I just wanted to start a thread where the topic of discussion is sexuality.

what do we all think of it? is it something that bothers you? do you find other sexualities hard to deal with or understand?

I'm a lesbian myself and I personally find it really upsetting when people assume that being attracted to girls means that I am automatically a sex-driven, pussy-hunting maniac who is up for shagging any girl she can get.

yes, I find women attractive.
no, I do not find every woman on earth attractive.
yes, I enjoy sex with women.
NO, I do not want to shag the nearest, easiest girl in sight.


hmmm.

anyone want to add to this?

heh what you said there was so true. I don't really like labels, i'd rather just say i like who i like, but i guess technically i'm bisexual.

And i hate those assumptions. I hate when someone finds out you like the same sex and they automatically assume you must then be attracted to them.. vain much?

Oh and also the assumption that if you know 2 gay guys/2 gay girls they will automatically like each other just cos they are both gay.. um yeah cos if you just randomly selected 2 straight people off the street i'm sure they would both fall madly in love..

/rant.

However, I'm thinking that most of the people here are not going to fall into these categories. We kate lovers seem a pretty supportive and open minded bunch.

I'm straight. i've never really known any gay/lesbian/bi people, but i've never had a problem with it either. i'm in full support of gay righjts and all that stuff. i became even more supportive and accepting of gays when i met SCott on Zombieguide forums, Scott is a 22 year old gay guy who i adopted as my older brother, seeing as i dont have one i love him to bits and it really hurts me when people bag out gays, because Scott gets **** for being gay, it makes me feel really defensive and i ahve a tendancy to ram my views down other peoples throats

a couple of weeks ago, i had a friend who, because of my views on gay people, assumed i was one, she told me she was bi and that she really liked me. i'll admit i got a bit freaked out, i still try to be good friends with her but i cant help feel uncomfortable whenever i see her. i was terrifyed because suddenly the whole year knew about it, i was really scared that some homophobe was gonna come bash me or something. but, thanksfully, i have friends in the gossip-hound crew who got pissed off at the people slagging me off and told them all that i had a boyfriend and i would never two-time anyway, wheather it was with a boy or a girl,a nd even if i was available, i was to sensible to date a girl when i was only 13. i felt very touched when i was told that.

i also think that people who can come out and shamelessly tell people 'yes i am gay' are very brave, and i feel proud if i can call them my friends.

I am straight, never been remotely interested in being with a woman sexually, not yet anyway! People just need to be allowed to be themselves. I have gay friends and I too get really offended when it is assumed that someone who is gay is going to pounce on anyone of the same sex within range. How ridiculous!

I really don't understand that! WTF

Thanks for starting this thread Cec. It takes alot of guts to share things like that in a public forum. Have you or anyone else been discriminated against because of your sexuality?

I'm a straight guy. Have been all my life.

... phwew, glad I got that out. Now to go tell my parents

Talking about discrimination this issue is interesting:

Gay partners not allowed at school formal

Should church schools be allowed to set their own rules based on religious observances? Or are they out of step with the community's views on social acceptance?

Private schools should be able to set their own rules, regardless of what is considered the norm in society, in my opinion. If you want your child to be like everyone else, send them to public school.

I'm straight, but have some gay friends and don't have a problem with them at all. My only concern is two dads raising a child or two moms raising a child, I dunno exactly how i feel about it. But yea I fully support who you are is who you are so screw anyone that thinks otherwise. Actually I've been meaning to ask, cuz my friends here includin my wife knows i'm like obsessed with KMH lol and one day she got a txt msg from her friend sayin that KMH was on the cover and was in a article of her monthly Gay newsletter, she's lesbian btw. So I was wonderin, either my gaydars real off but KMH is gay or not? She told me she'd let me see the newsletter after she's done so I'm kinda curious to check it out. It doesn't really matter to me at all if she is or not but was just curious. I still love her to bits.

Nobu

hey
not that Kate's private life is something we should be discussing but.. pretty sure Kate's straight.



as for your question Johnny yeah I have been discriminated against. in the most stupid ways too. as in.. a taxi driver refusing to take my gay friend and me to where we needed to go - because we're gay.

pathetic.

Yea i know, was just curious that's all. Like i said, i still love her to bits.

As for the taxi driver, what a ignorant f'head. I mean seriously. Its not like you two are gonna gay him out or something wtf.

Nobu

Oh god Cec are you serious? what a wanker!

