hi guys, I found the following on the Guardian website, under a Special Report series on Gay Rights (the same one that the Jamaica article was under). I thought it very interesting, as it sums up everything I think....

Equality does not equal acceptance

Monday April 24, 2006
The Guardian


Simon Fanshawe (Society now accepts gay men as equals. So why on earth do so many continue to behave like teenagers?, April 21) seems to believe that gay men have fought for nothing but the right to have relationships that mirror those of the nuclear family - in his words "civil partnerships [and the] ability to adopt children". As a young civilly partnered gay man, I thank him and his contemporaries for fighting as they did, but I take issue with his opinion that "the world has changed for gay men". Homophobic murders and attacks occur regularly, "gay" is probably the most common derogatory term used in UK playgrounds, and when I hold my partner's hand outside designated safe spaces we are still in physical danger.

Outside major cities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered teenagers (and adults) still have their identities suppressed through fear of violence, abuse and ostracism. While the issue of whether gay men may act in an "adolescent" manner is controversial, it is possible that, for some, a certain degree of compensation might occur for that "lost adolescence". Straight teenagers generally get the chance to dance, have a drink and cop off; gay teenagers often don't.
Drug abuse and unsafe sex are real issues, but Mr Fanshawe makes an error in believing these are confined to the gay "community". Nor are the socially unacceptable sex practices he describes confined to gay men. His attitude to these smacks of prurience, little different from those who castigate any gay man for his "standard" sexual practices.

Only someone wearing the rosiest of spectacles could believe full equality in the eyes of the law equals acceptance.

James Davy
Nottingham



-- Edited by chemicalfears at 10:25, 2006-05-02