Wednesday 7 December 2011

It should never be a crime to be gay



Much to the horror of the fascist "Tea Party" Republicans in Texas and other American states with a fine history of supporting human rights causes [sic], President Obama has "come out" on the side of the gays in time for International Human Rights Day on 10th December.

From The Guardian today:
President Barack Obama has told US officials to consider how countries treat its gay and lesbian populations when making decisions about allocating foreign aid.

In the first ever US government strategy to deal with human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens abroad, a presidential memo issued on Tuesday instructs agencies using foreign aid to promote such rights.

Gay and lesbian lobby groups have reported an increase in human rights abuses in Africa and parts of the Middle East.

President Obama is among international leaders who have condemned a bill proposed in Uganda which would make some homosexual acts a crime punishable by death. The Ugandan parliament has recently re-opened the debate on the bill, which had been abandoned after an international outcry.

In the memo, Obama said: "I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world, whether it is passing laws that criminalise LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women and children for their perceived sexual orientation."


At the United Nations in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented this message in a speech to delegates (including representatives of the very countries who have introduced homophobic legislation and committed or supported vile anti-gay propaganda).

"It should never be a crime to be gay," she said. "Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."

Read Mrs Clinton's speech in full

It is about time the US took a stand against the many countries across the world where gay people are imprisoned, slandered, abused or even killed for their sexuality.

However, as many commentators have wrily observed, shouldn't the US put its own house in order now and repeal all the anti-gay legislation that some of its own States have introduced?

5 comments:

  1. This comes at a time where things are looking worse then ever for gay people in Russia, and many other places, with various laws being pushed through that makes being gay grounds for imprisonment 8and worse!).

    Hopefully the US (along with other major countries) will truly try and DO something about this. And considering how very far we have come in my country, where gay people have pretty much all the same rights as straight people, I really wish the gay population of Iceland would turn their focus on countries less fortunate instead of planning one party all year long!

    Anyways: power to Obama and Miss Clinto!

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  2. I am liking this kind of talk from Bama and Clinto...they do need votes from US gays. We still have a lot of work to do here in California. I will not rest until Prop 8 is overturned.

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  3. It is a most welcome turn of events, and hopefully it may be the start of something of a sea change for opressed gay people in Africa, the Middle East, the former Eastern Bloc and the Caribbean, where most of the institutionally homophobic regimes reside... Jx

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  4. It's such a shame too that the homophobia in Africa is being fuelled by US evangelical churches who are using their wealth as a means to gain power and spread their toxic views. It's a shame that something can't be done to curtail these people overseas as well as in the US.

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  5. Evangelical religion seems to have gone haywire in what is after all the world's most powerful secular state - and hardly a single politician in power in the last 220-odd years has risen to challenge it... Terrifying, really. Jx

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