“We Don’t Have Homosexuals”
During his speech on Monday at Columbia University, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that there were no homosexuals in Iran. PJM's B. Daniel Blatt (GayPatriot West) asks, "Can you imagine the outcry if some social conservative claimed there were no gays in various regions of the United States?"
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Today is a day when gay people of all political stripes should be united. On this day when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is all over the news, we should be standing tall and condemning this leader of one of the most anti-gay regimes on the planet.
Leaders of gay groups rush to put out press releases when the highest court in a state rules that their state’s constitution does not require it to recognize same-sex unions. But, even with that ruling, gay couples can still live openly in Maryland. As they can in many other states which have refused to recognize gay marriage.
But, in Iran, not only are gay couples prevented from living together openly, they could be executed for expressing their feelings for same-sex intimacy. Perhaps it’s because he’s busy sentencing gay Iranians to death that Ahmadinejad claimed today that “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. . . In Iranian we don’t have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”
Yesterday, we had a lesbian claiming she had a little crush on this man who, even she acknowledged, would “probably have [her] killed” because he was so forthright in “calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration.”
As bad as those on the gay left claim this Administration to be, it doesn’t execute gay people. Yes, we should fault the president and his team for failing to repeal the pernicious Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell Policy preventing gays from serving openly in the military and should take the president to task for endorsing the Federal Marriage Amendment. But, there is a world of difference between opposing gay marriage and open service of gays in the military and murdering gay citizens as matter of state policy.
It’s amazing that some people on the gay left are so caught up with their hatred of Bush, that they refuse (or, are otherwise slow) to condemn the leader of a nation whose government does just that — murder its own gay and lesbian citizens.
At the same time that his government is busy executing gay people, Ahmadinejad has the temerity to claim that they don’t have “homosexuals” in his land. I wonder then who it is that the government has been executing. Or maybe he believes this policy has been so successful that he can now declare his nation free of homosexuals, just as the Nazis, once they deported and murdered the Jews of the various regions they conquered, could declare them “Judrenrein” (free of Jews).
Gay people can disagree whether or not state courts should accord same-sex unions the same recognition they offer to different-sex couples who opt for marriage, but we should be united in opposing a regime that executes our fellows; whose leader brazenly claims that there are no gays in his country.
Can you imagine the outcry if some social conservative claimed there were no gays in various regions of the United States? The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) would be issuing a variety of statements. Indeed, in reacting to the Iranian leader’s statement today, a blogger at the Huffington Post even went so far as to suggest American social conservatives have found a “soul-mate in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” It seems the only way some on the left can spin this story is to twist it to denounce American conservatives.
To be sure, there have been some gay groups speaking out. Hossein Alizadeh, a spokesman for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Organization told The New York Sun that in Iran, “there is constant fear of execution and persecution and also social stigma associated with homosexuality.” Hopefully, in due time, other gay groups will come forward and condemn this tyrant.
We should all be joining Alizadeh who, for the record, lives in the United States.
Alizadeh’s words and those of the man who serves as head of state in the nation he fled seven years ago should remind us where the real peril to our freedom — and our lives — lies. It’s not here in the United States. U.S. President George W. Bush may far from perfect on gay issues. But, he’s not the real enemy of gay people. The real enemy is the Islamofascist government which murders gay people while its leader claims we don’t exist.
If ever there was a cause for gay people to stand together, it is in standing up to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a truly deranged leader of a brutally oppressive regime. Let me repeat, this is where the danger really lies, not only to our freedom, but to our very lives.
Will Ahmadinejad’s statements today, in Roger Simon’s words, wake “the supposedly pro-gay left” up to this danger? One left-lesbian said yesterday that she’d “be listening” to the tyrant’s words today at Columbia. Let us hope that his statements will in some way sway her world view.
Call me cynical, but for some reason, I doubt that they will.
B. Daniel Blatt, a writer based in Los Angeles, is completing his Ph.D. in Mythological Studies and blogs as GayPatriot West at GayPatriot.
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19 Comments
Leah Kabaker:Why am I not surprised that a gay conservative is the one calling for condemnation of the Iranian Leader. While it is the liberal lesbian who is busy having a crush on him, since he hates President Bush as much as she does.
