Dear Herman,

I gave several quotes - Harvey Milk's was only
one amongst the several. It's interesting that
you singled his out.

The reason I chose the quote
was it's content - not because of who said it.

If you note some of the other quotes were from
unknown authors - again, chosen because of their
content.

Thank you for your added "information" about Harvey Milk -
you have me at a disadvantage there.

I only know
Milk to have been a homosexual activist who became involved
in politics in San Francisco. He was shot by a political
opponent. Sean Penn received an oscar for his portrayal
of Milk in a recent movie.

This thread by the way is about gay marriage - not pedophiles.
(Different subject).

If you're so interested in the topic of pedophilia,
as your having read Milk's book indicates,
why don't you start your own thread on it?

Just a thought ...

Foxy,

I think my Harvey Milk quote has relevance to the SSM debate:

"As homosexuals, we can't depend on the heterosexual model...
We grow up with the heterosexual model, but we don't have to follow it.
We should be developing our own life-style.
There's no reason why you can't love more than one person at a time.
You don't have to love them all the same…"

I would suggest that his concept of relationships (and marriage, by extension)
has more resonance with homosexuals than your imaginings would.

But I take your point that a thread on the links between homosexuality
and paedophilia would make for interesting debate.

Dear Herman,

Thanks for your contributions to this
discussion. As I stated earlier - I
didn't know the details of Harvey Milk's
life. But, I will go to my regional library and
take out the book by Shilts that you
mentioned. I wonder if he's the same author
who wrote, "And the Band played On." ?
(Explaining the AIDS epidemic).
It will be interesting to find out.

Anyway, Thanks again - and see you on other threads.

Foxy, when you wrote ' Must we only recognise marriages
between a man and a woman?', I wonder if you included children and animals with your 21st Century thoughts. Or even machines (I love my car).

Every time that a concession is given, another is wanted. Dennis Ferguson is waiting.

Dear Austin,

Please read my posts on this thread and you'll
get the in depth answer to your question.

The short answer is - No - I'm not suggesting
anything of the kind and frankly I'm surprised
that you'd think I would. A marriage is a
commitment between two consenting adults. And
of course laws and safeguards should be put in
place with a firm definition of what a marriage
is, other wise as you suggest absurd options are
endless.

I've stated my arguments on this thread and I
don't want to elaborate any further on the topic.
Austin - as I suggested to Herman in an earlier
post - start your own thread on pedophilia -
if you feel it would make an interesting discussion.

Foxy,

I find it bizarre that you believe that you can redefine marriage from
" A marriage is a commitment between (a man and a woman)."
to
"A marriage is a commitment between two consenting adults."
and then have the audacity to imagine that nobody else should be able to redefine marriage in any way they see fit.

You grant yourself the "right" to redefine marriage and then deny that same "right" to anyone else.

Either that or you don't believe that you are redefining marriage, which is equally bizarre.

Whatever happened to reason, logic, commonsense, etc?

I'm sure you're a good person, after reading your postings,
but why don't you use your brain to evaluate what your heart tells you?