Good venting tirade, pal.

Many people from all over the spectra--including some from within the MAA community--will argue that the sexual aspect of our attraction base is something that we shouldn't care in the least about fulfilling, because:

1) The widespread belief that it's somehow spiritually enhancing to resist or entirely deny physical and sensual pleasures;

2) That sexual desire and fulfillment are base and petty desires that are ultimately selfish to have any wish to act upon, no matter how much mutual pleasure may be had by your prospective partner along with yourself;

3) That sexual desire is unimportant when compared to love, because sex is icky whereas love is "pure" and indescribably beautiful, and sexual activity somehow taints the quality of love when it's introduced into the equation--all overlooking the fact that sexual desire and fulfillment are an integral aspect of one major type of love in human experience--romantic love--and that sexual fulfillment is considered so important to romantic love that in the state-recognized institution of marriage, it's grounds for divorce if one partner refuses to have such relations with the other. Sexual desire clearly doesn't begin and end with the approval and sanction of the state authorities;

4) That sex is just not important in the scheme of things, and you are showing the object of your affections respect of the highest order by refusing to engage in the sexual aspect of your attraction with her/him--when all of human literature through the ages, not to mention a huge proportion of the psychological field's database of study, attests to the extreme power and importance of sexual desire and fulfillment in the entire spectra of human experience since the dawn of humanity.

That is the situation in a nutshell. Because it's against the law, we should refrain from it, because of the damage it can do to us and our hypothetical partner if we get "found out" (prison, the sex offender registry, and civil commitment for us; enforced "therapy" for our hypothetical partners). We need to work within the system to make changes, including standing up for the establishment of full civil rights for all citizens regardless of age, including the right to the requisite amount of education and support that would be needed to facilitate the best decisions possible for any given individual youth.

Now, just imagine trying to argue any of the four points I made above to members of the mainstream gay community to rationalize a "need" for them to refrain from the sexual aspects of their attraction base, and watch them cry foul with a tone of such severity that it reverberates throughout the Nine Worlds. Watch how fervently they will argue that acceptance of the homosexual act within mutually consensual parameters is an essential part of accepting homosexuals and homosexuality itself. Watch how vehemently they argue the importance of sexual fulfillment in their lives, and how much their emotional health and overall spiritual homeostasis is contingent on this aspect of their lives. Watch how quickly they jump to try and highlight the differences between our situation and ignore all the parallels, all the while overlooking three important factors:

1) "Underage" people are sexual beings as much as adults, and should be allowed to fulfill this aspect of their lives under conditions that are reasonable and safe for all concerned. Why does it make logical sense to argue that sexual fulfillment is an important aspect of adult emotional and spiritual health and experience, but somehow very negative in all these regards for anyone below a specific chronological age demarcation?

2) Despite all the emotional "complexities" and "complications" they will argue that sexuality can bring into the lives of fragile youngsters and detract from all the important things that kids "should" be concentrating upon at their tender, heavily controlled young ages (e.g., their state-enforced academic studies, just playing freely and living "carefree" lives unburdened by uber-complicated sexual aspects, etc., et al.), most people of all ages and orientations continue to seek and desire it, and have frequently risked all and fought with great effort for the right to have it if they so choose.

3) Throughout history, the suppression of any type of mutually consensual sexual expression--no matter how noble the claimed motives--as opposed to openness and acceptance of its importance to the overall schema of human existence and civilization, has never resulted in a truly free, enlightened, or emotionally healthy society.

Geez, should this form the basis of a future essay? I sort of got inspired to go off on a tangent here.