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ORIGINAL: LipstickLeuger

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ORIGINAL: NorthernGent

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ORIGINAL: LipstickLeuger

America is often behind the world in general.(look at how everyone really was uptight about Clinton getting his junk sucked in the Oval Office by his Mistress, while Italy and France laughed their asses off because it's expected there to have a Mistress) One can only think that America is such a young country in comparison to the rest of the world, that it will take some time to catch up to everywhere else. It's a good positive thing they have done. Hopefully we won't be too far behind. It's up the the Supreme Court now.

Anyhow congrats for Ireland, and proud to be Irish.

I think you have conflated and confused two separate issues.

Gay marriage, of course, should be a given by virtue of the principle of equal rights under the law. We shouldn't even be discussing this non issue.

Italian and French citizens thinking it's funny that their politicians spend their time going gung ho to get their cocks sucked by all and sundry, are missing a trick.

Edited to add: the former is entirely responsible; the latter is of dubious morals. By all means, have a field day, enjoy yourself; but do it as a single person - not when you've made a commitment to someone else. Sensible, genuine, responsible, moral people do the right thing; which certainly isn't getting married and then wanting to have your cake and eat it.

Please see previous post, several pages back for explanation of my reasoning for drawing that example.

I resist linking the Mistress situation to morals, simply because others could say those of us in the BDSM community and into kink have 'dubious morals' as well.

I look forward to the day I can legally marry my wife/life partner and not be looked down on, be treated as a family unit, and not have to worry about if she will get my benefits when I die including, but not limited to, Social Security and Widows benefits to help her through it. In America, we are still debating things that other countries have already worked through because they are hundreds of years older than us, and have gone through the growth we have yet to go through. I am amazed at how many here are supportive of the LGBT population/gay marriage and really appreciate it, because I have been on other sites that are not supportive at all.

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ORIGINAL: NorthernGent

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ORIGINAL: LipstickLeuger

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ORIGINAL: NorthernGent

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ORIGINAL: LipstickLeuger

America is often behind the world in general.(look at how everyone really was uptight about Clinton getting his junk sucked in the Oval Office by his Mistress, while Italy and France laughed their asses off because it's expected there to have a Mistress) One can only think that America is such a young country in comparison to the rest of the world, that it will take some time to catch up to everywhere else. It's a good positive thing they have done. Hopefully we won't be too far behind. It's up the the Supreme Court now.

Anyhow congrats for Ireland, and proud to be Irish.

I think you have conflated and confused two separate issues.

Gay marriage, of course, should be a given by virtue of the principle of equal rights under the law. We shouldn't even be discussing this non issue.

Italian and French citizens thinking it's funny that their politicians spend their time going gung ho to get their cocks sucked by all and sundry, are missing a trick.

Edited to add: the former is entirely responsible; the latter is of dubious morals. By all means, have a field day, enjoy yourself; but do it as a single person - not when you've made a commitment to someone else. Sensible, genuine, responsible, moral people do the right thing; which certainly isn't getting married and then wanting to have your cake and eat it.

Please see previous post, several pages back for explanation of my reasoning for drawing that example.

I resist linking the Mistress situation to morals, simply because others could say those of us in the BDSM community and into kink have 'dubious morals' as well.

I look forward to the day I can legally marry my wife/life partner and not be looked down on, be treated as a family unit, and not have to worry about if she will get my benefits when I die including, but not limited to, Social Security and Widows benefits to help her through it. In America, we are still debating things that other countries have already worked through because they are hundreds of years older than us, and have gone through the growth we have yet to go through. I am amazed at how many here are supportive of the LGBT population/gay marriage and really appreciate it, because I have been on other sites that are not supportive at all.

Is it right that the United States is 'behind' other countries in this instance?

I would have thought you have some big cities over there with a history of a liberal attitude: San Francisco comes to mind.

You're not that different to England in this regard, as the towns and cities here tend to be more liberal and the villages and rural areas tend to be more conservative.

I think the difference between the countries is that as a people you tend to like to take sides, whereas we value the right to be different; which means that while many people over here hold conservative attitudes towards homosexuality, they're less likely to make a song and a dance about it.

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ORIGINAL: LipstickLeuger

Yes, you are correct that some of the biggest cities are gay friendly, but unfortunately there still are 'corrective rapes' and beatings going on even for gay people in those cities. In the Midwest, where I live, things are still sketchy at best. I live in one of the biggest cities in my state, but it's a toss up for who is going to treat you poorly or not here. Both coasts, however, are showing great progress so one can only hope! It took forever for the whole country to accept interracial marriage which was legalized only 2 years before I was born(1967) so the machine grinds slow here, to say the least.

I agree that is is SO much nicer for people to value differences instead of polarizing about every single thing. I hope the American people can learn from other countries about this and not be so twitchy. Time will tell.