Jud (moderator) said on December 2, 2004 07:14:

:O!!!! great!!!

I am waiting for the Spanish government to take the step.. if the catholic church doesn’t win with their pressure and threatenings. My friends think I will be the first (of our group) to marry, we will see, first we have to save for the rings :D

ncurran said on December 2, 2004 16:21:

A civil partnership bill was also passed in the UK last month, and the first civil unions are likely to take place at the end of 2005. Seems like most countries in Europe at least are seeing sense. Good to see it is happening in other parts of the world too.
http://www.stonewall.org.uk/stonewall/current_campaigns/partnership.html

ncurran said on December 2, 2004 16:48:

i didnt know austria was that religious.....dont worry judith....its amazing how quickly things change. I remember all the fuss caused a few years ago when they abolished Section 2a in Scotland and section 28 in england....both introduced originally by the “lovely” maggie thatcher. That law prohibited the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. I still havent quite worked out how you can promote homosexuality, but there was a law for it. Anyway, the churches and religious groups caused a huge stink over it...in scotland led by Brian someone, the owner of the bus company “stagecoach”....this multi-millionaire prat launched a massive campaign across scotland when the scottish government proposed abolishing the law....with huge billboards and everything warning the nation against corrupting our children with homosexual propoganda. The law was scrapped eventually thankfully.
Anyway, the point of saying all this is that its only a few years later, and this civil partnership bill has passed without the slightest hint of controversy. And i could have never imagined that happening a few years ago. So there is hope for Austria yet.

Jud (moderator) said on December 2, 2004 22:21:

Urgh, “promotion of homosexuality in schools” @_@

Well we will see about Austria, this summer politicians were bored and had such a debate on this subject for around 6 weeks, summer was over, all back to work.. subject forgotten AND the further we got was to get some to agree that gay couples should be allowed to visit partner at hospital :S

The church didn’t talk so much this time, they were busy with this big scandal about abusing some priests-to-be in a cloister/friary. And then WE are dangerous.

carbon_boy said on December 3, 2004 09:00:

“Promote homosexuality”???? LOL! How the f can you do that?! I still can’t believe that in this day and age people are still so uninformed when it comes down to sexuality and especially homosexuality.

I mean, you can’t be influenced to become homosexual, or suddenly decide you’re not straight but homosexual. You’ve either always been straight or gay. The choice comes in whether you want to except what you are or not. Whether you want to live life as a gay man or woman or not.

I think when people actually start listening and use the couple of braincells the dear lord gave them, this world will be a much better and happier place for all.

Cheers :o)

ncurran said on December 3, 2004 09:38:

carbon boy, yes i know it was a ridiculous law....most sensible people knew that. But it didnt stop all the religious leaders trying to stir up a big hysteria when the govt decided to abolish it. Just another abomination afflicted on us by the tyrant Maggie...luckily its gone now. It made me really angry at the time. That multi-millionaire stagecoach boss was spending thousands on putting up billboards campaigning for the law to be kept..luckily most of them were defaced and spray painted on by sensible people. The sad thing was, that if a gay teenager was going through hell and wanted to ask advice from a kind teacher, the teacher couldnt say anything that could be seen as promoting homosexuality....so he couldnt tell the kid that it was OK to have gay feelings or anything similar. I’m happy now that that law is gone, and that the gay partnership bill has been passed, and the religious nuts, didnt even kick up a big stink this time....seems they’ve realised they are fighting a losing battle.

Oldag75 said on December 3, 2004 18:08:

Just out of school long ago, I moved to a large city, to some nice apartments with a great swimming pool. Many people my age lived there, and we began partying a lot by the pool. One guy in time became my best friend, and we played tennis nearly every day. Our little group consisted of about six women and us two guys. We all went out to movies, restaurants, concerts etc. Those were fine fun times.

One day, my friend announced to the group that he was gay, and was moving to another part of town (known for its high gay population) to set up house with another man. I was startled, and my initial mental reaction was “yuck” – but the very next day, one of the women in the group invited me to her place for supper. Then NEXT day, another of the women asked to take me out to dine. Then the invitations became endless – the girls invited me to movies, brunches, parties etc etc etc. It was GREAT.

I realized after about two weeks that each gay male in the world is one fewer competitor in the quest for dates with straight women. The more guys are gay, the more women will be available to go out. For that reason, I began actually ENCOURAGING male homosexuality – fellow, if you think you might be that way, hey, GO for it!

My friend did fly to Massachusetts to get married to a dude, and they had a terrific party here afterward. There are two males who definitely won’t be stealing any guy’s girl away from him!

coyboyusa said on December 3, 2004 21:46:

i just hope this doesnt add to gay complacency around the world and the illusion that we are accepted we aren’t we’re ” tolerated” like pests and thats bullshit

roxtexanet said on December 4, 2004 01:42:

Woohoo! Of course, SA is a few months behind us in Canada... (-;