Not meaning to offend[B][/B]

[aslan]

and a good beer belch or two...

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by bendyfoot

scratching helps too

Oh lord NO. That would say one of the following:

a. I have crabs
b. I am not well groomed or 'trimmed'
c. I am overly well groomed or 'trimmed' (razor burn)
d. I do not bath
e. I caught something from my date
f. I am feeling rather 'randy'
g. I have a severe rash
h. I am from the trailer, went swimming in the pond, and I have a leech in my underwear that will not release.

[aslan]

too funny,,umm did you forget to send me something.

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by aslan

too funny,,umm did you forget to send me something.

OOPs...I did ...but I have been so busy at work that I....ok..will send...sometime soon.

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by aslan

I do totally remember the St. Charles,,i grew up in Toronto mf. I'm not quite old enough to remember it in it's hey day tho. Thus proving my comment about the gay village, yonge st is part of the pink triangle.

Absolutely ~ the Strip is in there tooth and nail. In fact, I remember a punk club (actually I think it was the ONLY punk club) on one of those little side streets off Yonge which was ~ qu'elle surprize ~ a popular lesbian hangout.

[aslan]

ummm must have been before my time,, i remember oz on isabella..and tango on alexander before it moved to church..the rest is a big blurr.

[shirley1011]

Aslan...so where exactly is the triangle...not that I go to Toronto that often...avoid it all costs but do go to visit my stepson who is on
Wellsley & Jarvis area.

[aslan]

it is actually a rectangle not a triangle..from gerard to bloor,,and from yonge to jarvis..so you've actually been to the edge of the pink triangle.

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by dollface

Regarding the choice vs genetic theory: I was always taught (in a Catholic high school, no less) that homosexuality was a discovery, not a choice. Genes never even came into debate. But I guess you learn soemthing new everyday. Have there been cases where parents and children or siblings were discovered this way to be homosexual? Still trying to wrap my head around this new piece of info so forgive me if it doesn't make sense

To be frank, I think the RC's have always had a good handle on promoting misinformation to further their own cause. Much of the thinking that you were taught came as a result of Vatican II. Prior to that the RC position was that homosexuals were deviants who were going to burn in hell. Despite the small steps the Church made towards recognizing LGBT people as PEOPLE, your current Pope seems to be a throwback to those hellfire and brimstone times with his "ecology of man" and "language of creation" position. RC's have a huge problem with genetics because it doesn't jive with their "intelligent design" (aka creationism) theory.

If you want to hear another concept, on to the crazy part of my beliefs aka The Other Side. Each and every one of us comes to earth from The Other Side to learn and grow our spirits. We all chart our lives, families, friends, appearance, etc but we still have free will. So therefore, we charted our sexuality, then would it not be a discovery by our human minds? Or you can just call me lalaland lindsay (p.s. God loves everyone , he never holds a grudge, those that turn away from him are the ones who think they are not worthy (i.e. murder-suicides) and dark spirits.)

I have no idea what you mean by "chart" versus choice. Are you referring to fate? Samsara and Karma? Destiny? Nor am I entirely clear on what you mean by "The Other Side". Do you mean created by and from god in his image?

Regarding transgenders, I learned in my class a few days ago, that if a women is pregnant and is having a girl but then the mother starts producing testosterone, then that female baby will now produce male parts. What do you guys think?

That's "sort of" correct. Are you learning about aromatase and androgen?

[aslan]

hi mummummum is this better

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by aslan

hi mummummum is this better

It's lurrrrvely.

[aslan]

lol, i'm so tired i had to look at my one tattoo to see the order the colors go in.

[bendyfoot]

Originally Posted by aslan

lol, i'm so tired i had to look at my one tattoo to see the order the colors go in.

[aslan]

Originally Posted by bendyfoot

traitor,,you're supposed to protect me..

[bendyfoot]

If by "protect" you mean "mock", then yes.

