I agree Cornflower. Dotto, what has underage sex got to do with the subject of 'natural' or gay marriage?
One would hope you counselled your daughter about both the potential harm and illegality and of any sort of sex at 15?

With all the ranting and raving of many posters on the subject of marriage, I still don't see how defacto or gay marriage hurts anyone any more or any less than the so-called 'natural' marriage?

Runner, I personally know of many, many children who have been 'hurt' by 'natural' parents in a 'natural' marriage- haven't you?

Yes, and even when the child is 'of age' that doesn't mean she should be placed on the block for every skank, female and male, to take advantage of. This girl needs to find caring friends and a caring group, fast. Boys are no different.

What about the extended family, any mature young women there to take her under their wing? Any adult men in the family who can be trusted to model the strong, caring, masculine role, so that she can be herself with all of the uncertainties and flaws of youth but still be safe?

She certainly needs to be part of other groups outside of the school for her own safety and for support.

There needs to be regular, ongoing contact with the school and the best way to be there and be invisible is to volunteer. However in this case it is urgent that there be some calm talk and bridges built with the teachers and deputy head so that a unified plan can be devised to handle this problem.

Likewise, boys should get the same support, but rarely do. Yet they would suffer less stress and be far better citizens if the more mature women in their extended family cared enough to give them frank, non-judgemental advice and support.

At the end of the day their sexual orientation is not the concern, however their happiness and resilience are and these cannot be developed where the children/youths are continually at risk at home, at school, or in a skanky circle of 'friends'. No advice, no firm boundaries puts them at risk. It does not help them to be set adrift to become victims.

I knew I shouldn't have put that last post up after I sent it. You missed my point which I should have anticipated. My point was that all the judgement about same-sex marriage stems from homophobia. Thankfully, our culture seems to be changing in that young people don't seem to view same-sex relationships with the level of fear that previous generations have had in the past and continue to have. Many young people these days seem to be much more accepting of diversity, including sexual diversity. This was my point. A renewed culture of natural marriage is just reinforcing that homophobia has a very loud voice in our society. As I said, we could learn a lot from young people and that they are far less inclined to judge and much more open to accept.

10 reasons why gay marriage should remain illegal (which I'm sure many of you have seen before; I just thought you could dowm with a refresher course):

* Being gay is not natural. Real Australians always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
* Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
* Legalising gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
* Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
* Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
* Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
* Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
* Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in Australia.
* Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
* Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Great ritz
Here are a few more reasons that oppose gay marriage:

The act of homosexuality is abhorrent to the normal heterosexual majority in society.

Gay marriage is an anathema to conventional logic and opposes long standing, historic and proven traditions of past and present civilizations.

Homosexuality represents un-natural, debased and deviant behaviour, thus should be discouraged by laws against the act, not promoted by laws for the act.

Homosexual political activism should be likewise opposed by right thinking moral activists using any means available which succeed in restoring a moral order to our society.

dotto: "all the judgement about same-sex marriage stems from homophobia"

It has nothing to do with fear or things of that sort.

Same-sex relationship is deviant behavior. Like suicide, it is a matter of choice. There is virtually no evidence of a 'gay' or 'lesbian' gene.

From a Darwinian view point (Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.") same-sex relationship contradicts scientific theory.

One of the contributing factors to falling birth-rate of White Europeans is the way same-sex relationship have been vigorously and militantly promoted by the irrational.

"A civilization that is producing a tiny succeeding generation and shows no signs of attempting to remedy the problem is violating fundamental Darwinist principles of gene propagation."

http://www.yaledailynews.com/opinion/guest-columns/2008/02/27/white-europeans-an-endangered-species/