...but I would defend strongly the equal right of heterosexuals and homosexuals to do so.: First of all Floyd, while I don't fully agree with Lark on the factual question of whetehr most gays act that way, I do understand it when people object to public sexual displays. I kind of agree with Lark on the point that promiscuious and sex-obsessed lifestyles are not something desirable. I only disagree with him on the factual point of whetehr this is typical of homosexuals.
What do you define as 'sex-obsessed', NJ?
If you're going to take the strictly biological view; that humans are hairless primates, then a lot of our societal and human expression derives directly or indirectly from sex; dancing, arts, sports.
(We are *all* biologically sex-obsessed.)
The advertising industry basically exists on subliminal sexual signals; in a 5 second advert there will typically be over 20 such signals; knowingly inserted by the manufacturer to increase revenue.
If you're going to ban all public sexual signals, you would have to ban all visual contact between humans. Obviously, this is silly; you just couldn't do it.
So where do you draw the line? - there is a fuzzy and continually-changing border as to what constitutes 'obscenity' in the public eye; definitions are culturally-based and relativistic.
(It's also worth noting that 'obscenity' as such had no legal existence before the Victorians; the Victorian intelligentsia decided that public lewdness would inflame the brute passions of the working classes, who were felt to be verging on the status of 'animals' anyway - and so they created the idea of 'pornography'; that which the working classes should be prevented from seeing.)
Most people would (generally) agree that the 'acceptable' boundary falls somewhere between kissing and snogging. I have no problems with this; as long as it is applied equally to heterosexuals and homosexuals.
What annoys me is that a man and a woman kissing in public is seen as acceptable when a man kissing a man isn't; that's a glaring double standard that spells out 'gays are inferior beings'. And hey, some of my best friends are gay, and I wouldn't call them any less human than anyone else.
(Consider also the source of the Biblical prohibition of homosexuality; it comes from the oldest parts of the Old Testament; yet people still use the Bible to justify homophobia - however, the same people don't isolate women for a week every month while menstruating, or sacrifice goats...).
To recap, though, I don't mind *some* censorship, even if it is 'unnatural'. As long as all are treated alike, without prejudice.
Gideon.
None.