[aslan]

you're just downright mean,,big bully..i'm telling your better half.

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by bendyfoot

If by "protect" you mean "mock", then yes.

Perhaps she meant protect in the ahem, prophylactic sense.

[aslan]

Originally Posted by mummummum

Perhaps she meant protect in the ahem, prophylactic sense.

etu' brute'

[bendyfoot]

Originally Posted by aslan

you're just downright mean,,big bully..i'm telling your better half.

She already know's I'm mean

Originally Posted by mummummum

Perhaps she meant protect in the ahem, prophylactic sense.

*SNORT*

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by aslan

etu' brute'

Why Aslan! I'm simply shocked and appalled. I ALWAYS speak so highly of you...

[aslan]

you better missy,,i can spit in your cookies you know.

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by aslan

you better missy,,i can spit in your cookies you know.

Yes, but what if I like it?

[aslan]

Originally Posted by mummummum

Yes, but what if I like it?

guess you've never heard the rumours that homosexuality is contageous,,it's like invasion of the body snatchers..

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by aslan

guess you've never heard the rumours that homosexuality is contageous,,it's like invasion of the body snatchers..

If you read my earlier post re RC's it may be more like Alien to some I think

[dollface]

Originally Posted by mummummum

Totally agree with what you said about RC's. I was raised in that, but I don't believe in God the way they do. They like to hide behind the bible too much (as does everyone else) just to prove something, they don't agree with, wrong.

What I mean by The Other Side is, where God lives and where everyone goes when they die. It's not up in the sky either. It's actually located about 3 ft off our ground level. Kinda hard to explain without my books beside me lol. But if you like or believe in Sylvia Browne/John Edwards, then one of their books would be an interesting read. Our chart is a "blueprint" that we make up before we come to earth, basically. But once we're here, we don't remember any of this so it's natural for some ppl to dispute The Other Side altogether. So chart and choice could probably be used as the same meaning, depending on what you believe I guess.

We were learning about the female reproductive system and pregnancy.

[Equla]

Originally Posted by Bailey_

I have to say Equla, I really appreciated this comment.

I'm currently going through a divorce and we have a 21 month old daughter. It's been incredibly difficult, and often times I have asked myself how this is all going to affect her future.

I have an amazing amount of support about my decision to finally leave, but I came from a family where my parents are still happily married to this day. It wasn't until this all happened that my Mom and Dad told me on seperate occasions that my Dad had an affair on my Mom when I was my daughters age and my Mom was pregnant with my brother. It was their way of telling me that if you try hard enough, you can work through the most impossible situations in a marriage.

It's made me question many times if I could potentially also forgive my husband and live a happy, fufilled life with him as my parents both have with eachother.
But I also know that I am much different person than my Mother - and on that basis I feel like I've made the best decision possible for my daughter and myself at this time.

So yes. I agree with your comment 100%.

I believe that if you can't handle a relationship, it only makes all parties worse for the wear. The children will suffer. If you have the strength to stay together and either work it out, or at the least be able to function, then even better. But a life of arguing and resentment is not healthy for a child.

Children learn by example. If they see Mommy and Daddy constantly fighting, they will grow up to believe that is the way a marriage is. Here's a great poem...

Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.


If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

[Equla]

Originally Posted by aslan

now now marko,, i was asked who was lesbian and i said, me, bendy and marko kinda sorta,,are you telling me you don't women.. and i'll confess when i saw you yelling " aslan" at me down the street, i thought yup big fag..

Sorry... that made me and I don't even know the details.

[aslan]

Originally Posted by Equla

Sorry... that made me and I don't even know the details.

lol, i assume you're talking about the big fag part of the comment..2 summers ago my wife and I were at Woofstock with Breeze and her hubby..Breeze ran into Marko and apparantly pointed me out to him in this huuuuge crowd...all i heard was this voice yelling AAAAssssslaaaan at me down the street. Now you'd have to see how nicely Marko's wife dresses him then add his little beret....hmmm as i recall Carmy wasn't there then tho.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Well, I'm kind of restarting a somewhat dead thread, but...

