Graeme

Rick, I think we're largely in agreement. I personally see two root causes for homophobia: Religion Ignorance and Fear (the two go together) However, while one major source of homophobia is religion, the corollary that religion begets homophobia is not true. There are non-homophobic religions and religious groups. As I indicated in my previous post, the Uniting Church in Australia (the third largest Christian denomination) is not homophobic, though there is a sub-group within that organisation that I would consider homophobic (despite their protestations that they're not). There are similar denominations in other countries, such as the United Church in Canada, and parts of the Anglican Church in the USA. The other major source of homophobia that I can see is simply ignorance and fear. It's the reason young teenage males are more likely to be homophobic -- they're afraid that homosexuality means weakness. As they grow up, they learn otherwise, and the levels of homophobia in the group decreases. I would also put down ignorance and fear as the reason that survey in Australia indicated that 25% of male atheists (those who said they had no religion) still considered homosexuality to be immoral. Given that the respondents said they didn't have a religion, it's hard to blame religion for that attitude. I believe it's simply ignorance (the graph of homophobia against education levels supports that argument).

Hi, Rick, I've always acknowledged that religious zealots are a major source of homophobia. I just have an objection to statements that imply that all religous people and organisations are sources of homophobia. The faith-based school my boys go to does not teach homophobia. The church that I belong to does not teach homophobia (though some congregations within that church do). Indeed, at last years first Pride Cup in one of the local football competitions, the local church minister was called on to speak before the game to talk about tolerance and acceptance of gay people. Not a bit of religious-based homophobia in sight.... I also haven't been objecting to the large amounts of anti-religious rhetoric that has been posted here at AD. As you've said, I respect other peoples opinions and have generally been quiet and not responded. It was only the comment that implied that the school my boys go should not existing that triggered my simple statements. Your experiences regarding faith-based schools may be true in your country. I'm just pointing out that it's not universally true. It's certainly not the general experience I've encountered here in Australia. Apart from the Catholic education system, most faith-based schools here in Australia take a low-key approach to religious matters. Yes, there are religious classes, but religion is generally not pushed. Indeed, at some schools you would barely realise that they were owned by religious organisations. As an aside, I still remember the Australian survey from a few years ago that indicated that out of the different Christian denominations, the Catholics were the ones most in support of homosexuality. From memory, it some less than a quarter of them it was roughly a third of them that considered homosexuality to be immoral. As the Catholics are the largest Christian denomination in Australia, that gives support to the view that most religious people in Australia do not consider homosexuality to be immoral. I can't prove that point (I can't remember the details for the Anglican and Uniting Church, the next two largest denominations), but I believe it to be true. Certainly, the majority of the Uniting Church (of which I am a member) supports homosexuals. I've said what I wanted to say, and hopefully have done so with respect. EDIT TO ADD: I found the survey (from 2005) and my memory was wrong. It was only a third of Catholics that considered homosexuality to be immoral. A figure that, by coincidence, matched the overall population. I wouldn't mind knowing what a similar survey done today would show

For the record, I consider myself to be a Christian. For the record, I send my two boys to a Christian private school. Neither is being indoctrinated to hate or villify. One boy has indicated in the past that he considers himself to be agnostic. Both are being taught to care for others. Please don't stereotype.

I have a different view. While most readers prefer a heroic lead character, many of us just want a lead character that we can empathise with. A character that learns and grows up during the course of a story can be just as good to read about as one who is heroic. After all, for those who are looking to project themselves on the lead character, it's easier to do that for someone closer to their own reality than for someone who shows heroic attributes that they don't possess themselves.

I can understand the decision not to name the school. Yes, the information will probably get out (someone else at the school will recognise him and release the name, if no one else does), but he didn't name the school before when using social media, so he's being consistent. I agree that the school should be named, but I'm happy that he decided he didn't want to be the one to do so. That's his decision and we should respect it. That doesn't mean we have to agree that the school shouldn't be named....

I enjoyed it, but I would've preferred it to be longer. As it is, the lecturing was most of the story. An interesting speculation (and it agrees with all the research that I'm aware of), but I would've liked the story part to be a bigger portion. Having said that, Nigel definitely mixed the lecturing into the story so it wasn't dry. What I would like to see is a story set in this universe. The story of the guys as they leave school and start training to be space pilots. The problems they encounter in their chosen career, and the challenges from the bigotry that still exists. I think this could be expanded into a novel -- there's certainly the material there to do so!

That was a wonderful read. One of things I enjoyed (beside's Corbin's mother, and his interactions with Declan) was the way the teenagers didn't have a problem with someone being gay. It can over as no big deal to them, which is exactly the way it should be.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/65446492/trend-alert-crochet-shorts-for-guys And in case the title didn't make you blink, here's the lead photo from the article.... More photos at the link above (if you're game)

With a possible future story title if I get to a third book in my current series....a leap of leopards

I read the first few chapters some time ago and I gave him some feedback then. I haven't been able to get back to it. For a first story, it's not bad.

