I have kept out of this thread for the reason that, sadly, any discussion about homosexuality in here almost always gets invaded by Akenaton (with his hobby horse about HIV) and GfS (who is deeply committed to an obsessive cod-Freudian belief that homosexuality is 'immature'). They, between them, make all these threads eventually untenable and they are now doing so again.

As one of the few Mudcat posters who is (if you'll pardon the pun) straightforwardly open about being gay, this saddens me, but does not surprise me. Respect is due to all of those (especially mauvepink)attempting to have a civilised debate about the issues until the Batman and Robin (shame the outfits don't fit so well) of Mudcat homophobia came steaming in with their hang-ups flailing about.