I kind of understand what Marko is saying about some people "choosing" to be gay, but I don't 100% agree.

If someone "chooses" to be with someone of the opposite sex, I would assume they must at least be bi and are doing that for cultural or personal reasons. I don't think anyone would choose to be with the opposite sex if they're not attracted to it. That's genetic, you don't choose which sex you're attracted to.

I do see how someone could be bi though and choose to have a relationship with just one of the sexes. For those of us that are bi there is a lot of pressure to go one way or the other (I've got some of the worst comments from gay people that imply I must either be gay, and i'm just hiding it by saying i'm bi, or i'm straight and just say it to get attention . And keep in mind I don't even disclose my orientation unless someone specifically asks, and depending on the person I might just say straight because I don't feel like discussing it).
From straight people they try to label you as just "curious" and say you'll eventually switch back to the "right" orientation eventually.

So yeah I can see how someone could be attracted to both genders, yet chooses only one because they either have some kind trauma relating to a certain sex, or they don't want to cause waves with their peer group. I've known bi women and men that mainly lean toward the same sex because a lot of their peers are gay and they can fit in better that way. They even call themselves gay even though they've had healthy and happy hetero relationships before.

On the other hand I don't agree that this isn't still a genetic thing. They're genetically attracted to what they're attracted to, there are just cultural factors pushing them to do something else. It seemed marko is implying that everyone possibly leans both ways and is pushed a certain way culturally. I think MOST people are very specific in what they're attracted to and it's determined by their genetics. There are a small minority that could lean either way and those people could be affected by how they are raised, life experience, etc..

I do notice that there are more women that tend to be bi than men, and I do think this is a cultural thing. It seems that women being attracted to women is more culturally acceptable than men doing the same thing. If you hear of a woman "experimenting" it's often passed off as just and deemed fairly normal. If a man experiments with other men he's automatically labelled gay. At least in Canada and America. There are other countries where men experimenting with men is considered normal and it's just not talked about. So do women genetically lean more toward attraction to both sexes? I would venture to say no, it's probably a cultural thing. Men are taught to be absolutely repulsed by other men and it's usually not even brought up with women.
I think it's more common for women to "choose" to be gay, than men for that reason. A man that is openly gay is risking a lot more than most women, so it's pretty likely that he's just genetically attracted to men and not women. For women it's more of a gray area and not nearly as big a risk (in most regions) to openly be gay.

Sorry if this seems like a mish mash of comments. I was kind of commenting on several people's posts and I kind of skimmed the thread mostly

I do know women that have been in relationships with men, and they were attracted to them, but because of abuse decided to come out as gay. And it seems they mainly do that to completely take themselves out of the dating pool as far as men go. They don't want men hitting on them or trying to get in a relationship with them so they come out as gay to cut them off. Not sure how common that is but it does happen. I would venture to say these women were probably always bi but because of negative interaction with the opposite sex choose to cut them out of their life romantically. This I'm stating as my opinion as someone that's bi. Not sure what the gay take on that would be.

[marko]

hey this thread is back, lol.

I think you summarized my theory/view incompletely MBIE.
- My summarized view/belief is that most gay people are born gay - genetics.
- A MUCH smaller percentage of people that are not born gay can let themselves either fall in love with or be attracted to a member of the same sex even though in their heads they are heterosexual. (IF and only If the conditions are right...normally they would never let themselves make that choice due to social pressure, normally they'll never even get the chance to make that choice because in the ' immediate world' they live in the opportunity is highly unlikely). Basically attraction can be LEARNED vs being genetic in these cases.
- The amount of people making these choices would exponentially increase (like ancient Greece) if being gay were not looked down upon.

I don't think I'll be adding much more to this thread, just wanted to clarify the view. Thx - Marko