California Court Affirms Right To Gay Marriage

by BenV 280 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  BizzyBee

  It may not be very "2008 American", certainly it's not Calvanistic or Puritanistic. But frankly it disturbs me much less than vomiting in public. There are those that are just as offended by smoking in public. At least masturbation is easy to turn away from.

  My point is that this is a fairly limited, non-invasive behavior that you can choose to look at or not. It's really quite understandable - condemn a group of people for their sexual sins, and a little steam will get let off in some inappropriate ways..

  This is ridiculous reasoning. We are talking about masturbating on the sidewalk at high noon in the middle of a public parade. How far down have we as a society come? Calvinistic and Puritanical? When did just minimal standards for self-respecting behavior get such a bad rap? Where do I begin?

  • Vomiting is usually an uncontrollable, involuntary reaction to illness. It happens - unpleasant, but not morally offensive.
  • Smoking in public was acceptable up til about ten years ago - now unacceptable, not because of sexual mores, but health considerations.

  Non-invasive behavior? Meaning nobody gets cut with a knife? Choose to look at or not? Horsefeathers!

  Understandable? Public masturbation? Because a group of people have been censured for their sexual sins - letting off some steam?

  As I said earlier - perhaps this is what some people fear - some moral license to behave in a depraved manner, that most would not want to be subjected to whether by homosexuals or heterosexuals. My very best friend of the past 25 years is lesbian - I could care less, because her sexual preference is not an issue - it is private, just as my sexual preference is between me and my partner. I don't want anybody's sexuality in my face - it is a private and discreet matter or should be.

  Seriously, I don't think that gays who want to marry are the problem - but who knows? You say it is "simple" - check back in 5 years.

  • "All I want is to smoke a cigarette in a public restaurant - simple."
  • "All I want is to marry my gay boyfriend and reap the benes financially - simple."
  • "All I want is to keep my pet pit bull (or doberman) in my back yard - and do my best to constrain him - simple."
  • "All I want is to come to your country and have the right to work, medical care, social security, education - simple."
  • "All I want is to be able to fly across the country - yes, I weight 430 pounds and I need two seats, but I should only have to pay for one - simple."
  • "All I want is to sit in my own living room and watch child porn on my own computer - simple."
  • "All I want is to live in the most free and generous country in the world - criticize the hell out of it, collect all its benefits, and demand more - simple."
  • "All I want is my right to live as if my choices - about health, sex, work, family - impact no one else but me. SIMPLE."

  At some point there will be a reckoning - not because I say so, but BECAUSE THERE ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE.
• 

  shamus100

  Please, someone answer me this, as my final post on this stupid topic?:

  How in the hell does an illegal alien get access to voting? How do they register? Hi, I'm Pedro, I'm an illegal alien, can I vote here?

  How is this possible? Or is that just B.S.?

  Thank you
• 

  Junction-Guy

  I am refraining from this topic from here on out. It is not productive, and it doesn't even apply here in Tennessee anyway, that issue was settled here. I do not support it at all, nor do I need a reason to. I can believe what I want, and no one will tell me otherwise. My foot is on the rock and my mind is made up.
  
  So carry on here, but I am taking back my life now, one step at a time.
  
  
  Dave
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Perhaps by your standards. I've seen worse, and hell even done worse. There are venue appropriate places to engage in such activity, and both my boyfriend / parnter and I have partaken in such behavior. Again, there is a time and a place for such. I've seen straight people having sex at a concert at an arena filled with 30,000 patrons before. I've watched straight people having sex thinking they were being sly at a public beach. There will always be people who engage in inappropriate behavior, gay, straight, or in-between.

  Outdoor sex rocks. I rock it like a Patriarch.

  And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold.....

  Of course, not where anyone else is looking. Looks like Isaac got busted.

  BTS
• 

  BurnTheShips

  We will just have to see how the illegal alien vote influences the upcoming constitutional ammendment vote in California.

  Illegal aliens can't vote. And if they could, they would vote more traditionally on this issue than the average Californian.
• 

  shamus100

  Thank you for the clarification. I thought that I smelled b.s.

  Hahahahahaha
• 

  BurnTheShips

  At some point there will be a reckoning - not because I say so, but BECAUSE THERE ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE.

  There will be. Actions have consequences.

  BTS
• 

  BizzyBee

  This morning's newspapers offers up the following:

  • "Court says U.S. paper currency discriminates against the blind" (American Council of the Blind - 'all paper money feels the same')
  • "Weight discrimination could be as common as racial bias" (Council on Size and Weight Discrimination - 'federal laws must address it.')
  • "Failure goes from zero to 50" (describes a movement to give a minimum grade of 50 in school testing - discrimination against dumb people?)

  Blind people just want to be equal with sighted people. Fat folk just want to be equal with their weight/height appropriate fellows. And dumb and/or non-studious kids want to be given equal grades as smarter kids.

  Fat, lazy and stupid? SIMPLE - just unleash the government on it! DEMAND equality!
• 

  VoidEater

  Ah, Bizzy: This is ridiculous reasoning. We are talking about masturbating on the sidewalk at high noon in the middle of a public parade.

  Yes, masturbation is a hot button for some people. It does press boundaries, this "public masturbation at high noon". But the reality is that the cultural norms of SOMA, in a rather explicit and defined (if not, technically, locked and barred) event area, allow for this behavior. While maybe not your or my ideal, let's not allow hyeteria to blow it out of proportion.

  You have obviously never been to Folsom. It is not a "parade". There are no bleechers, you don't stand on the sidewalk as people walk down a street. In fact, in my estimation, it is barely "public".

  Folsom is held in a relatively uninteresting (to the general public) section of SF called SOMA (South of Market Street). It is widely advertised as a fetish event, and while primarily gay it is by no means exclusively so.

  Folsom has clearly defined borders and it is abundantly clear what you might see if you choose to progress deeper into its dark corridors.

  Folsom is a cultural event like a crafts fair. A very kinky crafts fair. As you wander the constrained booths and alleyways you may indeed come across activities that you disapprove of. Life is kinda like that - so most of us avoid situations where we know it is likely we will be confronted by things that will offend us.

  Which is why I don't make Mardi Gras a practice. It doesn't interest me. My boundaries may get stretched. I choose not to expose myself to it.

  If you don't want to see the movie, don't walk into the event. It's really that simple.

  As for vomitting in puiblic, my experience in being puked on has more to do with the CHOICE people make to drink in public, not a quick-paced flu bug that snuck up on someone.
• 

  BizzyBee

  I see, VE. Within the limits of "public" that you describe, I still find the behavior depraved and disgusting.

  If any of my kids or grandkids thought of masturbating in front of other people, I'd slap their sorry little asses into next week. Metaphorically speaking. But that's just me. Where I come from, we usually break the kids of that by the time they're 5 or 6. If they're still doing it at 20 or 30, they're not invited to Thanksgiving dinner.

  When a society is no longer capable of being shocked or outraged by anything, no matter how repugnant or insane, thenwe have surely lost our humanity and our right to call ourselves civilized.