"HIM"MAA is so appropriate, don't you think?

I feel so defeated by this constant barrage of legislation against women. If I have to see one more whey-faced, self-righteous, soft-hand-having male politician grin with triumph as he signs an anti-woman bill into law, I think the top of my head is going to blow off.

I don't think this will afford any power to women in India.

The more that women are seen as a commodity rather than as a person, the more danger they are in. These girls will not be valued as people, but as products to be marketed. I would think that India will probably start to see some of the same problems that are occuring in China, with rural men kidnapping women to find wives. The whole thing sounds very The Handmaid's Tale to me, and doesn't bode well for women's safety.

I don't think this is about her looking butch - it's about that wacko mullet/mohawk that she got on the Mizrahi show. That was truly, truly hideous and bizarre. It didn't make her look more or less gay, it just made her look freakish. So I don't blame the network for that clause in her contract. They knew when they hired her that she's gay, she's outspoken, she can be controversial and wacky. Heck - the whole country knows she's gay. IMO they're not trying to make her "pass" via a hairstyle, they're just protecting their investment. And I don't think there's a thing wrong with that.

I've been in a similar situation to yours, albeit in the Netherlands. I went for the "love of my life", learned the language, started a career there, became part of his family. I did not become a Dutch citizen. When our relationship ended after 5 years (1 here, 4 there) and then almost simultaneously my company decided to relocate to Paris, I had no idea what to do. Stay in Amsterdam as an interesting ex-pat or move back to America, where I was just one more boring old American? Move to Paris and start all over again with a new language and a new life? Or go back to the land of the 24/7 grocery store, the drive-thru and the Slurpee?

As Cary identified in his response to you, I started to realize that I had a deep need not to appear as a "failure" to my friends and family - both in Holland and in America. I didn't want to "turn tail and run". But then I realized how much I had accomplished, all the wonderful things I got to see and do and learn, and how much I longed to be at home. I have been home for 6 years now, and I have never been happier. There were issues here that I needed to take care of - some of the issues that made moving overseas attractive to me in the first place. I have freedom and happiness, the little things aren't a struggle, no one comments on my accent or laughs at the little cultural things I don't understand, and absolutely no one considers me a coward or a failure. And I don't consider myself that way. (I won't say the first 6 months of readjusting weren't very hard.)

America has its problems at the moment, but I would rather be here to address them in person than to sit and ho-hum about them overseas, or join in with the America-bashing that can sometimes go on in social situations there.

Coming home worked out for me. I hope that whatever you decide works out for you as well. Best of luck!