onthebeach,

Unfortunately you are correct about the epidemic of sexual disease among women of all ages.

Women (and men) should take responsibility for their sexual health. One can't blame any single group for transmission of STD's. It is not as though there isn't information out there - there is. Many AIDs cases have been the result of intravenous drug uses.

It really hardly matters where the disease originates if a person is diagnosed with AIDs, etc. What really matters is how many partners has the person gone through. Once infected, heterosexuals are just as capable as homosexuals, of transmitting the disease to others.

Josephus, I can't agree with you about homosexuality resulting as a consequence of a bad relationship. Perhaps a bad relationship is a consequence of one of the partners being gay.

If people "changed" for such reasons, then for some their sexual orientation would be like a swinging door. Gay one day, heterosexual the next, then gay again ...

We are aware of men who have married and later in life came out as gay. For this generation, those who were openly gay were social pariahs. They married as this was the traditional thing to do. Now with more open attitudes, they are coming out.

do/you..believe..in fairies radicals?
Radical Faeries
From Wikipedia,

Radical Faeries..(also Faeries and Fae)..are a loosely-affiliated worldwide network..and counter-cultural movement..seeking to redefine queer consciousness...through shamanistic spirituality.

Rejecting hetero-imitation,..the Radical Faerie movement..began during the 1970s sexual revolution..among gay men in the United States.

The movement..has expanded in tandem..with the larger gay rights movement,..challenging commercialization..and patriarchal aspects of modern LGBT..life..while celebrating pagan constructs.and rituals.[2]

Faeries tend to be fiercely independent,
anti-establishment, and community-focused.[2]

Faerie culture..is undefinable..as a group;..however,
it has similar characteristics..to "Marxism, feminism, paganism, Native American and New Age spirituality,..anarchism, the mythopoetic men's movement,..radical individualism,..the therapeutic culture of self-fulfillment

and self-actualization,..earth-based movements in support..of sustainable communities,.spiritual solemnity coupled with a camp sensibility,..gay liberation and drag."

Today..Radical Faeries..embody..a wide range of genders,..sexual orientations, and identities...Many sanctuaries..and gatherings are open to all,..while some still focus..on the particular spiritual experience..of man-loving men co-creating..temporary autonomous zones.[4]

Faerie sanctuaries..adapt rural-living..and environmentally sustainable concepts..to modern technologies..as part of creative expression.[2]

Radical Faerie communities..are generally
inspired..by indigenous,..native or..traditional spiritualities,

http://www.swedenborgstudy.com/articles/Swedenborgs-revelation/sl80.htm

These three dimensions..will be found..as areas
of special importance..in the understanding

1. The personal formula..which includes,
(a) genetic heritage..and (b) learning history.

This forms the total pattern..of the "personality"
(or all those factors..some psychologists..try to exclude as "individual differences").

2. The socio-cultural formula
consists of a..collective sharing..of symbols:
language, belief systems, folklore...This composite is..introjected to greater..or lesser extent..by the partiopant.6

3.The transpersonal level
contains patterns..that are transcultural..as well: death and rebirth,..the hero journey,..the "feminine,"..the "masculine,"..God, or "the Sacred."

These patterns not only are encountered by all human beings,
but proliferate into human mythologies..all with a similar basic or archetypal substructure.7

The mystic,..as he or she seeks God,..or ultimate meaning,
penetrates toward the core,..but never without personal and cultural expectations,8

The vision itself..is the core's reply,..never really predictable, because "other,"..but ultimately..*to be formulated..in the same vocabulary..of symbols.as the question was asked...This includes a shaping..by both personal..and sociocultural formulae.

While in time,..it seems that..the ground is constantly quaking beneath our feet,..giving us
no safe place..to stand...Yet inside ourselves,..we can stand on ground..that never shakes.

We can stand ..on changeless ground,
far removed..from the fickle caprice of time.

