Ah, sorry..gotta get back to the toilets:

Have always found the "open door" policy in China somewhat embarrassing:partitions that only (on Westerners) come to waist-height mean students etc. can lean over and have a friendly chat about the latest assignment while one is squatting or a male colleague can conduct a D & M with one while he's at the urinal.

But gotta admit it cuts out all fear of sexual predators of any persuasion.

Though if one were propositioned and refused someone further down could always pop up and say "Hey, I'm up for a bit of that." Good pickings potentially.

I think that this will be my last post in this discussion.
I really enjoyed all of your posts and have gained from your contributions.

It’s interesting that nobody in this discussion has come up with a valid reason why homos should not have the same rights and freedom as the rest of the population.

As Col has shown, even if one feels distaste one can still accept homosexuals as citizens with equal rights.
A world that welcomes, includes and values diversity and uniqueness is a happier, freer, more just and more peaceful world than a world that rejects and excludes diversity.
And that is a very important point to think about.

What if one day the HIV/AIDS virus mutates and goes airborn. We might then have wished we had done something to bring the spread of gay movements into line with decency and social health.

Celivia raised the question, "Why should homosexuals have the same rights as the rest of society?"

There is general agreement that homosexual youth suffer from much higher levels of suicide and homlessness than the general youth population. And most gays, lesbians, religious liberals, mental health professionals, and human sexuality researchers attribute their high suicide rate to the culture's homophobia.

According to a US Health and Human Services report:

"Not only must lesbian and gay youth withstand ridicule and, often violence from their peers, they rish outright rejection from their
parents should they decide to 'come out.' The combination of the culture's condemnation of homosexuality and the alienation from one's home and parents (supposedly a haven of security and support) causes unusually high rate of attempted suicide.

Gay adolescents were two to three times more likely than their peers to attempt suicide accounting for as many as 30% of completed youth suicides each year. 26% gay youth are forced to leave home because of conflicts with their families over their sexual identities. Up to half engage in prostitution to support themselves - greatly increasing their risk for HIV infection."

This should concern us all.

If we believe in a fair and just society with equal rights for all -
then surely attitudes must change. We should tolerate our differences,
not condemn them. There must be something very wrong when young people would rather kill themselves than live in the society we've created.

Thanks, Fractelle, Vanilla, for the delightful contributions.

“God must get really pissed if a couple of gays dine out on oysters.”

A friend has his parents here for a long-term visit, staying with him and his (male) partner. My partner and I invited them over for dinner yesterday (Good Friday), so we were three couples, two of them male.

We started with oysters, then snap-fried school prawns (whitebait style). As far as I know, the rest of the meal was uncontroversial, though I have to confess that all evening I was wearing clothes made of two different fibres.

After we had waved our well-fed guests off, I lay myself down with another male.

The entire evening (yes, all of it) was very pleasant.

Fractelle,

So instead of appreciating both men and women don't really like to be sexually propositioned while on the loo, you sympathise with the women, but think I/men are being a sook. Nice double standard.

Vanilla,

Cool. Like I said, I find it flattering when male or female takes an interest. Just not so sexy when I'm on the loo with my pants around my ankles.