General Chat

I second that - Sue does hardly say single word - she says hundreds!!! just doesn't know when to zip it!!!! :-D :-D

slightly back on topic - am reading a book set in India during WW1 and gay men are referred to as "three letter men" - any ideas on the origin of this?

AnnC - Did a Google search and came up with the word "fag" an effeminate man - Three letter man.
Not sure if this is the answer.

GP

odd - why three letters I wonder :-S

think geordie pride is correct
http://www.odps.org/glossword/index.php?a=term&d=8&t=6593

Thank you Ann xx

terry ................

lots of gay couples are now officially married.

Of course, there was a huge rush immediately ........... from people who had been waiting for the law to be changed, and for the churches to accept gay marriage.

Some of those were activists who had been working to get the law changed.

But, there were hundreds of "ordinary folk", including couples who had been together for 30, 40 or even 50 years ............... they were so happy to finally be able to make that commitment that hetero- couples have always been able to do.

Their faces were an absolute delight to see!

I think it is the same as for hetero- couples ........

........ some are quite happy to live as "common law", especially as a 2-year plus relationship confers on the partners all the rights of a married couple regarding inheritance, division of assets on break-up, etc

....... some want a civil marriage, and are quite happy with that

........ some want to have a church blessing after having a civil marriage

........ and some want a church wedding, believing that is more important to them, and has more meaning, than a civil marriage (registry office).


One problem did crop up after gay marriage became law in Canada.

Couples came from other countries to get married here ............... mainly from the US, but also from other countries. They then went home to live, knowing that their marriages were not legally accepted "back home", but feeling much happier that they had made this commitment to each other


Some of those marriages later broke down, just as hetero- marriages break down.

It turned out that these couples from other countries could not get a divorce ................

a) their marriages were not recognised, so they could not get a divorce where they lived because they were deemed not to be married

b) Canadian law requires that at least one partner in a divorce is resident in Canada. So they couldn't get divorced in Canada.

This caused problems, as one might imagine.

Last year, the Canadian government passed amendments to the Divorce Law .......... so that someone who was married in Canada could apply for dissolution of the marriage here.

The marriage has to have taken place in Canada, have broken down, the partners lived apart for at least 1 year, they must live in a state (US) or country that does not recognise gay marriage and not be resident in Canada, and they have to apply for the divorce in the province in which they were married.




sylvia

Ann


the 3 letter word probably was fag ............. and a euphemism was being used so they couldn't really be accused of being discriminatory or derogatory.


Fag was also the term used in British public schools for younger boys who had to act as "servants" for senior boys .... doing such things as cleaning their shoes, making ta, etc etc


a "fag hag" was a straight woman who was friendly with gays.

thanks for that
be interesting to see how things pan out in the uk

Thanks Sylvia, that's interesting to read.

thanks Sylvia - sounds right - I was barking up the wrong tree completely - you see the minute "letters" was mentioned in this book I'm reading I thought "French letters" and that took me down the wrong path :-D

by the way, if you like reading Sylvia, it's a lovely book [a woman's book called "The Kashmir Shawl" - half way through it and one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long while - mentioned it to AnninGlos, and she's already read it

oh, and I must be a fag hag :-D :-D

so am I :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

I'll look out for that book ........

......... always on the look out for good books, although it then takes me ages to get around to reading them .....................


spend too much time on the 'puter ;-)

terry and CAT


Glad you are finding what I say about the Canadian experience interesting

Well I hate to say...........I am not a 'fag hag', I just have mates ;-)


It's been quiet here today :-(

Looked up the definition of the word "hag" but I'm sure none of you ladies on here would fall into these catagories.


hag 1 (hg)
n.
1. An old woman considered ugly or frightful.
2.
a. A witch; a sorceress.
b. Obsolete A female demon.

GP

Just to ballance the scales

Curmudgeon

No I think the male fraternity on here are in general sweet, gentle, mild mannered, tender loving gentlemen who would never think of upsetting the ladies in any way whatsoever.

GP

well not if they would like to continue to enjoy home cooking rather than hospital food :-D

And here's me being as polite as I normally am then suddenly there is the threat of hospital food through a tube I assume.
Gins - the word you used is more than three letters long- how are we intelligent men suppose to cope with that. :-D