Well supposedly if these kids know about gayness they will turn gay even if otherwise straight.

Well my relatives always ask me how Stephen is, but they NEVER ask my brother about his boyfriend (with the exception of one uncle on my dad's side and one on my mom's side). EVER! Whenever Ryan's romantic relationships are acknowledged, it is usually in a comment like "Well maybe he'll meet a nice Chinese girl and marry her." And then my mom and I are usually like, "Well Chinese boy, yes. Girl, no." And then there is silence. It is actually pretty offensive.

Yeah, I would be pretty offended too. I don't have any gay family members (as far as I know -- though it's very possible one of my cousins is), but I'd like to think that my family is accepting. Maybe not totally comfortable, but accepting.

I watched a South Park episode where one character is labeled "bi-curious" and gets sent to a Jesus camp to be "cured," and I appreciated the satire immensely. (Put lots of oppressed, lonely gay boys in a remote area together all at the same time??? Yes!)

I love that your mom will chime in for Ryan, though. :)

Actually one of my relatives asked my mom why she hadn't sent Ryan to a camp to cure him.

I believe she said something like "Why would I want him to be straight?"

Your mom is awesome :) But you already knew that.
How is Ryan doing, anyways? Haven't heard about him in awhile.

He's really good actually. He graduated cum laude and is working at a PR firm in SD and is able to bring his scientific expertise to the table. In the fall he's moving to China and the Chinese government is paying for him to go to school there. He's pretty excited! He'll be there at least two years. Yay I get to go back!!!

I haven't been keeping up with it, but does California have actual gay marriage or civil union? Because in Vermont we have civil union and it actually isn't the same as marriage, legally. So that might be what she's referring to, teaching children that gay marriage isn't real marriage. :/

Gay marriage was just recently legalized in California :) So it is technically real marriage in the legal/literal sense of the word. It's caused a big stir with a lot of conservative groups, who are all pushing for an amendment (which is on the ballot for this November) that will ban gay marriage in California. I think the quote is specifically referring to what will happen if the amendment doesn't get passed.

If I remember correctly, Massachusetts is the only other state that has actual legal gay marriage? I figure most other states have civil union like Vermont, but as far as I know it's only California and Massachusetts that have actual marriage.

Please know that when I wrote that "I try to make sense of and understand it all nonetheless" in my near-last sentence that I wasn't implying that you don't; you might have realized this, but I thought it better to reiterate anyway. [smile] As I'm bisexual and have friends who are homosexual, I understand.

Of course :) No worries, and I definitely appreciated your input.