Would you date a bisexual?

It's one thing for a partner to lie to you about their fidelity, night-time shenanigans or about the last time they spoke to their ex. But what would you do if you found out your partner … had once upon a time had sex with a person of the same sex?

Pop singer Gwen Stefani's husband has come out and surprised everyone with a revelation. Apparently the hot-to-trot lead singer of the band Bush – Gavin Rossdale – has dabbled in the horizontal hanky panky with someone of the same sex. While he says he was 17 at the time, and that it was just a "one night thing", he says it's no big deal and that his actions don't mean he's gay.

"When you're 17, Jesus Christ. I don't think there's anything strange about any form of - you're learning about life. It's a part of growing up. That's it. No more, no less," he said.
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When the revelations were released, it appeared his wife didn't give a toss. So why should we? And if he is indeed bisexual, then almost half of those surveyed by YourTango website found that they would still date the person, regardless of this measly little factoid. So why all the hullabaloo?

When asked if she'd date a bisexual, Bethany, 29, an administrative assistant, concurs with Stefani's non-care attitude, telling YourTango: "Yes, absolutely. I find it refreshing when a guy is open about his sexuality. I think I'd be fine if it was in his past, but if I had to worry about him desiring men while we were together, then that might be a problem."

While the desire for men is one thing, what about the recent trend that men are more accepting and open about kissing other dudes then they once were?

Yep, according to a survey released last week carried out by British researchers at the University of Bath (which is getting a hell of a lot of press and causing a ruckus among conservative types), when it comes to giving each other a peck on the cheek, modern blokes are no longer as afraid as they once were.

From the survey, which questioned university students from two universities, a whopping 89 per cent of blokes said they had kissed a heterosexual male friend on the lips, 37 per cent said they'd engaged in "sustained" kissing with another man, and zero per cent of respondents thought any of this behaviour was "sexual".

When I asked my 27-year-old rugby-playing, beer-swigging mate what he thought of this, he looked at me a little strangely.

"Um, I'd never kiss a dude," he said.

As straight actor Colin Farrell said when talking about his gay love scenes in Alexander in 2004: "I didn't enjoy kissing the men any more than I am sure a gay guy would enjoy licking a woman's [bleep]. I find it repulsive when a guy's stubble is pressed against my lip."

But after thinking about it for a few minutes, my mate told me that he's noticed that more and more blokes are doing it ... but only on the sporting field.

"The French rugby team were giving each other full on pashes when they won against New Zealand a couple of years ago," he told me. "It was weird to watch. And it was what we talked about for ages after the game."

While sporting heroes are supposed to be the roughest, toughest, straightest blokes on the block, it seems odd that they're not shy to give each other a little lip-on-lip action (in front of the entire world!) when they get a tad excited.

The University of Bath survey results concur with my mate's observations, with 95 per cent of athletes surveyed admitting that they had kissed another man, and that they thought there was "nothing wrong with it".

So what's going on? Are more men coming out of the closet? Unafraid to show their affections for one another? Or is this trend a reflection of something else?

Dr Eric Anderson, from the university's department of education who helped conduct the survey, said heterosexual men kissing each other in friendship is "an offshoot of what happens when homophobia is reduced … At these universities, overt homophobia has reduced to near extinction, permitting those men to engage in behaviour that was once taboo."

Which is certainly good news, even if it means your man may have swapped spit with his best mate.

But back to Rossdale. Because when it comes to having sex with a person of the same sex, it's slightly different than pashing them on the soccer field after your mate scores the winning goal. So my question is this: what if you discovered something like that about your partner? Would you be willing to forgive and forget? Or would you feel betrayed? Would you feel uncomfortable around them? Or would you put it down to a simple case of young men (or women) finding their way? And where do you draw the line?

Recently I've come across a number of readers who have made startling discoveries about their partners. What would you forgive?

* They've been to jail.
* There are nude photos of them on the internet.
* They're on a dating website.
* They've been to a swingers club (and participated!).
* They've been sleeping around with other people of the opposite sex.
* They've slept with someone of the same sex ...

And in case you thought I was kidding about the trend of sporting blokes kissing one another, check out this video which proves they aren't afraid to show a bit of male-to-male lovin'...