Marc,

Bravo my friend. You are absolutely right from where I sit. Your ability to process is working just fine. Keep up the good work!

Taz

Marc you never cease to amaze me. And that is a good thing. Hey bro we are what we are and it is terribly important to be comfortable with that. Labels have no meaning. I just wish that people would stop using religion and god to preach their own sick agendas. God loves all creatures, no matter what. You had no more choice of being straight or gay than you did getting the genes you wanted when you dived into that particular pool. Assholes like you describe reall turn my Crank and when that happens I really get pissed. I have had many conversations with assholesl; too many actually.

At about the same time I was put in a resident adolescent treatment 'unit' (as they put it).

I haveb written before about what a horrible place that was.

One of the first things that happened to me was that I was 'offered' behavior modification therapy to cure my 'sickness' of homosexuality.

I have often thought how fortunate I was to verbalize an emphatic "No!" without qualification in response to that question and that my parents were not asked for permission instead of myself.

I don't know why they weren't consulted as I was a minor at the time. I guess I was just lucky.

What came first for me? --The knowledge that I was gay before I was even aware of that term? --Or, the feeling of being gay, of wanting to be with other boys in that way at the time I was abused?

That began before puberty so I'm not sure about it. I know, as is often or usually the case with guys who have experienced childhood SA, I was sexualized by the experiences and so had mixed up ideas of what sexuality is (not 'advanced' ideas, understanding, acting out as they sometimes say).

I didn't have the understanding that those words I use now might seem to indicate.

I don't remember hearing the specific biblical references to homosexuality though I am sure I did and they had to have a significant negative effect within the context of the strict Christian upbringing I experienced.

I was fearful, not trusting, had been betrayed in the SA experiences, so did not end up experimenting much with other guys as is often the case.

I was on the outside all the time and was so fearful and shamed that I actually experienced physical dysfunction in the presence of other boys and, later, men.

I have consistently questioned not only my sexuality but also my masculinity and the root cause of that is the childhood SA I experienced.