they liked anal sex, just as my straight parents NEVER told me their whether or not they liked cunnilingus or oral sex or whatever.

(This is all a massive generalization, though I don't think it's too controversial.)

Also, you know, there's a lot more to gay-male sex than anal sex, and not every gay man likes anal sex, either. Based on some purely non-scientific polls I've seen, a fairly significant minority of gay men don't like it AT ALL, and this includes both "picther" and "catcher" roles.

Have I...missed something?

But look at all the self-proclaimed 'liberals' and 'leftists' in the ILM Politics thread - I'd sooner call myself one of the words in the 'favorite cuss words' thread - but that's me.

There's a pervading feeling in the mainstream that if you're a musician / artist / artisan / whatever, you're automatically some kind of socialist. Not true.

Uh...hmm. OK, well you did refer to the "typically pink ILM commandoes" upthread. Right?

There's a pervading feeling in the mainstream that if you're a musician / artist / artisan / whatever, you're automatically some kind of socialist. Not true.

Yeah, it's a common notion, and yeah, it's a gross generalization.

You're such a GIRL. Plaid Commando for me, thank you.

well, duh

Well, double-duh.

http://www.cammyfan.com/Cammy-cosplay/personal1/pink-cammy1.jpg

Aren't you forgeting something. Christmas is on Thursday. We have two weeks off that started at 12:30 on Friday, December 19, 2003.

Ned, where are you?

NED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Aja (AsiaKitty200...), December 22nd, 2003.

Its easy to say this now...

(sayfazal mblmmbl mblgrmblgrmbl)

And what are gloden children?

follow your dreams, you can achieve your goals. beefcaaake!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/characters/images/index_gareth.jpg

Gareth == Calum!

A long time ago, someone said this. That's the stuff.

Uh, busy working? And now that I am done, busy packing for going home and maybe seeing some friends tonight.

When I am divorced, if for some weird reason I want to get married again, and I am bisexual, if I get married again *is* that legal? I mean is it a gay marriage? Is it only a gay marriage if I marry the same sex? What if I marry a hetero or bi male?

What if I finally go totally gay and I want to marry...what if I marry a totally gay person of the opposite sex. Isn't that a gay marriage?

[Asiakitty in the background]:"Why would you marry then? Oh...wait...no. ...I dunno. Why would you marry?"

See, even AsiaKitty can't help me.

Andrew, could you clarify?

Do you think that what I ask/say/comment "is" bullshit or do you think the use of the word "Kitty" in my name is bullshit?

And that's
KITTYSHIT
to you!

Just thought I'd at least clear that up.

:)

pussy

One of the nation's most sweeping measures against gay marriage won approval by the Ohio Legislature on Wednesday. It was the strongest action by a state on the divisive issue since Massachusetts' highest court in November ordered that same-sex marriages be legalized in that state by May.

The Ohio Senate approved the bill on an 18-15 vote. The House approved it last month. Gov. Bob Taft has said he will sign the bill, pending a legal review. The bill would bar unmarried state employees - whether heterosexual or homosexual - from receiving benefits for domestic partners...

[...]

"Legislators are reacting negatively to the full-court press of the gay lobby to try and redefine marriage," said Glenn Stanton, a senior analyst for Focus on the Family, an activist group in Colorado Springs. "It's another example of people realizing the need to protect the institution of marriage as it has always been."

NEWSFLASH: people are still fuckheads, news at 11.

That actually might be where it'll fall down.