We can stand on eternity...We can rest..in the Everlasting Arms. And we can regard this..as the only domain that is real..This will allow us to take part ..in time more lightly,.more serenely,..

*realizing..it is only a game.

We can be..calm and collected,..even..knowing..that the stakes are not high,..that indeed,..the stakes..as we envisioned..them..are not real...It is just an illusion,..a parade of shadows...Because this parade..of material delusions..has no power over us,.we are free to take part ..in it however we want.

Given that,..why wouldn't we..take part in it positively, constructively?..Being constructive..means giving miracles,
and thus advancing..others toward.that same reality.*we are rooted in.

It also means progressing.in our own learning,[of the givingnes..inherant..inlove/grace/mercy..service to..other
and thus advancing..ourselves...and other

As long..as we are in this illusion,
why not spend..our illusory time..advancing everyone toward reality?

Feel a sense of refuge,..of sanctuary,
realizing that this sanctuary..can never be touched
[by the hands of time.]

Finally,..now that time..cannot touch you,
now..that its threat..has been lifted from you,
say to yourself,.."Why not use the illusion..of material/space-time constructively?"

You may even want..to ask within,
"Holy Spirit,..how can I use..this illusory situation constructively?"

Ideally.. of course,.you would do this..practice—
both the shorter..and longer versions,..along with your own variations—frequently..*all day long.

Then..you would truly be..carrying out..the instruction in this brilliant little passage...And then..you really might find yourself having..a genuinely good day,..a day like you've never had before

http://www.circleofa.org/library/acim-commentary/text-commentary/have-a-good-daya-foreshadowing-of-the-entire-course-from-early-in-its-dictation/

Many street-corner..shamans of today..have peeked into
the spaces Swedenborg saw,..and that..they are indeed vast
and terrifying..is witnessed..by the casualties...It is dangerous to see too far,.to know too much,..too soon.

The visionary..who has no audience,..who performs no communal ritual, who enacts..no service of healing,.nor work of art, i..s often driven mad..by the power of the illusion-of di-vision.
http://www.swedenborgstudy.com/articles/Swedenborgs-revelation/sl80.htm

Danielle,
From what I've seen most infant girls have natural attraction to other girls and this continues throughout life and is often competitive. Having had to care for four daughters. Their close friendships with other of their female peers have lasted throughout life. As teenagers I suspect they may have experimented with sexual intimacy as they loved to shower and sleep together; but today have all happily married with children. None of those experiences indicated a gay gene or a desire to marry other of their friends.

Most homosexual females wanting an exclusive marriage with another female use artificial male appendages to reach orgasm. This would indicate the nature of their body instincts; and their unfulfilled relationship with men unless they are practicing bisexual which then is a violation of their relationship.

I've not had much to say on the thread on the topic. Some what of a sense that it's all been said before. I've not seen anything in a long time on the topic thats given me reason to re-evaluate my views. Still it seemed timely to summarise where I'm at on the issue.

Summary
- My preference is for the government to get out of the business of registering relationships. There are other ways of dealing with property, responsibility for children, next of kin status etc already operating and government registration of marriage has become a hollow facade.
- If the government does persist in registering relationships between consenting adult humans then it either needs to apply the rules consistantly or stop discriminating. Eg if natural procreation is the basis of marriage then only marriages where that is an expected outcome should be registered (no marriages for the elderly, the infertile etc). If thats not a requirement and either no procreation or artificial assistance with procreation is part of the deal then there is no basis to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
- I don't see any basis for placing a numerical limit on the number of people in a marriage, most of the case against it seems to be based on an assumption that women are less able than men to make adult decisions for themselves.
- If marriage is so important that the government does see a need to continue registering them then that registration should carry some weight with provisions for breach of contact across a wide range of the behaviours deemed to constitute a marriage.

I think any real sense of marriage as registered by the government as a lifelong binding committment between two adults forsaking all others etc has little meaning for most. For some individuals it may be so and what a nasty surprise for them if their spouse has a different practical take on the issue.

R0bert