Graeme

I understand what you are saying, but that last paragraph needs clarification. Homosexuality (to whatever degree, 100% downwards) is NOT a preference. What you are saying is that if you are attracted to either sex (ie. you fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum from heterosexual to homosexual), THEN you have a personal preference for how you express your sexuality. For those at the extremes, it's not a personal preference, but part of their nature. I'm sure it wasn't your intention but I feel that a very clear distinction needs to be made between sexuality (which is part of our nature) and expressions of sexuality (which is a personal choice). I could have sex with lots of different people but I choose not to. If I were given a choice (and ignoring the fact that I'm married), I would prefer a guy -- but that preference is because by my nature I'm attracted to guys. It's not a "preference" in that I'm choosing to be attracted to guys, it's a preference in that because I'm attracted to guys, I would prefer to have a guy as my partner. I know it's a fine point, but with people out there saying homosexuality is a choice, I think it needs to be made. Graeme PS: And I have no intention of ever leaving my wife. The above comment is completely hypothetical for me.

The research for this has been done. What you are talking about is the Kinsey scale -- rating from 0 to 6, where zero is completely heterosexual and six is completely homosexual: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_scale Two, three and four would correspond to bisexual. Even so, I think it's not precise. I consider myself to be gay, but I'm in a monogamous heterosexual relationship. I am same-sex attracted, but the only person I have sex with is of the opposite sex. I've got no interest in having sex with any other women -- where do I fit into the scale? The answer to that question depends on whether you look at behaviour or desire. On behaviour, I'm a zero on the scale. On desire, I'm a five.... As a last comment, I sincerely doubt that the general population is evenly distributed on the scale. It is almost certain that the majority fit into the zero-to-two range.

I think you're correct, though it's rarely that simple. I got married, not because I wanted to lead a traditional life, or because I was pressured to get married, but simply because I met someone who loved me and I loved them back. I was emotionally starved, which was partially due to being gay and in the pre-internet era so I didn't have much chance to safely meet another gay guy near my own age, but there is no doubt in my mind that there was (and still is) genuine love between us. It's just that I'm attracted to guys.... The pressure doesn't have to be "a great deal" as you stated -- society puts an expectation on us that isn't great, but it's constant. I'm sincerely hoping that that is changing and that the number of same-sex attracted men (and women) who get married because "it's what's expected" is decreasing. Certainly, at least in Australia, homosexuality is more and more acceptable, though it's not "mainstream" yet. Two guys walking down the street holding hands still attracts attention, though most of the time it will be just stares. Some places are better than others. As a related point, when I came out to my wife she desperately needed counselling to help her cope. We were very lucky in that we quickly found a counsellor who specialises in dealing with women who have found out that their husband is gay, and had been doing it for more than ten years. I am aware that there is at least one similar counsellor in Sydney (from a magazine article a couple of years ago). My wife told me that the counsellor got into this line when she initially counselled men with AIDS. She found out that a number of them were married, and asked who was counselling the wives.... My version of this is "Putting people into neat little boxes doesn't work, unless you use a chainsaw."

I'm not sure I want to know anything more on this subject.... Echidnas wobble. It comes from having short legs, unlike goats. However, I can appreciate your point on discrimination. It means you have to come up with your own moves instead of copying everyone elses, but I'm confident you're capable of doing that. Any goat that wears sunglasses, must have enough imagination to figure some cool moves....

Yeah, but you've got two right feet, too (at least every goat I've seen has, so I'm assuming you do, too). How that complicates your dancing ability remains to be seen, but it opens up some interesting possibilities....

It is not certain that it will out him, but it will certainly get some people wondering. There was a "youth parliament" in Melbourne last year that debated, amongst other things, same-sex marriage. The topic can be tackled as a social justice issue and there are (straight) people who do so on that basis. However, it is a risk to use this as a topic for a class paper and it should be acknowledged. Only Justin can make that call. One of reasons I suggested he research Warren Entsch is because 1. he's straight, 2. he's a federal politican and 3. he believes passionately in gay rights. He's also from one of the most conservative parts of the country. An email to Warren Entsch may get a response in time, as could an email to Justice Michael Kirby (an openly gay judge on Australia's High Court). Other public figures he could email would include Senator Bob Brown (the leader of the federal Greens Party, also gay) and Dr. Kerryn Phelps (former president of the Australian Medical Association, also gay). I can't guarantee any of these will respond, and I'm not sure where to get Dr. Phelps's email address from, but the email addresses of the rest are public information (check out the Australian Government web site).

Justin, as a suggestion, do some research on Warren Entsch. He's a Queensland Liberal backbencher in the federal government that is sponsoring a gay rights bill. Here's an article from The Australian from last month about it: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...330-601,00.html A report from the Sydney Morning Herald on gay rights in Australia (also from last month): http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/not-su...ge#contentSwap2 And finally an article from The Age on a group of teens and young adults called WayOut that try to educate the community in rural Victoria: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/way...0701485078.html There's lots there for you to work with. You could look at the link between legal discrimination and how it feeds society prejudices, as one option. You could discuss how ignorance and prejudice are often related. I'm sorry you've got homework over the school break, but I think that's more common now than it was in my day. My seven year old son is starting to get homework regularly now, though not for the school holidays.

Are you trying to get our goat with your cryptic hints?

Welcome, Justin! I'm glad to see another person from the same neck of the woods. Now we just need to finalise our plot for Australia to take over the... Oops... I think I've almost said too much... Anyway, G'day mate! Graeme

I've already had a welcome, but I'm not too proud to accept a second Thanks, CJ!

Happy Birthday, Misanthropicfiend/Miso/Luke I hope you have a great day Graeme

My job title at one point was Business Unit Manager -- usually abbreviated to BUM (and I'm not joking).

That's a thousand down... and how many is it to go again? I've forgotten. Congratulations, Joe!

G'day, Steve, I remember A Shot of Bourbon at CRVboy, though it's been a long time since I read it. I hope you like this place -- I joined about the same time as you and I'm really enjoying settling in here. Cheers! Graeme

Happy Birthday, theZot!

My favourite comes from the early days of Unix: RTFM -- Read the Manual (I'll leave it as an exercise for the student to work out what the 'F' stands for). I knew of a technical writing company at one time that was called 'RTFM'. They had an official explanation of the acronym, but they also got lots of smiles from those in the know....

Happy Birthday, Conner! Graeme

I may be wrong, but I think she also came up with the line, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"

Right in the middle of my bed time.... Oh, well. I'll have a look in the morning to see what's going on.

The obvious answer for when it will be is 8:10am, which corresponds to member id 810 for Conner. The question will then be what timezone. Since Conner is listed as living in Vancouver, I'm guessing 8:10am Vancouver time.

Jalaki beat me to it. The problem with the above is that there's no closing tag for the URL. Put in the [/url] at the end of string and it will work.

A little bit of logic will show that there are only 60 possibilities for the time -- since the hour is mutable by just going to a different timezone. I'm personally guessing that they'll miss the day and I'll find the announcement on Saturday, not Friday... since the USA is almost a day behind us Antipodeans. Graeme

I'm still amazed with the impact that he's had on so many across the world. I've been sitting here watching as tributes flow for him from the across the globe. There is no doubt that he was an able, genuine ambassador for conservation, the environment and for Australia. Best wishes to his wife and two children.

Congratulations, Nick!

Happy 21st, Drew! Graeme