@Anthony: the title of the post seems like quite a good giveaway to me as to what the post is about. Easy enough to give a miss, wouldn’t you say? Foregoing the articles that interest you just because there’s an odd one that doesn’t, – I don’t know, it feels like cutting off your nose to spite youre face. Still, completely up to you.

I also came across a few very over-the-top reactions on gay sites. Those usually involved the mention of tongues and goodness only knows what else (I mean the made up stuff). It made me feel like posting: hang on, why are you assuming stuff and blowing things up to the n-th degree in your own head when you very apparently haven’t bothered to check the facts? I think it’s the anonymity of the Internet – at times it’s great for letting off steam but at other times it’s just too easy to take that too far. We probably all need to switch brain on first, and comment only then…

As a straight guy, I have to admit I can’t really get any proper understanding of what it must be like to be subjected to this sort of attitude from large parts of the population. I imagine it can’t be easy to write about it in such an open manner as you do – and I’d guess Anthony’s feedback is probably at the mild end of what you get.

I try to keep an attitude that what others do is their business subject to some limits. If you’ve not causing me harm, or interfering with how I wan’t to run my life, then why should I be bothered ? If I don’t like to look at something, then in most cases I can look somewhere else.

I recall many years ago a colleague was leaving where we worked, and for his leaving do organised quite a good evening cruise on WIndermere with buffet and jazz band. Some of the younger employees got a bit “high spirited” and it’s alleged that some skinny dipping went on when most people were propping up the bar or had gone home after the cruise. Apparently we had complaints from some old people who were upset at what they saw when they peeked though the curtains and “were forced to watch”.

I think this epitomises the (currently growing IMO) attitude amongst a lot of people to complain about/try to have banned anything they don’t like. It seems “trying to stop anyone doing anything you don’t like” is a mass sport. It’s not new – the Victorians were big into that – but I think it’s on the rise these days.

Perhaps their conduct was a little more than an innocent kiss and a rosy cheeked grin?

This whole affair sounds like a mountain has been made of a molehill