Here also, KB.

At least three male couples and one female couple in the church my wife and I attend, one female couple who live in our apartment building, and another male couple who live a few blocks away. One member of the latter couple comes to our monthly writers' group meetings at out apartment (good writer!), and he and his partner are often guests at our holiday celebrations (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.).

Good people, all. Of the couples in church (some of them were married—sanctified in the church, whether Washington State law recognizes it as marriage or not), one served a term as council president, and another (openly gay) was recently elected to the Washington State Legislature.

Barbara and I also know a couple who live in Long Beach, CA. One member of the couple is a retired theater arts professor who still does free-lance work and gives lectures and workshops on set and costume design, and the other (with whom Barbara went to high school) is a specialist in British history and the history of the American Civil War, and tutors the kids of rich parents (movie stars and such) in history. They've owned their home in Long Beach for—thirty? Forty years? Solid citizens. Herb (the retired prof.) regularly runs errands for the blind and infirm lady next door, drives her to and from her medical appointments, and such.

Most of the gays and lesbians that I know are in long-term, committed relationships. But they do not have the same legal protections and advantages that married couples have—the same civil rights—because of the laws in this state.

So—why is what these folks do, or do not do, in the privacy of their own homes such a big deal to some people?

Don Firth