Not that we didn't have close relationships with our parents - I'm very close to my mom - but parents didn't think anything of going off for a few weeks and leaving their kids.

The fact that I'm very close with my past relationships is something I pride myself on. My mom is still close to her first husband. It's nice to be able to enjoy someone in a different form.

Financial hardships were rough on us even though Mom had a good job at G.M.

What makes a woman beautiful is her loyalty to and her friendships with other women and her honesty with men.

Instead I think over the years we have cut the strength of marriage and relationships by the law and weakened the institution. We have tried to deal with relationships with no-fault divorce with child custody with so many other avenues and it has not helped.

So I really did stop and change what I saw I was about and really try to put that principle into play as the center of everything - my friendships my marriage my career my family my way of being in the world. And that changed everything for me.

It's only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. I know the image of gay marriage is to some people horrific and ludicrous.

I think long-lasting healthy relationships are more important than the idea of marriage. At the root of every successful marriage is a strong partnership.

I've exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years. For the most part these communications took place before my marriage though some have sadly took place after. To be clear I have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time.

Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships.