Gee I'm So Proud of My Country
This week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the Senate regarding the administration’s request for $75 million to help further democracy in Iran, in which she stated that Iran was under the control of a “radical regime.” Yet the Bush administration recently went out of its way to support an Iranian initiative to deny access to gay and lesbian organizations within the United Nations. [...]
Iran’s government moved to have the gay and lesbian organizations’ applications rejected without discussion, which is largely unheard of at the UN. Although France and Germany voted against the rejection, the U.S. government sided with Iran, and was joined by Cameroon and Zimbabwe, in successfully denying UN access to the gay rights organizations. Instead of creating a coalition of the respectful, the U.S. government help create a coalition of the hateful. In doing so, the Bush administration joined forces with some of the most repressive regimes in modern history.
Under Iranian law, engaging in homosexual relations is illegal and punishable by death. And merely being gay is a crime punishable by being receiving 100 lashes. According to a report by the French newspaper Le Monde, in 1999 Iran killed ten men for homosexuality by stoning them. In 2000, 16 men were stoned to death. And in 2001, 12 men were stoned for being gay. In July of last year the Iranian regime was the subject of international criticism after it hung two teenage boys who were accused of being gay. According to one study, the Iranian government has executed over 4,000 men for homosexuality since 1979. (source)
Which leads me to ask.... is there anything, anything at all, that the Bush Administration can do right?
By siding with Iran on this, they (we) are condoning the executions of these gay men. So does that mean that Secretary Rice and dip shit Bush now think that violence and death against gay men in the United States is now justified?
I thought we didn’t give in to terrorism. Indeed, I thought that we were in a “war against terror”. Well, I’ve never been stoned, but it sounds like terrorism to me.
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There are obviously people in the United States who want us dead, period. We know that. Every single day in this country, gay people are executed by homophobic "criminals". Most of these crimes are not reported. There are many "Matthew Shepards" out there that we will never hear about.
And, obviously, there are many religious people who also want us dead. Most of them will not come out and say that. They would rather hide behind "decency" and "the love of Christ" to hide their true hatred. If they had their way and it was popular with the public, they would certainly sanction death or life imprisonment for "homosexual acts". We all know this.
There are also people such as Fred Phelps, and my uncle who believe that gay people should be put to death. Indeed, when my uncle was asked by my brother his opinion of gay people, his uncle's simple response was, "They are worthy of death." The subject was dropped.
So yes, I'm fully aware that there are people all over the place who want us dead. Then, there are people who just want us to be invisible and not talk about us (go into the closet again). That is a form of hatred as well. The bottom line is, we live in a country filled with extreme hatred against homosexuals and transgendered people. There will always be people like Justice Roy Moore in our country. Just as there are still people who belong to the KKK who believe black citizens should be killed.
What we don't have are outright public executions sanctioned by law in the United States specifically for homosexual behavior. Not because we lack the people who would like to do that, but because enough of us are "out" to families, friends, co-workers, etc. (the power of visibility) that unless things change in this country, it's not going to happen.
Iran, on the other hand, is publicly executing people just for being homosexual. And, I find it very disturbing that our current administration endorses that behavior. I knew they were fucked up - I just didn't know that they would go to any end to look diplomatic to a government such as Iran.
The real question here is the integrity of this administration. This is just one more example of the fact that they have NO INTEGRITY what so ever.
Or..... maybe the administration does have integrity, and they also want to see homosexuals publicly executed. That too, at this point, would not totally surprise me.
Christians don't want to hang us, huh?
"Homosexuality is an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it. The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution."
-- Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, 2002
There are hundreds of similar examples.
Yes but you see our "Christians" don't want to hang gays, as they do in Iran, even though now apparently our country agrees with that. Our country prefers to take the spirit and hope away from people in the form of creating different classes of people who don't have any hope of equality. That is what our Christians do.
The Taliban is much more merciful. They simply kill you and your problems are over.
That's the basic difference. I'm honestly not sure which one is worse, or more merciful, depending on your point of view.
Would someone remind me again how our homegrown "Christians" are different from the Taliban? Two sides of the same coin if you ask me.
No... sadly, no.
Nothing surprises me anymore I suppose. I guess I should feel lucky that we are at war with only one country, since our international reputation (not that we give a shit about that) has been shot all to hell.
and you'd expect anything better from the current administration ? . . .