Uganda, Gays and the American Right
January 7, 2010
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Posted by Xanthippas
Nick Baumann at Mother Jones links to a few others and makes his own good point about the new Ugandan law that calls for executing gays:
Part of what I was trying to get at in my post is that one reason conservative writers might be reluctant to make detailed arguments against the Ugandan law is that doing so would force them to confront the more unpleasant parts of their coalition. It’s not good politics (or particularly pleasant) to be seen associating with people who need to be convinced that gays shouldn’t be executed or that slavery is bad.
That’s true, but I think we can carry that a step further. There are significant number of people opposed to gay rights who believe that, for example, gay men are-literally-trying to convert American youth to homosexuality, by “preying” on and recruiting boys with gay sex. To them, “gay” and “pedophile” are synonymous. As with the other paranoid fantasies of the American right, the enemy’s goals are framed in radical and apocalyptic terms. Some of this is opportunism by people who are opposed to gay rights, but don’t literally believe that gay men want to have sex with children. But some people do believe it, literally. So when you characterize the “gay agenda” as a threat to America’s children, who wouldn’t believe that extreme action, and perhaps even violence, are the appropriate response? Fortunately civil society in our nation is developed to an extent where killing someone you are opposed to politically is an exceptional act, even (mostly) amongst those who hold hardened opinions. But it’s fair to say that Ugandan civil society is not as highly developed (if I may use a word that implies judgment) as ours. So if you, an American evangelical, run over to Uganda and start telling people that gays, already maligned in Ugandan society, are trying to recruit children with gay sex and want to run roughshod over the rights of people who aren’t gay, what do you imagine the response will be? It will be to react to that threat in a direct and forceful manner, a manner that is logically related to the dire nature of the threat.
So what we have is a logical disconnect between the apocalyptic picture that the anti-gay movement presents, and the action that they call for in response. Anyone who believes, literally, that gays are a threat to American children should probably react the same way that conservative Ugandans have. The reason that anti-gay conservatives can’t attack the Ugandan legislation forcefully is because it would require them to say to people who believe these apocalyptic arguments, essentially, “Well see, all of these dire threats are true…but it’s still wrong to kill people.” And that just doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot of sense. So now they find themselves in the position of either attacking the Ugandan legislation and thus implicitly undermining the beliefs sincerely held my millions of conservative Americans, or remaining (mostly) silent in the face of this travesty. A travesty which, by the way, probably doesn’t bother people who believe, literally, that the gay agenda is a giant conspiracy to convert children to homosexuality.
Categories: Uncategorized
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Tags: Christianity, Gay rights
I think you all miss the point. Being gay is not a political statement or a political party. Being gay is not a life style like the press has tried to make it in this country. Being gay is simply a choice of sex. Since the majority of people confuse sex with love, gays like to run around telling everyone they are in love. And yes, in their way it is love, but still mostly remains a choice of sex.
So, please get off your political “rights” bandwagon. Gays have the same rights as everyone else. They don’t need any kind of special laws or any of the other garbage that is being spewed about. A lot of the so-called gay bashing that is going on is nothing more than backlash because people are so tired of your pathetic daily diatribes about “coming out” and declaring your sexual desires. So what, you’re gay. Who cares?
The vast majority of us straight peope are more than tired of having gays in our face. You’ve made your choice, go on with your lives and leave the rest of us alone.
Well, I think you misunderstand what it means to be gay. It seems rather cavalier (and extremely uninformed) to state that being gay is simply about who you want to sleep with. And no, gays do not have the same rights as everyone else, a point that is completely obvious and apparent.
And obviously, the right cares very much that people are gay. The only people who talk about homosexuality more than gays are people on the right.
LET THE GAYS MOVE OUT OF UGANDA. WHY MUST THE POLITICALLY CORRECT PEOPLE OF THE U.S. TRY TO INFLUENCE THE WORLD?
Oh, I don’t know, maybe because “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Sure, they didn’t conceive of that covering gays in Uganda, but they also didn’t conceive of AK-47s when they mentioned the right to bear arms.
America: love it or leave you intolerant bastard.
“We hold these truths to be ETC. ” WE ARE NOT THEM,WHY MUST THE U.S. STICK ITS NOSE IN EVERY BODY ELSES BUSINESS. WE CANT EVEN SOLVE OUR OWN PROBLEMS.
THATS WHAT WE THINK HERE IN THE U.S. WHO ARE WE TO TELL THE WORLD WHAT AND HOW TO DO THINGS. WHO GAVE US THAT RIGHT? COMPARE SIGNAPORE AND U.S. ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. SIGNAPORE IS A VERY CLEAN CITY COMPARED TO LA-LONG BEACH AREA WITH NEARLY THE SAME POPULATION. THIER PUNISHMENTS ARE CRUEL AND UNUSAL ,WHICH VIOLATES OUR CONSTITUTION. IT WORKS FOR THEM.