The Gay Writing Tips pinned at the top of this forum mentions a number of cliches to avoid, including the already mentioned alarm clock, etc. I personally don't have a problem with including cliches...if the author can come up with a novel approach. For example, the slab of text describing in fine detail the love interest of the narrator should generally be avoided, but I read one author who did it...and then the reader found out he was describing a car Another one to avoid is what I call the 'everyone is gay' syndrome. Estimates vary between 2-10% of the population is gay. That means that unless circumstances dictate otherwise (eg. a GSA meeting) most people in the story will not be gay. Since we want a story, a number of characters will be gay, but try to make it realistic as to how they happen to meet. Don't make everyone of interest gay....

2001: A Space Odyssey is a special case. In most cases you either have a book first and then a movie based on it, or a movie that is then converted into a book. 2001: A Space Odyssey had both being written/filmed at the same time. I read an article many years ago where Arthur C. Clarke remarked that he had rewritten some scenes after seeing what the screenwriters had done with it. One such case I encountered recently was How to Train Your Dragon. I saw the movie and decided to have a look at the book to see if it was appropriate for my boys, as I was looking at ways to encourage them to read more. Apart from the names of a couple of the characters, and the fact that both movie and book had a huge dragon at the end, there really isn't anything in common between them. It's an example where a movie was inspired by a book concept, but the movie had nothing to do with the book itself.... Out of the two, I think the movie was better.

Skype is another application you can try. It's available for phones as well as computers. Good luck!

I don't write sex scenes, but I'm quite happy to write the scenes that lead to sex. The reason is quite simple: my primary audience is my wife and she doesn't want to read sex scenes. So, I write around the issue. Having said that, I would still be reluctant to write a sex scene because most of the time I don't think they're needed. Dave mentioned that teenagers have sex, and points to the teenage pregnancy as evidence. However, not all teenagers have sex, so why should we assume all gay teenagers have sex? Since I like writing about unusual characters, I'm more than happy to write about those gay teenagers who don't have sex (at least 'on camera' ). I have no problem with other authors writing sex scenes, but it's not for me. A sex scene can sometimes be viewed as the climax in a romance, but I would argue that sometimes a sex scene can demean a romance. That's generally not true of AD authors, but I've read stories elsewhere where I've been let down by the inclusion of a sex scene at the end. Sex is not love, though it can be an expression of love. But since there are many other things that can be an expression of love, why does sex seem to have such a central position? Why do would we need to have sex described to us for us to feel the love between two characters? Love has, and hopefully always will be, more important to me than sex. I much prefer to read a story of romance than a story of sex. I'm happy with a story of romance and sex, but there aren't many authors that can get the balance right (from my perspective -- I accept that others will see the balance differently to me). If sex tends to dominate, I feel it demeans the relationship. So, I keep things simple. I write about love, not sex. My characters have sex -- I just don't write about it. I'll leave the what happens behind closed doors to the readers' imaginations.

Besides the gunman, two people died in the siege. One of them was Tori Johnson, the manager of the store where the seige took place. Unconfirmed stories indicate he died trying to wrestle the shotgun off the gunman. I'd seen a couple of news reports that used the phrase 'life partner' in relation to Tori, so I did some searching and found this quote: Thinking about it, I agree with how the media is covering this. Tori is being mourned as a victim of a senseless act of violence. The fact that he was gay isn't relevant, but I thought it appropriate that we here, at a gay-focused site, should acknowledge that one of the two victims was gay. Equally sad, the other victim was a mother of three children. My heart goes out to the families of both.

I'm not that critical. I just enjoy a well told story

Kai Bogert classified: Mum's ad tells transgender son 'It's all cool' A mother places an ad to retract the 1995 announcement of the birth of her daughter, and replaces it with the announcement of her son. Some people just get it

We're a long way from producing a true artificial intelligence. Computers are dumb...really dumb. The proof is that they will do whatever they're told to do, no matter how stupid. They are fast, and they have a great memory, but intelligence is a lot more than simply thinking quickly and remembering things. I'm not concerned.

Thinking about it further, there are other legitimate answers to question 3, too. "Before Mt. Everest was discovered" covers a very broad period of time, and tectonic changes means that Mt. Everest was not always the highest mountain on Earth. Proving an alternative answer would be challenging, of course....

I got most of these, though I had an alternate answer for number 2. The child would not be a citizen of the USA if they weren't human.... For example, if both parents and child were cats

I found that the article, while starting with tragedy, was overall showing a positive movement towards acceptance. I was greatly encouraged, especially with comments such as: and It's only the first steps, but the signs are there that religous intolerance is starting to fade away. I see that as encouraging.

I liked the different approach -- the story being told in a series of flashbacks/reminiscing. Very effective

I interpreted Des's comment differently. I've heard of a number of people who will not define themselves as gay/straight/bi. They refuse to be labelled and just consider themselves to be...themselves. That's what I thought Des was referring to. Personally, I don't mind that. My view is that a label is a box, and people don't fit into boxes neatly (unless you use a chainsaw). I use myself as an example. I might call myself 'gay', but I'm in a happy, stable heterosexual relationship in which my wife knows my sexual orientation (though she didn't know it when we married). I refuse to consider myself to be 'bi' because I'm not sexually attracted to women like I am to men -- I just happen to be in love with one woman and sexually attracted to guys....

That song's one of the reason's Dabeagle's Life in a Northern Town story has stuck in my mind for so long Thank you!