It's funny to hear all this about the Catholic church. When I think of homophobia and intolerance, the Catholics are *not* the first branch of the church that springs to mind. Yes, they're big, ancient, and well organized, so their public positions get more press. But they have changed their minds on various positions, through the years. I'd like to see more change, but on the whole I see the Catholics moving forward rather than backward. There have always been gay priests, for one thing, even if they are almost all living a secret life... and I think that this must give some undertone of tolerance.

For a dose of real, paranoid, gibbering-with-misplaced-fear intolerance, you need to hang out with the Right-Wing Evangelicals. My apologies to those of you who are of that religious persuasion... and my condolences as well. While a gay Catholic (or Anglican) might simply remain quiet about his or her sexual orientation, a young person growing up gay or lesbian in the fundamentalist tradition is in for a hellish time.

I like the point made earlier (by blt, I think) that same-sex relationships aren't necessarily only about sex. We're also talking about attraction between hearts and minds. There have been times in Western culture where a man or a woman would spent most of his or her leisure time with companions of the same sex, then go off to have sexual relations with their spouse without a whole lot of friendship being involved.

If I were lesbian, I think I'd rather be in a celibate relationship with my true love than be in a miserable marriage with societally-approved sex. Heck, that's true even as a heterosexual.