Is gay sex adultery?

[TrogL]

(Yes, this is political, considering all the uproar over gay marriage)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Adultery%20New%20Hampshire

The court was asked to review a case in which a husband accused his wife of adultery after she had a sexual relationship with another woman. Robin Mayer of Brownsville, Vt., was named in the divorce proceedings of David and Sian Blanchflower of Hanover.

A Family Court judge decided Mayer and Sian Blanchflower's relationship did constitute adultery, but Mayer appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that gay sex is not adultery under New Hampshire divorce law.

Personally, I think it is. Sex is sex. A relationship is a relationship. But it puts an interesting wrinkle in the gay marriage debate.

[kixot]

1. Yup.

Absofrigginlutely.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Uh yeah

Sex is sex, regardless of the genders involved. Jeebus...

[RobertSeattle]

7. Seinfield definition of when sex has occurred

"When the nipple appears"

Isn't that the quote? Not sure about male-male stuff though...

[NicoleM]

3. There is probably

a very specific legal definition that they have to go by in deciding what is adultery and what isn't.

[jono]

5. They got it out of a dictionary.

It's in the article.

[tom_paine]

4. Seems like a no-brainer

Sex with someone outside of marriage would seem to constitute adultery, whether it's gay or otherwise.

Just common sense.

[jono]

8. That brings up an interesting point.

What if a gay person who was involved in a homosexual relationship were to have sex with someone else outside of the relationship (whether gay or straight)? Would it still be adulterous, even though it was not "outside of marriage"?

[ldf]

21. that gay person would have been "unfaithful"

if you are in a supposedly monogamous relationship, and screw around, you have been unfaithful to your partner.

i imagine that "adulterous" would depend on the legal "marriage" aspect of the relationship. you could probably trace it back to the bible. of course, i believe most biblical instances of man and wife did not involve a marriage ceremony. it was more a two family arangement. so, i don't know, now i am confused.....

[burrowowl]

22. Cheating on your partner

can be broadly called adultery.
Cheating is cheating!

[mmonk]

6. yes

adultery is it in that situation. Adultery is sex outside of the marriage partnership.

[GSCNEWS]

9. Yes

saying it wasnt would be discriminating against it.

[burrowowl]

23. In cathecism

Adultery was if one was married and fornication if one was not.
I think cheating on one's partner of whatever sex is wrong, dishonest and dangerous if one is careless about VD or STDs.

[supernova]

10. In this case, yes

because it's a sexual relationship outside the marriage. The fact that it's a gay relationship in this instance is irelevant.

Whoever was advising the wife in that divorce case was poor counsel, imo.

[dfong63]

14. the NH supreme court decided in the wife's favor!

Whoever was advising the wife in that divorce case was poor counsel, imo.

it sounds like she won her point in court. so on that basis, i'd say her counsel was pretty good.

[supernova]

16. I stand corrected

From the article:

Part of the problem in New Hampshire is that adultery is not defined in the state's divorce laws. So the court looked up "adultery" in Webster's dictionary and found that it mentions intercourse. And it found an 1878 case that referred to adultery as "intercourse from which spurious issue may arise."

So the woman won on a technical flaw in the law, not b/c, as I originally maintained that the relationship was adulterous.

Another snip:

"I think the majority opinion is unintentionally trivializing same-sex relations and violating modern notions of the sanctity of marriage," said Marcus Hurn, a professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center

IOW, the woman may have won her case, but this is no victory for the legalized equality of same sex unions.

[9215]

11. It's not sex

so how can it be adultery based on that definition? :eyes:

[Military Brat]

12. Share your body intimately with someone not your spouse? Yes

It's adultery.

[9215]

26. define "intimate"

please. For legal purposes that is.

[TrogL]

13. The gay marriage link

Suppose that a gay couple did get married then ended up in front of a repug judge with one partner screaming "adultery". I could see the judge trotting out the old "gays are promiscuous, get over it" line, and refuse to consider it adultery.

[dfong63]

15. what a stupid decision!!!!

well, duh. if the husband had had a gay affair, what would the court have said, i wonder?

[Muddleoftheroad]

17. Yes

Sex is sex. When you are married, adultery is sex with someone other than your spouse.

[xultar]

18. YES

[PVnRT]

19. I agree

Adultery is having sex with someone other than your partner without them knowing and/or approving it.

[jody]

20. I though adultery in ancient times meant a wife having intercourse with

a man other than her husband. Of course the definition has been distorted by various religions in recent times.

[tsipple]

24. Definitely Adultery Unless a Threesome

Since Robin and Sian didn't include the husband, he should get 110% of everything. :evilgrin:

[foreigncorrespondent]

25. Very much so...

...I am in a (monogomous) committed relationship with Sapphocrat. If either one us was to sleep with another person, then we would be cheating on each other, no two ways about it. That is adultery.

The same applies to people in straight relationships who pick up a little bit of gay sex on the side, they are in fact cheating on their partners, and that is considered adultery.

[MrPrax]

27. Oh yeah...just shot up...no pain

Good to see there is a thread at DU that is talking about substantive issues like 'gay sex'...
As opposed to whether it is safe to send children to public schools anymore...maybe if they get back for Iraq...or survive Prison...they might actually form a loving, stable relationship with anyone...including a member of the same sex.

[UTUSN]

28. Is Biology "Adultery"? n/t

[Clark Can WIN]

29. You know what? I don't care what kind of plumbing my mate

chooses to cheat on me with........... it's still cheating.