This posts hits home for me. I had a deeply intimate emotional relationship with a woman in my teens and early 20s. Being young, I thought that this was being "in love". We dated and had a sexual relationship, and once I met my former partner, I told her I was gay and she was surprisingly accepting of it and remained in my life until I removed her from it because of her recent drug problem. She was the mother of my two children. I missed the woman that she used to be before drugs took that person away from everyone who loved her. She died last week because of her drug use.
As for some of the posts, it shows that some straight folks still separate themselves from gay folks, and it's sad to see since we're all part of the same community. It really doesn't matter who are programmed to fall in love with. The fact that some are closed to deeply intimate friendships with someone of the same sex doesn't make you gay. It makes you human.
Camino, I like what you said about the lady who said that people are simply sexual. She sounds like a wonderful woman.
O.C., I can probably get kicked out of the "bear" culture for saying this, but I am with you on hairy backs. I like the hairy chest, stomach, legs, arms, and furry faces, but I wax the hair that has been growing in on my back and shoulders. I used to just pluck out what I could.