With the 2 dads/2 mums thing, who says that they are going to do anymore of a shitty job raising a child than a man and a woman would?

I went to a private catholic school, and even though it might be upsetting, I kind of agree with Liam. If you send a child to a private school, you are aware of the rules and the way it is run when you send your child there.. so if you don't like it, send them to an independant non-religious school (even if it costs buckets more :S) .

and if the parents are homophobic?

and if the child doesn't have a say on whether or not they want to go to a catholic school?

well if the parents are homophobic the child is going to have confrontation and problems no matter which school they go to.

And yes, sadly often the child will not get to have a say.. Its a tricky subject and seeing as I myself want to be a teacher I just have no idea how I am going to deal with all of this when it arises. You don't want to offend anybody (the parents, members of the school and community, other children) and you want the child to feel safe and accepted and be free to be themselves. Unfortunately society is no where near that stage and there is still so much prejudice.

But even though it pisses me off no end that people are so homophobic and ignorant.. they are like that. And you have to respect people's beliefs and religion. And especially at a religious school where there is such a main focus on these beliefs (which is probably why a lot of parents send their children there) you just have to be really careful not to offend anyone.




Going back to Johnny's main questions... I think church schools ARE out of step with the community's views on social acceptance. But its all very well for me to say, well this is what i think.. i think this is unfair and blah blah blah.. but I don't see how you would make it better. As long as that religion holds those certain views there is going to be that confrontation around homosexuality.

So.. I don't know. How would you deal with issues like that at a religious school if you were in power as say a member of the staff?

5by5, I totally get the dilema you're talking about. I'm currently undertaking my school observation at a Catholic school, and I'm learning a lot of about what I can and cannot say. But, really, most of the teachers at this school, especially the younger ones, are open minded and non-homophobic. They've told me that if a student says they're gay or something, to not really respond so the conversation can go any further. Just humour them, change the topic or whatever. Dont ignore them, but dont encourage them or something along those lines. Fair enough, I guess.

I've wondered how I would deal with something like this aswell - going into teaching like the two of you. It's pretty unlikely that I'd ever end up teaching in a Catholic school as I'm not Catholic but then it's not so much the school as the environment. I don't know how I would respond to a student in that situation - not negatively of course - I guess I'll just have to wait and see if the issue ever arises.

I really want to teach in a Catholic school - not because I'm religious or anything (honestly, it doesn't matter. you can just shine it on), but because I want to try to change the Catholic school system, any way I can. I never realised until I went to university and mingled with them, how sheltered private school kids' education is. I'm gonna teach in private schools not only book smarts.. but, street smarts. Cause, really, private school kids seem very unprepared for what lies outside their classrooms.

Liam I am also doing my final prac at a catholic school and although the teachers themselves are fairly open minded, because of the religious element to the school they are very aware of boundaries and taking things too far. I think at the school I am at if a student brought up a conversation like that they would be supportive, but refer them to a counseller.

It's sad, that everyone can express their opinions in a place like this, but until the church catches up you have to accept that it is a touchy subject.

They were talking about this subject and that article on one of the morning shows this morning, it was interesting because a lot of people were writing in saying that they should be able to bring whoever they wanted and that it ws descrimination against the students. It is, but they are living in a bit of an idealic world.

EDIT:

Liam, sheltered how exactly? I was only in a private school from years 6-12, but i'm wondering in what sense you mean this.

i go to a public school and when i was in the 'lesbian' mix up with my friend all the teachers were really nice. there was one teacher who talked to us who had a really calming influence about her. one talk to her and i stopped having panic attacks and skipping classes because i was so terrifyed of what people were thinking about me.

Sheltered in the sense that they don't really know how society works in any other class systems than their own. Sure, they might have an education about poverty in Africa - but, they have no idea about poverty in their own home town, etc. It's my belief that not enough place-based learning it happening in private schools.

Yeah that's certainly true about the concept of poverty in their own country! Although I think a lot of public schools could use some education on it too, I think most class systems do not really have a good grasp of life outside their own "environment".

But, at least in public schools some are forced to face poverty. I went to a public high school for the entirety of my secondary education and over 70% of the students were supported by school card. Private school kids dont have this, so it's simply not addressed.

woah I had no idea it was that high! (thus proving your point about uninformed private school kids i guess )

I would like to teach in a private school environment like you as well, and similarly to you I'm not religious. Maybe for me its more of a security blanket and a comfort zone, but i think its more than that.

And we seem to have gone a tad off topic. oops.

