Not going to be posting on Gay life in Viki. Too much craziness.
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Interestingly, at least where I am from (Rochester, NY), there are a variety of people I know (gay, lesbian, straight, trans, religious, atheist, American-born, foreign-born) who think that the government has no business in licensing a monogamous committment entered into with the intention of it being for a lifetime.
The cynic in me says itās just another way of raking in money to bolster an always iffy city, county, state, national budget. As someone pointed out to me recently, in the āloveā area alone, never mind the medical or the work-related, people plan a wedding and pay through the nose, they get a license and pay through the nose, they hire a caterer and pay through the nose, they distribute wedding swag and pay though the nose, they go on vacation and pay through the nose.
Basically, as in so many areas, a ācivil marriageā and all its associated tchotchkes is one more way power mongers (and greedy planners) bleed average citizens dry.
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Not going to be posting on Viki. Too much craziness.
I apologize if I have offended you in some way I do not understand. I will try to be more forthright in what I represent/support/have a heart for than in my previous post.
Rochester, NY, where I live, has a level of political complexity that not all areas of the United States have, and its complexity is certainly not the same as the complexity (or lack thereof) found in Europe, in South America, in Asia.
I am currently a registered Democrat. In NY State, with NY Stateās election laws and particular forms of local, county, and state legislatures, that has meant some interesting discussions āon the streetā among voters, and it has also meant interesting discussions among those running for office.
It has been my privilege to know and work with local political candidates whose platforms have stressed treating all human beings with dignity and value regardless of . . . whatever. And, given the ethnic make-up of Rochester, NY (which, according to US Census information is the second most ethnically diverse city in NY State behind NYC itself), those candidates have been Asian.
I currently am the gopher and speechwriter for an Nepali-American who has advocated for under-served populations who have been generally ignored by the political system in my city, and I have known him and his family for more than ten years.
Given that New York State, with its strange and constantly shifting policies, has turned out to be the statistical and literal epicenter of the US COVID pandemic, and given that, as a result of such policies, too many Asians, including personal friends of mine, have suffered and are still suffering as a result, I have been involved in New-York-specific politics with a great amount of energy and a lot of tears. Thus I am focused on human rights and human dignity from that perspective.
In fact, thanks to the strange behavior and dishonest explanations of that behavior by New York Democratic power-mongers during the US lockdown, during the 2020 election, and now during the continuing rollout of vaccines for NY residents, I am changing my party affiliation to Working Families Party because it will allow me to vote in primaries without giving tacit endorsement to the work of some pretty blundering idiots going forward.
I donāt know about where you live, but in NY State, registered voters must affiliate with a party in order to vote in primaries, and the number of parties recognized as eligible to vote in those primaries is extremely limited. So it wonāt be until the race for NY governor that I will be able to voteāand serve as an election inspectorāas a member of Working Families Party.
I have family members who identify as members of the LGBT-Plus movement, though, as you rightly point out, it would be a cruel and unforgiveable sin to give details without their permission. So, my intention in commenting on your post was basically to say primarily that governments are always trying to regulate and limit the activities of average citizens with regard to personal choices.
Though I donāt know about your particular part of planet Earth, it is oddly with regard to marriage of all sorts of people that MY state seems to want to suck wallets dry. It is very stupid in my opinion that ANYONE gets to sit around in a cushy office and say, āI know! Letās tax adults through the nose for having adult relations and making adult decisions!ā
Taxes are necessary for many things for many reasons, but I donāt think that a shakedown of people of any persuasion in the civil magistrateās office is the best way to raise taxes.
I understand that your thread is designed to explain a particular type of information for a particular group of people. If by sharing my thoughts I have some how shown disrespect or lack of understanding of a sensitive and complex issue, I would like to apologize again.
My parents raised me to have a big mouth and butt in a lot when people are being belittled and disrespected and not paid attention to. I donāt have all the correct social filters in place, and I donāt plan to get them anytime soon, so I probably should refrain from offering my opinion here in the future.
Thank you for your honesty and precision in presenting a topic that few people are willing to dialog about.
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If you change your mind sooner than later, here is a discussion thread you might find of interest.
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Disregard this threadā¦
I couldnāt help myself and had to look and realizeā¦
I am so curiousā¦
Itās like an accident, you donāt want to look but you have to look 
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*scrolls through discussions
*sees āDisregard this threadā
*the rebel in me resolutely clicks on the thread
*feeling quite chuffed =^.^= 
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