At 16:52 12/01/99 -0800, you wrote:
>On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Steg Belsky wrote:
>
>> I thought that "sodomy" meant _homosexual *rape*_, and not just sex
>> between members of the same sex.  Isn't the word based on the Biblical
>> story of Lot and the Angels in Sdom, where Lot's evil neighbors told him
>> to send out his guests, because they wanted to rape them?
>
>You have the etymology correct, but the actual *definition* of "sodomy"
>depends on who you talk to, what part of the country, etc..  I have
>heard all of the following as definitions of "sodomy":
>
>(1)  Oral/anal/vaginal sex between people of the same sex (=3D homosexual
>sex).
>
>(2)  Oral/anal/vaginal sex between people of the same sex OR between
>a person and an animal (=3D homosexual sex + bestiality).
>
>(3)  Oral/anal sex, regardless of the gender of the participants, and
>sometimes also including various kinds of foreplay (=3D non-procreative
>sex, homosexual or heterosexual).
>
>(4)  Oral/anal sex between two men.
>
>(5)  Anal sex only, regardless of gender.
>
>(6)  Anal sex only, regardless of gender, OR bestiality.
>
>(7)  Anal sex between two men.
>
>As far as I know, nobody uses "sodomy" to refer specifically to acts
>of rape.  The intentions of the 'perpretrators' are unimportant.
>In my experience, most anti-gay people are referring to (4) or (7)
>when they use the term, even though (3) is probably the older sense.
>Somewhere along the line, people went from thinking "sodomy" =3D
>"non-procreative sex" to thinking "sodomy" =3D "gay sex".  My desktop
>dictionary adopts definition (6), but this is not the most normal usage.
>Most people, I think, regard bestiality as being something separate from
>sodomy (though they may feel that both are equally heinous...).
>
>Anti-sodomy statutes may be based on any one of the definitions
>above.  Most anti-sodomy statutes do not refer to the gender of the
>participants, but a couple refer specifically to homosexual sex.  As far
>as I know, only gay men and lesbians have been prosecuted (persecuted)
>under anti-sodomy laws in recent times.
>
>Matt.
>
>
        In French, the word "sodomie" refers to 'anal sex' and that's all,
regardless of gender and bestiality. Only anti-gay people refer to it only
as anal sex between two men (there's been a renewal of such people since
the beginning of the discussion on the PACS, did you hear about this in
other countries?).

At 14:17 12/01/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Thank you, And, for your kind response, and I'm glad to know life is more
>civilized in Livagia.
>
>Best wishes,
>Daniel
>
        I do too. Can I immigrate to Livagia and take the Livagian nationality? I
happen to be gay also, without any problem to say it, when I'm asked to. I
don't hide myself and my boy-friend is in the same school as me, and we
don't hide ourselves. We never had any problem, at least in that school.
        What I wanted to say is an odd thing I saw since I began unhiding that I
was gay: my friends all accepted my homosexuality without a problem, with
only some surprise, but when I say I'm a conlanger, they look at me as if I
was mad! (even my gay friends do that). I find this situation quite weird.
After the Gay Pride, shall we have a Conlanger Pride?


                                                        Christophe Grandsire
                                                |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.

"R=E9sister ou servir"

homepage : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepage/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html