Sep 24, 2007 - 4:53 pm Noga:Other gay blogs have mentioned his comment that ‘there are no gays in Iran’. But why aren’t they out there calling for the gay leadership to stand up and condemn this evil man.
And more importantly, where is the gay ‘leadership’, they should have come out before he came to NY with a condemnation, and if they haven’t after that speech, they are worse than a paper tiger - they are enablers of evil.
Ahmadinejad is benefitting from a number of factors:
The soft racism of low expectations, or, as Edward Said called it, Orientalism, which expects Orientals to be unreasonable, inscrutable and not worth the trouble.
And because, as Martin Amis eloquently put it in a recent article: “We are drowsily accustomed, by now, to the fetishisation of “balance”, the
groundrule of “moral equivalence” in all conflicts between West and East, the 100-per-cent and 360-degree inability to pass judgment on any ethnicity other than our own (except in the case of Israel).”
And he goes on to suggest: “Accordingly, given the choice between George Bush and Osama bin Laden, the liberal relativist, it seems, is
obliged to plump for the Saudi, thus becoming the appeaser of an armed doctrine
with the following tenets: it is racist, misogynist, homophobic, totalitarian,
inquisitional, imperialist, and genocidal.”
In this case, it is Ahmadinejad being coddled. A slight distinction without a real difference.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2424020.ece
Sep 24, 2007 - 5:23 pm John Moore:As a social conservative who opposes most gay political goals, I find it amazing what that sociopath said.
First of all, it is obvious nonsense, but perhaps he believes it - perhaps he’s delusional.
Second, I thought that, evil as he is, he had enough intelligence not to say something so ridiculous to an American audience.
I hope people of all political persuasions will condemn this guy for his “final solution” approach to homosexuality, and for all of his other offenses against humanity.
I also hope that gays and their political allies learn from this the very real danger that the Iranian government represents. Shall we all stand by while gays in Iran, like Jews in Nazi Germany, are exterminated? Do the Bush haters have the guts to recognize the horrors of jihadist Islam and the need to get fight it, by violence if necessary?
Sep 24, 2007 - 6:17 pm Shannon Harvey:I don’t EVER want to hear Lee Bollinger or any Columbia University student defend their anti-ROTC policy again. They need to be pressed relentlessly on their atrocious hypocrisy until they buckle and break.
The absolutely stunning intellectual dishonesty on the part of these ivy-league liars is astounding. Particularly astounding was the contrast in treatment of a congressional candidate from California (Jim Gilcrist) and the Minuteman with respect to a known terrorist with American blood on his hands.
As a veteran who served during Desert Storm (not in-theater), I could really spit nails right now.
Sep 24, 2007 - 6:56 pm ic:He was speaking the truth. He has killed so many that he believed he has eradicated them. Btw, to the Islamists, only those who were “penetrated” were homosexual, those who did the penetration were not, those who have sex with y
Sep 24, 2007 - 7:02 pm Appalachian Conservative:The left believes in freedom for only themselves and the United States should do nothing to help people who want to be free. So, his comments about gays in Iran simply do not matter. The rights of women don’t matter either.
Sep 24, 2007 - 8:12 pm winston:It was a sad day for me…
Sep 24, 2007 - 8:34 pm WonderingEra:Since ROTC is not allowed on campus while Ahmadinejad was allowed on campus, I learned today that Lee Bollinger and Columbia University will not accept the banning of homosexuals from the military, but they do accept capital punishment for homosexuals.
Sep 24, 2007 - 9:08 pm Poopstain:Leah–I assume that was a rhetorical question, right? Libs are libs–logic, decency, intelligence, basic humanity are totally and forever repugnant to their nature and quite frankly simply beyond their abilities
Sep 25, 2007 - 1:45 am Gawaine:As an aside, I’m surprised to see Bush still getting slmmed for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. That was a Clinton era phrase, the relevant law is the Military Readiness Act. Last I checked, Bush can’t retroactively veto such a law. A new one needs to be passed, the ball is squarely in Reid and Pelosi’s courts, as well as the many and sundry presidential candidates. I know Kucinich has cosponsored such a bill, has Hilary? Obama?
