Whilst mall walking yesterday, I saw two young men, early 20s maybe, walking arm in arm, occasionally kissing. I wanted to tell them how happy I was for them, but figured I would come off as pushy and patronizing. But they brightened up my whole day.

Love is a many splendored thing. Mormons try to put it in boxes with dates when these were sealed.

Love is a *manly* splendored thing?

I like it!

Nice :)

I ran into a male couple, with wedding rings on, waiting in line at Starbuck's last week the day after the SCOTUS ruling. Just smiled at them. One of them smiled back. I lifted up my hand -- he high-fived me. Priceless.

Unless you'd comment to a male/female showing affection, there's no need to make an issue of a same sex couple.

Some of the comments I'd like to make to some male/female couple's showing affection...

Cheryl Wrote:
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> Unless you'd comment to a male/female showing
> affection, there's no need to make an issue of a
> same sex couple.

I understand the idea behind your comment, however...
I was in a celebrating mood after the SCTOUS ruling. So were many others. I would think especially gay couples. The "high five" I got sure made it seem that way. A supportive comment wouldn't have been out of place, it seems to me...

Praising any two people for showing affection is out of place in my opinion. That indicates the affection is for public show and attention and it means little else.

Cheryl Wrote:
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> Praising any two people for showing affection is
> out of place in my opinion. That indicates the
> affection is for public show and attention and it
> means little else.

I've been oblivious to others around me in public when I've been in love, especially in the early stages. My public displays of affection weren't for show and attention, they were for us as a couple, because we loved touching each other. :)

I think the issue in this case wasn't praising the affection, it was celebrating their right to be affectionate like anyone else. Works for me :)

Nope. The celebration belongs to the participants, not the strangers who peep at them.

Cheryl Wrote:
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> Nope. The celebration belongs to the
> participants, not the strangers who peep at them.

OK. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. :)

Cheryl Wrote:
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> Nope. The celebration belongs to the
> participants, not the strangers who peep at them.


Good god gurl.

What's hilarious is that in all this you've decided that you are the arbiter of how gays and straights are celebrating this game changing victory.

Silly buzz kill.

Sometimes the wise thing to do is just shut up!

To Hie: I'm sure that your acknowledgement of the humanity of those guys was greatly appreciated. It's also appreciated by me.
High five!!

That isn't affection. It's stage acting.

Cheryl Wrote:
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> That isn't affection. It's stage acting.

I'm amazed by your ability to read minds, and to magically determine the motives of people you've never seen or met.

Or, I would be, if there was any validity to it. Since there isn't... :)

The good news about breakthroughs like the SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage is that gay people don't have to worry about what cranky old straight people have to say about their behavior.

The truth of the matter is that it just doesn't matter what YOU think.

Instead of trying to pretend you know the minds and motivations of others and being a judgy old school-marm to boot, perhaps you should just stick to your hose.

Gay people can truly come out in some places in The US now. That is exciting. No more sleeper cells sexual terrorist couples bogeyman nonsense!

Cheryl Wrote:
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> Praising any two people for showing affection is
> out of place in my opinion.

Why can't someone be happy for others that are happy?

That indicates the
> affection is for public show and attention and it
> means little else.

No it doesn't. That's total nonsense.
If I show affection for my partner in public, it simply means that I have no reason to hide what are normal, healthy and appropriate forms of affection, the type of things that straight people have been doing in public for a long time.

It's part of coming out of the closet. It's a process for people who have been marginalized all of their lives.

Pure equality will one day mean that there is nothing to notice, let alone celebrate. But when we have just won a major victory, when we were on the same side with people we respect, a short period of celebration and high-fives is surely appropriate. I think that the man's reaction indicates that he feels that way, too.

Let's rejoice now and then, over time, complete the transition to full equality!

I can go with this.

I'm just happy that I can be disgusted by all shows of PDA in equal measure now.

