Well -- speaking only for me, and bear in mind that I'm not gay -- it might seem unnecessary to say something like, "I went to the grocery store with my gay friend Trevor yesterday," because the fact that he's gay really doesn't play into the story. It would be just as weird if you said you went somewhere with your black friend Barack or your fat friend Steph, etc.

But if you happen to have a story about a gay friend and his/her partner, you can tell the story in such a way that it's clear you're talking about a gay couple -- without overemphasizing it, like "My friends -- you know, the GAY COUPLE, which I am SO COOL WITH -- went to the zoo!"

Because overemphasizing it would, again, be obvious and kind of awkward, IMO. But if you just talk about your friends in the same way you'd talk about anyone else -- "My friend Trevor and his partner Steve just got back from vacation, and they lost their house keys somewhere in Spain and couldn't get back in their house for 3 days!" -- that would seem normal and fairly chill.

Thank you, Stpeh. That is what I thought, but giving the reaction to my first post about the subject I thought it might be a good time to confirm that my ideas are leaning towards the "not harmful".

I hope I didn't kill the thread being dumb. That experience just helped me learn that keeping a big secret about your identity can affect communication in weird ways that you might not anticipate and that "coming out" is not really about sex at all...I mean, it is, and it's not.

Metaphorical ouch. That hurt a spot. And while I'm not gay or disabled person, I can really, really identify with that. Living with something that alters your behaviour, yet you wouldn't be you without it... it's hard. Maybe it's one of the reasons I keep rejecting (on this level or other. Only two years ago I came to terms with the fact that yes, I'd like to be involved in that kind of relationship, and it's still baby steps from there) romantic relationships.

Shir! Israel 30th Dec - 7th Jan! Confirmed, and everything. F2F, yes? *happy bounce*

Oh, yes, baby!!!

I should probably tell Nilly, right...?

Erin, I'm @ANTexperiment on Twitter, but it's mostly inactive.

ION, I adore Orit Kamir.

I should probably tell Nilly, right...?

I don't really know her, not being much of a Natter-er, so I'll leave that to you :)

Seska, while Shir would be riches enough, Nilly is a pearl without price. You should meet her if you possibly can.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby to present you my sister.

On front, smiling. On the right, to the left, to the right here, and here.

Oh, as as if that needed to be saying, but I'm the proudest big sis on this earth. She's been through hell in her service, but she bent the system. And did some of it smiling, no less. My evil fiend.

Edit: and now you should be able to see it.

Shir, looks like those pictures aren't public. You can link to the image URLs instead.

I just uploaded all to Flickr, for the time being. Should work now.

Shir, they're still private.

Now they aren't, for people who weren't my friends on Flickr before.

Will leave it like that overnight, but will change links and make them private again in about 7 hours. Sorry for all the lost private links...

Dayum, it turns out Shir isn't the only gorgeous gal in her family.

Thanks for sharing those, Shir.

She's the prettier sister.

I got the passion for knowledge. Yet, she's the one who's planning on becoming a doctor.