Sex In The Public Square - Same Sex - Comments

You know, I would volunteer,

Gracie — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:20:54 -0800

You know, I would volunteer, but often during these studies my eyes start to glaze over and I become a raving lunatic when I spot 'crud' ~ and I become unfit to articulate. *wink*

Research on commitment

Elizabeth — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:42:05 -0800

It's amazing. My first reaction, instead of "wow, that's great. I'm glad that researchers are finding more commonalities between heterosexual couples and other couples," was "man, why does it seem like monogamy always gets equated with healthy relationships." And then I realized that i was interpreting "commitment" to mean "monogamy" before even reading the studies. I will check out the studies later, but I'm most curious to know how, exactly, "commitment" was defined and measured. Certainly the characteristics mentioned in the press release as being measured in the first study ("quality of interaction" and "level of satisfaction" along with skin conductance and heart rate) don't necessarily imply monogamy. Nor, really, do those mentioned regarding the second study (although "sexual behavior" is mentioned, which may mean "number of partners".)

Looking forward to reading both of these. Thanks for posting them Gracie!

(And we really do need to get that research commentary group together! Volunteers?)

Yay MA!

Elizabeth — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:17:40 -0700

The rights of a minority ought not generally be subject to majority rule (unless it is a generous and compassionate majority, which is never guaranteed). I'm glad the MA legislature did the right thing. That, however, was no guarantee, as the last voted demonstrated.

How do we know, as a society, especially as a society that is brought up with the "majority rule democracy" ideal, when is the right time for the courts to make a decision and when is the right time for the legislature to make a decision, and when is the right time for the people to make a decision?

Democracy sure is messy!

All that said, BRAVO to the lawmakers in MA who voted down the amendment, because really this was best decided by the courts.

Now, purely speculation: Would a popular vote on the amendment have passed or failed in MA?