Iran's Anti-Gay Program

[justin899]

American gay rights groups are ignoring systematic persecution in the Islamic Republic

The Islamic Republic of Iran--under the new government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad--is engaged in a major anti-homosexual pogrom targeting gays and gay sex. This campaign includes Internet entrapment, blackmail to force arrested gays to inform on others, torture and executions of those found guilty of engaging in "homosexual acts."

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2458/

[politicaholic]

1. They must have modeled that from the US communist policy...

in the 50's. That's what makes the policy democracy-like.

In their minds, if they allow homosexuals to slide then it might embolden women into the notion that they're human or something.

Friggin' psychotic society of unenlightened pricks.

[megatherium]

2. Shit, they're asking for war. nt

[closeupready]

3. The irony of this is the long tradition of gay friendliness of Persian

culture. Iran's Great Leap Forward, I guess.

[sui generis]

4. there you go, fundamentalism at its finest.

we're not far behind, just as soon as we overturn Roe and finish making it illegal to be gay here.

I really don't see that we have room to complain. Actually even if we did invade, we would probably just let them continue to murder gays, just like we're letting Afghanistan jail you for homosexuality and punish you for not wearing a burkha again.

[Ally McLesbian]

5. The real problem is that

liberals don't even THINK about the possibility that homophobia can exist outside the Western Christian cultures.

IT DOES.

Just come to Los Angeles, where the worst homophobes speak Spanish or Korean, and few homophobes speak English (at least until you head out to Orange County, that is - even then, most homophobes out there working for Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition speak Spanish).

[closeupready]

6. I'm not sure what you mean, but I do think many hetero "liberals"

too quickly dismiss evidence of homophobia among non-English-speaking cultures as "an internal affair," as opposed to what it really is, which is a human rights violation - whether people speak English or Spanish or Tamil. Gays exist in every culture, and where homophobia rears its head, Western liberals are obligated to defend human rights of gays against oppression, just as they are obligated to defend the human rights of women, blacks and everyone else. Even if the oppression happens in Saudi Arabia - a/k/a "our friend".

And if you want to participate in American society, you are likewise obligated to uphold our values and civil rights, and gay rights are civil rights.

[UncleSepp]

7. I misread this as "anti-gay pogrom"

I don't think I was too far off. Frankly, I don't think they're too far off, either.

[mitchtv]

8. I thought to ask for a spelling correction

I swear I saw "pogrom"

[Brian_Expat]

9. So far only Spain and Sweden have stepped up to the plate in asylum

We should get cracking on lobbying Washington for an enhanced asylum policy for gays from Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, "Palestine," and other dictatorships which torture gay people.