;-)

I saw a very young man, maybe very early 20's, and a much older woman old enough to have been his grandmother, an odd looking couple - strolling arm in arm while I was walking the mall a few months back. They struck me as an odd couple, odder than most. I wondered if they were really happy or just clueless as to what true love is? He looked too young to know much of anything, and she looked easily over the hill - both with silly smiles on their faces. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, that's how silly they looked together.

Reminding myself not to be judgmental, and yet there I was judging them without even batting an eye.

I used to walk arm-in-arm with my mom when she was elderly. She appreciated the extra support. It is not unusual in European and South American culture for family members and friends to walk arm-in-arm or hand-in-hand. They are not as hung up about such things as Americans are.

I wondered that too, and yet they were distinctly a couple - that's how they were walking side by side. She wasn't so elderly to be infirm, or need extra support. They were just enjoying each other's companionship and didn't care who noticed. I felt they even enjoyed the notoriety of being a May-December male-female couple. They didn't appear to be well-to-do, and the young man appeared to be barely post-adolescent, still with acne. She just appeared house marmsy type, short grayish white hair and wrinkled skin on a plump body lol. Actually, this may have been more a January to December than a May-December on second thought.

I tried to be happy for them but found it disturbing. Makes me wonder what some people are willing to settle for in order to have companionship and find meaning in their lives. Oh, this was in a predominantly LDS community at the only indoor shopping mall in town. May be they were Mormons, but they don't fit the profile or stereotype if they are.

amyjo Wrote:
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> I tried to be happy for them but found it
> disturbing. Makes me wonder what some people are
> willing to settle for in order to have
> companionship and find meaning in their lives.

I was thinking about age discrimination when I posted first. It is another hang up people have and tied to sexual biases like an older woman/younger man.

I think most people are fascinating if they aren't ignoramuses. Age has the advantage to make one more interesting in an additive sense. I find that attractive.

Too bad our culture worships youth more than ancient cultures who worshiped Lady Wisdom and often found it more in older than younger folks.

I used to walk arm in arm with my grandpa. He didn't need it per se, but I wanted to be there just in case he needed the support. The most common remark we ever got were from other grandparents wishing their grandkids/kids would help them.

A lesbian in our office, and her partner, got kicked out (invited to leave) the SLC City Creek Mall. "You are not the type of people we want to see here."

They are both over 6 ft. tall, and both have tattoos and matching green mohawks. They were pushing their baby in a stroller. They swore to us that they were not showing any public display of affection.

This makes me wish I lived in SLC just so I could boycott that mall!

That violates EEO laws of the United States, does it not? An establishment engaged in commerce and open to the public may not discriminate a gay and lesbian couple anymore than it can a biracial, or minority race, or ethnic, or someone on the basis of a disability.

They could bring an action against the City Creek Mall for that very thing. That is blatant discrimination, regardless of what the church stance is.

I work in a big box store and smile when I see lesbians come in. Very unconventional, some are polite, but others you just want to stay out of their way. If they are feminists they have an attitude, lol! (They aint little miss molly's)

Were they wearing white shirts and ties, had name tags, and were carrying quads? Fantastic! I love it when companions bond.

Now that I think about it, I find it terribly sad that you can only see a loving couple's normal affectionate interaction as something "staged" or "fake".

I can only assume that it has been a Very Long time since someone who was in love with you treated you in a loving manner without even the consideration of wether or not others might observe.

I hope that it's not too late for you to experience an authentic, spontaneous, devil-may-care kiss while out walking hand in hand on a romantic summer evening.

That you can't even appreciate this beautiful part of the normal lives of others speaks volumes.

I'm sorry for your hurt.

Truly sorry.

Stop losing sleep. Don't up your meds.

You're making up sadness from whole cloth over your own imaginings.

Just because a few people in a mall applaud gay affection scenes doesn't mean the rest are sad and miserable.

I think you must be kidding.

You are not my friend and it has nothing to do with gay rights. You've attacked me and lied about me in the past and now you're writing fiction about me and putting it out on the internet as if it's reality.

Attention RfMers: Whatever this poster says about me is likely based on thin air.