if this is true...then wow....that's....quick. That is some serious.....love.

..well, best of luck to em...i guess.

I can't get past the age difference.

I know it's certainly none of my business, and straight guys do it all the time, but dating someone half your age just strikes me as sad and kind of pathetic and just so...obvious. And yes, I think the same thing when it comes to straight couples. I think it just speaks to a lack of self to partner with someone who so clearly isn't in any position to challenge you in any way.

It's my opinion and I'll probably be at the receiving end of a shit-storm over saying it, but T.R. has never struck me as much of the role-model he supposedly has become, and this relationship just confirms it for me. Truth be told, being called a f*g is the best thing that ever happened for his career.

 I know... I'm evil and I'm going to hell.

It's all well and good to say "oh, we should judge everyone as an individual" but that doesn't mean checking your experience and gut instincts at the door.  Seriously, if this were a couple of friends of mine, I'd be shaking my head and waiting for the disaster to happen. 

They've known each other for, like, 10 minutes.  And now they might be thinking of having kids?  That's not smart, no matter WHAT the age difference is.

afhickman

"It takes a village (to make Village People)"

Implying that T. R. Knight is old at age 36 or whatever is just bizarre.  At that age, I still think of him as a kid.  The 30s are that comfortable stage in life when you think you have it all figured out and then, wham, you're suddenly forty, and you start losing your eyesight and your hearing and you think everyone's looking at your bald spot.  Jack Benny refused to age beyond 39, and I think he had the right idea.  If only one's pores and one's waistline (not to mention gravity) would cooperate.  Then you hit fifty, you have your first heart attack, and everything you thought you knew about life flies right out the door.  I don't know what to think about turning sixty, but it's bound to be another adventure: "His youthful hose well shav'd, a world too wide for his shrunk shank," as Jacques says in "As You Like It."  Just for fun, though, I'd still like to have a 19-year-old in my life--not for anything untoward, mind you--but to keep on top of the latest slang.     

First and foremost as Snicks so sarcastically stated in his conclusion all this is simply rumor and conjecture. If anyone bothered to read the OK! article TR is debunking another rumor. About a month ago photos of TR and Mark strolling about in Los Feliz suddenly morphed into the two were house hunting. Those of us who were fans know TR bought a large home prior to ever meeting Mark.

In reviewing the statement about adoption it sounds rather disconnected from the last topic and is probably an answer to a question the writer didn't bother to elucidate to the readers. Notice he's also using "I" instead of "we," which indicates it's a general thought and not a concrete plan, especially in regards to Mark. The whole tone sounds tentative.

As for the "marriage" the only solid fact declared is TR is hosting the event and Marc Malkin on E!Online spread the speculation the two were to be bethrothed and the blogosphere have repeated it.

On the subject of the age difference I'm disturbed about the Victorian views on 18-19 years olds being automatically seen as pliant, empty vessel without agency and their older lovers as predatory. In some nations in Europe in the wake of decriminalization of sodomy laws discriminatory age of consent laws were enacted for gay male sex using the same rationale. Britain placed the age for lawful gay sex at 18-2 years above that for straights-and Spain had it at 21-about 5 years above that for straights.

Strangely the US has been lucky states haven't decided to take this route after the Lawrence decision. With some of these arguments I wouldn't surprise if this is the next course of action.

Who challenges whom? According to Mark's bio he parted ways with his conservative Christian family at 16 so I doubt he'll have a problem dealing with the mild-mannered TR. He is 35 not 36 as the writer reported.

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Our_Story_Yth_Advisory_Council

I have friends who've met TR in those charity capacities and found him to be a humble and genuine person. One definitely remembers TR as admiring gay youth who brave hostile home and school environments as out people. When I look at his praise of Mark I hear that appreciation.

Also while TR has been out privately his acknowledging of his homosexuality almost 2 years ago is a second coming out as a public persona and is becoming more politically involved within the community. That mindset is in attuned to many of the gay college students so that maybe another way he became attracted to Mark.

Personally, I wouldn't advice him to marry at this time but if he does I would hope he is fully informed about Mark. Ultimately I'm not his keeper, his mother nor do I wish to be. Plenty of my favorite celebs are in destructive relationships (eg Sean Penn-Robin Wright) but I still appreciate their work and, in many cases, them as individuals. I just hope for the best for him. 

I am so disgusted by this entire topic of the age difference between T.R. and his boyfriend and the view of his relationship.

First, it's completely asinine to assume that someone as young as Mark cannot completely understand, value, and want this relationship simply because of his age.  Second, the article clearly states that T.R. wants kids "someday" and that the tabloids love taking a small incline and making it into Mt. Everest (i.e., Mark and T.R. are getting married when they're probably just going to a charity event).  Lastly, who the hell are we to judge anyone's relationship, especially given the fact that we don't know them?  Nobody has any idea what has attracted these two to each other (except for when they speak of each other and T.R. has stated that he loves Mark for how genuine he is and how big his heart is) and it's beyond ridiculous to assume that "your experience" somehow provides you with some kind of insight into how this relationship functions and/or how it will all play out.  Even if they break up, no one will know if age was a factor or something else.  How dare anyone assume that they know these two just b/c we see them in the media!!  Being young doesn't make a damned bit of difference in how you function in a relationship; it's about maturity and life experience.  I know a lot of 40 year old men who act like they're 12 and 18 year old men who hold down a full-time job and go to school. 

I raised my brother when I was a child myself, have worked full-time since I was 14, took care of my family (including an alcoholic mother, a grandmother with Alzheimer's, and a little brother) all the while still learning how to write cursive.  I have paid my own bills and have been on my own my entire life and I was more mature @ 18 than my professors at college who were well into their 40's.  There's a lot of gull to start stereotyping on the basis of age when there's too much f*cking stereotyping going on with everything else.  

We hate the stereotypes of the gay community but I guess we give as good as we get huh?