Oh, right.. umm... apparantly lesbians are attracted to women? Woah.

Yeah.. crazy stuff! you learn something new everyday hey?

haha.

Again a little off topic maybe but on lesbian icon Ellen's TV show there was someone dressed up in like a cartoon Ellen full body suit type thing. We were flicking channels and when we flicked over we caught the end of it and I didn't really get it. Did anyone watch and know what it was about?

It was so that if the real Ellen can't make it an event etc, the dummy could take her place

oooh.

LE - 1
Ellen - 0

haha really? haha..

I don't watch Ellen much. But when I do I really like her as a host. She kicks Oprah's ass.

i might just put my two bob in on this subject, i am gay and happy, only 20 years old and i am not somebody who advertises my sexuality at all, i have some gay mannerisms that cant be helped but i must say the crap and abuse that i have copped in my early years of high school and in some "straight" pubs from redneck men mainly is disgusting... but ive learnt to live with it ... i think my confidence and self esteem has been seriousley damaged due to the crap ive been dealt with, but you no what.. i have no time for homophobic people, you guys should check out some clips on youtube from a church in America called the Westboro Baptist Church and see some of the lengths these animals do to try and eliminate the gay population for the world... I honestly dont no what makes somebody homophobic, clearly the "Homophobes" are not gay themselves so why waste their time making other peoples lives harder, that are just in love with another human being of the same sex...

Ive had my rant and sorry i am just so passionate about this.

In regards to the issue of having two Dads or two Mums - personally myself i never plan on raising any kids but i dont see why "these days" it should be a problem, really, Straight couples abuse, Sexually Assault, neglect and murder there own children every day.. all you have to do is read the paper ... Living with two mummys or two Daddys is not unhealthy for the child, it may cause bullying from other kids at school but that is because it is not the "Norm" and it will not be the "norm" until all these do gooder, homophobic rednecks give those "disguting beasts" called homosexuals a go at raising a family.. Sarcasm in that last bit of course!

Parenting is a privilege and it is a very important job in our society.

What kind of parent you are is what matters. Children are lucky if they have parents who love and nurture them unconditionally.

Families come in all different shapes and sizes, that is fine with me! Quality is what matters.

I totally agree. My sister recently spit up with her boyfriend because he is an irresponsible parent to my niece and I think it is the best decision she ever made.

Yeah but some studies show that a child needs a male and a femaile influence in their childhood, for proper mental developement or something.

I studied the notion of same sex parenting throughout last semester and actually wrote my final sociology paper on the subject.

I personally have no issue with same sex parents. Whether a child grows up with two mothers, or two fathers shouldn't matter. What is imperative however, is that a child grows up in a safe, loving household, having their needs met on a daily basis.

Children of same sex parents have the same opportunity to grow up happy, healthy, and strong, as do those children of heterosexual parents. Many of these children have an advantage over children of heterosexual parents because they have been exposed at an early age to diversity and will possibly develop greater acceptance of individual difference.

My non scientific study shows me that some people with no parents, one parent or two parents(of any persuasion, sexuality or race) can be complete idiots, drunks and not very nice people, the same non scientific study also shows that other people I have met who also meet the above criteria are the nicest and balanced people you could ever meet.

Okay but just because they don't have a male/female parent doesnt mean they won't have a male/female influence in their lives. They will still hvae aunts, uncles, grandparents etc.. and so they will still have a strong female or male to look up to, who will be around fairly often and who will have an impact on their lives.


Not having a go at you by the way, and sometimes you have to look at just who is the author of these studies.

Gabi, good parenting includes providing appropriate role models in extended family/friends of both sexes in a child's life. It is very important that a child has a "safe non-parent" (as in not their parent)to speak to and learn from.

yeah, i never belived thos studies. my friend Hannah has 2 mums and no dad (well that she knows anyway) and her parents are great!! their kinda hard core hairy hippies tho, which is a bit scary. but Hannah is a great girl!

Personally it doesn't bother me at all, it's all i bit old hat now for most people i know, there is nothing shocking or surprising about same sex relations anymore. I have worked with and/or know gays and lesbians. They all suffer from the same pit falls and struggles a so called conventional relationship does.... probably more so actually.

I do wonder about those that jump from being straight to gay... then back to being straight and so on.... But hey, it takes all soughts

I think some people get a little confused...

^^ definitely. a lot of people are confused and are quick to label themselves because there's so much pressure to do so.