Wow. You're an admirably good kid. :)

I only a month ago liberated myself from my mother. The last time we spoke on the phone, she asked how my life was and I told her I'd excitedly accepted a tenure-track faculty research position at my local University. She sighed and said, "Oh, another dead-end job? You see why I'm always worried about you? Why I…

Wow. For me, twelve outfits means two pairs of jeans and twelve shirts!

I suspect her real motives are vanity, not judgement. She seems too self-absorbed for that. She is just happy to show herself looking pretty on Facebook, like so many vain people of both genders. I hope she enjoys it before her looks fade!

I just don't like her focus on looks. I am probably in as good or better shape as/than she is, but I don't have as pretty a face. Do I need an excuse for that?

Ugh. Scary point!

I didn't say "should"; I said "would". Should I take a stand for civil rights and be one of the first people to take advantage of civil rights laws? Absolutely! Would I? I'm not sure I personally have that kind of courage and, frankly, energy. Just thinking about planning a wedding makes me feel exhausted. I'm not…

Maybe I'd suck it up and patronize a business that was legally forced to serve me, just to irritate them, if I'm having a spunky day. But I don't think I could cope on the day of a large family gathering (especially a wedding!).

Or, in my case, of being flat-out superstitious and not having someone who specifically wishes your marriage ill involved in your wedding day?

Please read my other responses downthread. My opinion is that the civil rights laws are absolutely just and necessary, and also that the first people who take advantage of them are quite courageous. I am just not one of these people. I am a weenie. My hat's off to them.

Not at all. Please read my other responses downthread. My opinion is that the civil rights laws are absolutely just and necessary, and also that the first people who take advantage of them are quite courageous. I am just not one of these people. I am a weenie. My hat's off to them.

There is that different perspective I was digging for. Thank you for sharing! And... I'm glad that you would be among those first brave customers!

Excellent point. And I do think that the civil rights laws are good and necessary. I'm just saying, I personally am not courageous enough to be among the first to take advantage of them.

I'm with you on those examples, but I'd be more circumspect (and superstitious!) about a wedding. I wouldn't mind eating bigot-prepared food for dinner tonight, but I wouldn't want bigot-prepared food at my miscegenist wedding. :)

No, not at all. I fully support the laws that enforce civil rights for all (what sane person wouldn't?). I'm just wondering how many other people feel the same way I do. I'm not gay; the closest analog I could think of that applies to me is race. Suppose a vacation resort owner said to me, "I dislike Chinese people,…

I'd rather not have a cake, or not have flowers, or any dadgum thing, over having someone involved in my wedding day who wished my marriage ill.

Question to the gay people:

Touché :)

Well, call me a pearl-clutching prude, but I just cannot imagine discussing my sex life with friends, no matter how close. No one knows whom I've had sex with except for the people I've had sex with. If I were a virgin, it would not be an issue because no one would even know.

The kinds of partners who are attracted to very youthful women with no life experience are not the kinds of partners you want. Trust me.