[malkung]

> No matter how core it is to your religion, you may not injure or kill me.

Well, you should respect my religion or at least be sensitive about it (if you want to have some dialog). When I come to your country, I won't make a fuss seeing gays kiss. When you come to my country, do not go protesting the fact there no gays kissing in public.

> Maybe some day we'll be perfectly accepting of sex in public, but I feel you are trying to conflate different arguments.

It's the same thing. Having sex in public is not dangerous to anyone, it's someone's natural function. It is simply in the Western culture, when done in public, it produces a cultural shock. Kissing gays produce a similar shock in Russia.

> this talk of corrupting youth is archaic garbage.

Is the prohibition to have sex in public archaic garbage? How about smoking marijuana? I accept that it may be ok for Dutch people and it may not be ok in US. I also have my own views on that, but I am not imposing them on these countries.

> Sure, your culture loves it, but that's because it has some growing up to do.

You are suggesting my culture is inferior to yours, and you are allowed to teach me about that. How nice is that? My feeling is that it's not just your view, it's a common view in the West, and that's the main problem in the West vs. Russia dialog.

[fuzzix]

> You are suggesting my culture is inferior to yours

I am doing no such thing. I am stating that any culture which discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation is broken. That includes my culture, your culture and many other cultures. Remember I said "Ireland is as backwards as anywhere else on the issue"?

> West vs. Russia

I'm a boat trip and a long walk away, not that far west.