My wife is more "butch" looking and I am more feminine. Maybe that is why people don't stare or give us a hard time when we hold hands in public. I think people see what they expect to see, instead of what's really there. I believe they think my wife is a guy.

Now I just want to say that it's cool that we still want to hold hands after ten years together. But sometimes when we hold hands in public I still wait for some redneck guys to follow us out to our car and give us a hard time or beat us up. I hold my head high, because there's nothing wrong with us holding hands. We love each other madly for pete's sake! And what is wrong with one human loving another?

It feels so normal for me to love her. We have friends who are accountants, teachers, officers of the peace -- all walks of life. We have good and bad times (mostly good) like most other couples. We own a home, take out our garbage, bitch about gas prices, hold jobs, have dogs and a cat -- just like other folks. So it never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there who say we shouldn't get married because we are two women. Women earn less than men, and as a two-woman household we need all the help we can get benefits-wise, etc.

There are people(my mother included) who think we are going to hell because we love each other. For proof of this they rely on an old book with archaic language that must be interpreted. And their interpretations are never wrong -- even though these interpretations vary from congregation to congregation. My spouse would like to go back to church, but I think this is one of the things that stops her.

At least the UMC is welcoming. I can't imagine going to a church where people stare and think we're going to hell. Sanctimonius thumpers. Judge lest not ye be judged and all...

I love going to places like Provincetown, MA, San Fransisco, Key West, and large metropolitan areas where we can be who we are without fear. We went to St. Barth's in the French West Indies for our honeymoon, and no one looked twice at us. Europeans are much more tolerant than we in the U.S.

Most women in Europe go topless at beaches. I think if we all did that, and boys grew up seeing all kinds of breasts, that they wouldn't fixate on them so totally. We might even have fewer rapes. Because breasts would be no big deal at all. Just another body part like an arm or a leg. It's a possibility anyway, no?