Sep 25, 2007 - 5:46 am Mandrake:The real irony here is Bollinger,representative of leaders of the left high priesthood, fails to see the simple answer to all of his “provocative” rhetorical questions. Iran is run by Islamic fundamentalists, who are EVIL, and they don’t give two bits about your high minded liberal agenda bullshit. They must be defeated by force of arms, because they do not permit the free exchange of ideas. Their culture is hostile and evil and deserves to be destroyed, and harsh words simply won’t get the job done. You are addressing a man who routinely executes those who speak out against him, and expecting that your telling him how naughty he is will somehow positively affect his world view. There is no better demonstration of the absurdity of modern left wing ideology.
Sep 25, 2007 - 7:10 am Ben:Is there a word for folks who fail to see a direct threat to their lives, their beliefs and their ideals, who actively support those who would kill them?
As bad as you might think Bush and the Republicans are, as has been pointed, they ain’t executing homosexuals. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your enemy as well.
Sep 25, 2007 - 7:30 am Mandrake:Ben,
Yes. The word is liberal.
Sep 25, 2007 - 8:27 am schnargley:As a non-gay leftist, I will step up and crtiticize him. While Ahmadinejad’s Democratic talking points thrilled me right down to my silk shorts, he may have overstepped with the gay remark. nevertheless, I will offer myself as his bitch-for-life if he will only rid us of the terrible regime of Gerage W. Bush!
Sep 25, 2007 - 10:00 am Ben:Schnargley, don’t tell me you think Ahmadinejad is better than President Bush? O.o If so, I find it disturbing that you would sell out your own country just to get rid of Bush. Assuming the United States is your country. Though I guess that’s why liberals are so hated in the first place, though I’m not quiet sure as to why intellectuals are tied to being liberal.
Sep 25, 2007 - 12:20 pm raybojabo:Most of the militant gay rights leaders value their communist ideology to the extent that they willfuly remain silent on the atrocities that Islamic regimes commit against their fellow homosexuals for fear of compromising their anti-American Communist-Islamist alliance. Niether one of these groups could single handidly bring America to its knees, but with the Communists on the inside working with the Islamists without, they are slowly inching closer to their goal.
Sep 25, 2007 - 2:50 pm Sister Rosetta:Something I wrote a while back on Iraq the Model:
SisterRosetta :
Sit down, I think I love you
Omar, why are the democrats doing this?
I’ll tell you exactly why. They don’t care.
Black churches in America will jump up and down every Sunday about freedom. But don’t believe them. They don’t really mean it. They only care about freedom for themselves. They don’t care about the Blacks in Sudan who are being enslaved. If they did, they wouldn’t be trying to stop George W. Bush at every turn. The only reason little to nothing is being done in Darfur is because the only superpower in the world has been shackled almost beyond repair.
Oh, and don’t believe the leadership of the gay/lesbian community in America either. Again, they only care about the progress of their own agenda here in America. They don’t care about the young Iranian gay men being put to death by the mullahs. They can’t even let the thought of that intrude upon the relative safety they have here at home. God forbid.
And the feminists here in America. What a joke?! What feminists? I didn’t hear their outcry when young Iranian women were being hung or stoned to death for adultery. Or when the Russian or Chinese governments repatriate women and their children to torture or worse in Iranian and North Korean gulags.
And where is the outcry against the genital mutilation of little girls or the attempted export of this barbarism to Western cultures?
There are a few small voices in America trying to get this message out. But the major media oulets in this country are so diametrically opposed to George W. Bush and his mission that they stifle any coverage that might awaken the American people to what they are really up against.
Recently, some of us have witnessed the screams of an Iranian woman resisting arrest, crying for help as she was being pushed into the back seat of a police car. And we laughed in amusement at the warnings being given to Iranian barbers about Western style haicuts for men or about the plucking of eyebrows.
But believe me there are much more sinister and evil acts being perpretrated in Iraq and Iran and in North Korea. And probably elsewhere too.
Do you honestly think things would be any different if the United Nations (i.e. the United States) intervened in Darfur? The terrorists would flock to Sudan just as they have to Iraq.
So, most of the democrats in the United States stopped believing what they were saying a long time ago. And at the top of their agenda has been the delegitimization of George W. Bush so that they could start winning elections again.
Believe me, Omar. They don’t care about you or the Iraqi people or the oppressed anywhere in the world.
So we have to stop them.
A Lieberman-Loving Democrat
Sister Rosetta
May 1, 2007 02:52 PM
Sep 25, 2007 - 5:00 pm DemocracyRules:ALLAH BUNCHA CRAPPA
Iranian President Ahmadinejad Delivers Remarks at U.N. General Assembly Meeting Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Summary:
Sep 25, 2007 - 7:14 pm tinou:AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In the name of Allah, the compassionate and the merciful, oh, Allah, hasten the arrival of Imam al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his rightfulness.
…
I will also speak to you about the need for remedying the present situation, prospects for a brighter and more hopeful future, and about the appearance of the sublime and beauty, compassion and generosity, justice and blossoming of all the Allah-given human talents and the prominence of faith in Allah and realization of the promise of Allah.
…
Dear colleagues, again, there is no doubt that the second and more important factor is some big powers’ disregard of morals, divine values, the teachings of the prophets and the instructions by the almighty Allah, as well as the rule of the (inaudible).
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Unfortunately, they have put themselves in the position of Allah. They were in servitude to their own whims and the desire to have everything for themselves.
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Friends, ladies, and gentlemen, the only sustainable way to the betterment of mankind is the return to the teachings of the divine prophets, monotheism, respect for the dignity of humans, and the flow of love and affection in all relationships, ties, and regulations, and to reform the present structures on this basis.
…
To fulfill this objective, I invite everyone — everybody to form a front of fraternity, amity, and sustainable peace, based on monotheism and justice, under the name of “Coalition for Peace,” (ph) to prevent incursions and arrogance and to promote the culture of affection and justice.
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I hereby announce that, with the help of all independent, justice-seeking and peace-loving nations, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be heading down this path.
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Monotheism, justice, and compassion for humans should dominate all the pillars of the U.N. And this organization should be a forum for justice, and every member should enjoy equal spiritual and legal support.
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However, by the grace of faith in Allah and national unity, Iran has moved forward step by step, and now our country is recognized as one with the capacity for industrial-scale fuel cycle production for peaceful purposes.
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Is it not high time for these powers to return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in Allah? Would they not like to be cleansed of the impurities, submit to the will of Allah and believe in him?
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Faith in Allah means believing in honesty, purity, justice and compassion for others. They can be certain that they will benefit from purity, honesty, justice, and loving and respecting the human dignity.
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This is the invitation of all the divine prophets, from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed, peace be upon up him. If they accept this invitation, they will be saved. And if they don’t, the same calamities that befell the people of distant past will befall them, as well.
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According to the Holy Koran, one who does not answer the divine call should not think that he has weakened Allah on earth. He has no companion but Allah and he is clearly engulfed by darkness. They have nothing of their own and cannot escape from the dominion of the rule of Allah and his will.
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In this important gathering, I have to remind them of the following words of the almighty which has been mentioned in the Holy Koran. Do they not look at the powers and governments which came before them? If the people of the past had actually possessed something, they would have kept it and would not have let you possess it now.
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Allah destroyed them because of their sins and nobody could protect them against the will of Allah. These powers have to know that the thoughts and methods based on oppression and injustice are doomed to failure. Do they not see the signs of vigilance and resistance based on monotheism, philanthropy and the justice-seeking spirit of the nations of the world? Do they not notice that we are nearing the sunset of the time of empires? I hope that this invitation will have a practical answer.
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Humanity has passed a perilous precipice, and the age of monotheism, purity, affinity, respecting others, justice and true peace-loving has commenced.
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It is a divine promise that the truth will be victorious and the Earth will be inherited by the righteous. You who are free, believers and the people of the world, put your trust in Allah.
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Striving in this way to surrender rule to the righteous and perfect human, the promised one, is indeed the final cure for the wounds of humanity, the solution of all problems and the establishment of love, beauty, justice and a dignified life all over the world.
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This belief and endeavor is the key to unity and the constructive interaction among nations, countries, the people of the world and all the true justice seekers.
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Without any doubt, the promised one who is the ultimate savior, along with Jesus Christ and other holy saviors, will come. In the company of all believers, justice seekers and benefactors, he will establish a bright future and fill the world with justice and duty.
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This is the promise of Allah, therefore it will be fulfilled.
In Iran, there are no homosexuals. In the United States, we don’t want homosexuals. Same difference to me.
Sep 27, 2007 - 12:17 am