Home
Archive
Columnists
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Working Assets Wireless
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Exporting Homophobia

By Nicole Makris, AlterNet. Posted March 10, 2006.


The Bush administration's anti-gay rights policies are maddening in the United States, but their implications abroad are much more devastating.
Advertisement

When the U.S. State Department released its annual report on human rights on Wednesday, countries like Iran, Pakistan and Zimbabwe scored very poorly, as they have for many years past.

But trumpeting these countries' shoddy rights' records was apparently no disincentive to prevent the United States from joining up with them earlier this year to ban two pioneering gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights groups from participating in human rights discussions at the United Nations.

At the end of January, these homophobic nations voted to keep the two groups from participating in the Economic And Social Council (ECOSOC), the only body at the United Nations that allows nongovernmental organizations to distribute materials and observe its meetings. This privilege is known as "consultative status" and, of the 2,700 groups that enjoy it, not one of them is an organization working exclusively for queer human rights.

Evidently, the groups' attempt to join the conversation wasn't even worth discussing. Rather than letting the groups present their case to the council, their applications were rejected out of hand and without review, a move the Associated Press called "almost unprecedented."

While the council rejected only two groups, the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and LBL, the Danish Association of Gays and Lesbians, the vote was viewed as a snub to queer human rights workers around the world. And having the United States weigh in on the opposing side only added gravitas to the position. As Scott Long of Human Rights Watch put it, "Like it or not, the U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world. So the example that the U.S. sets is an example for other nations."

Like it or not indeed. Slowly and steadily, it seems, the Bush administration is waging a quiet war on homosexuals abroad in the name of Christianity by pushing so-called "Christian values."

None of this will surprise those who follow the Bush administration's stance on anything queer-related. The current administration's role in striking the fear of God in opponents of same-sex marriage around the 2004 election certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by queer rights groups in the United States, and neither has its cozy friendship with evangelical Christians, who often fault homosexuality for contributing to the "moral decline" of the nation.

While queer Americans certainly have their battles cut out for them, the U.S. vote sent an ominous message of intolerance and, essentially, abandonment to queers in other countries by siding with nations like Sudan and Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by torture, imprisonment and, on occasion, death.

Human rights advocates see the ECOSOC vote as another element of the Bush administration's pro-Evangelical, anti-gay agenda, and a powerful one at that. "By denying these groups a voice in the U.N.'s human rights processes, the government has effectively denied a place for LGBT people globally," Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), wrote in an email.

Long said queer human rights groups face consistent opposition from what he calls "the trinity" -- the Vatican, conservative Islamic groups and Evangelical Christian groups. "In domestic policy, the U.S. government and its Evangelical allies are anti-Islamic," he said, "but internationally, they're happy to make alliances."

Such alliances sometimes support governments and organizations that are, as Long puts it, "violently homophobic." Recently in Iran, two gay teenagers were sentenced to hanging on trumped-up charges of kidnapping and rape. Iran, Egypt and other nations also routinely engage in the torture of homosexuals by subjecting them to physical "examinations" that "prove" gayness, threaten individuals with unwanted hormone treatments and perform state-sanctioned undercover sting operations to find homosexuals, who are often subjected to violent police beatings and torture, as Doug Ireland reported for In These Times.


Digg!

Nicole Makris works for the SPIN Project and has written for Mother Jones, Hyphen Magazine and other publications.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »


Advertisement

 

Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
What a disgrace
Posted by: Asses of Evil on Mar 10, 2006 1:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All the rhetoric of Christianity and yet none of the action. When will true Christians (yes, we're looking at you, all you folks living in the Heartland) recognize that this man does not behave like Christ? Goodness.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Going to Church
Posted by: sisterbluerose on Mar 10, 2006 5:10 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Going to Church doesn't make Bush and his minions Christians, any more than sitting in a garage would make them cars.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Going to Church Posted by: Tenebrae
» RE: Going to Church Posted by: Asses of Evil
Wish they'd mind their own business
Posted by: Arianna on Mar 10, 2006 5:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When the pro and anti gay marriage rallies were going on here in Ottawa, I remember our tiny pro-gay marriage rally being absolutely surrounded by busloads of Americans who were brought in by extremist christian groups to protest on our Parliament Hill.

I wonder how much they'd like it if us queer-lovin', pot-smokin', baby-killin' Canadians camped out on the Whitehouse lawn every time the US was passing some backwards assinine law?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» OOOps I meant arianna Posted by: Michiganman
The issue isn't just about gays, lesbians, transexuals
Posted by: maxpayne on Mar 10, 2006 7:15 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The issue is not gay marriage. The issue is whether or not unmarried domestic partners can go on another’s health plan and be entitled to other certain legal rights currently only spouses are entitled to. I don't just say this to shift focus, I say this because to say this only applies to gay is to leave out all sorts of people.

I mean, what about people who just never find love. There are lots of people who are divorced, say, or widowed/widowered and live together for economic/personal reasons. Why should an old widow and widower have to get a piece of paper called a marriage license to be able to have legal rights like a married couple. Why should two single, heterosexual women who live together have to be punished for not finding decent men or not believing in marriage, or not being ready for marriage yet – or why should they have to claim to be gay and in love and get a civil union to get rights.

Or what about heterosexual, young couples who just don’t want to rush into marriage? Some people come from families that were divorced and so take things slowly. Why shouldn’t they have rights?

This is what Alternet or whoever's writing these gay/lesbian articles should be including in their discussions. Only then will there be less hatred against gays,lesbians, transexuals and the anger will be focused on stopping the real intentions planned against us.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

RE: More bullshit...
Posted by: Asses of Evil on Mar 10, 2006 8:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And yet another sighting of troll clntbrtn.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: More bullshit... Posted by: clntbrtn
» RE: More bullshit... Posted by: Tarna
» RE: More bullshit... Posted by: Asses of Evil
» Wow it's like that saying... Posted by: Michiganman
Hail Bush?
Posted by: malcolmartin on Mar 10, 2006 8:37 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In fact, the Bush Administration’s inner circle shares with Hitler’s Nazi leadership a very influential cadre of closeted gay men and sadists. The Nazi’s mass murder of gay men was partly an attempt to kill the demons they felt tormented by in their own minds. The electoral exploitation of gay marriage measures by the Bush Administration and their homoerotic torture chambers at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo serves much the same purpose.

George Bush deeply despises women as weaklings and seeks gratification by dominating other men. He gravitates toward sexless females in the mold of Condi Rice and surrounds himself with submissive male advisors and aides. These are the men who fear to bring real world news to him, men who will remain loyal despite being berated or humiliated before others, men like Karl Rove who will answer to the name “Turd Blossom” without protest. It is in this atmosphere that a James Guckert a.k.a. Jeff Gannon gets the run of the White House while the dean of the press corps Helen Thomas is scorned by Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. It is in this atmosphere that a John R. Bolton is forced on the U.N., and a Jack Abramoff rises to lobbist-in-chief along with his Christian buddy Ralph Reed, and a Ken Mehlman gets to steer the Republican Party, and a John Roberts and his instant family is made Chief Justice while Harriet Miers is humiliated, and an 82nd Airborne Division begins producing gay porn.

The President’s spirit is clearly freest during bike rides with Lance Armstrong or driving martial artist Vladimir Putin around the ranch in Crawford. Just as clearly, to do the same with the newly elected women presidents of Chile or Liberia would be quite awkward.

Then there is the most joyous moment of the Bush’s presidency. It came on May 2, 2002. After training in the White House pool for an accidental ocean crash, recall the radiantly happy man dressed in an airman’s flight suit with the oversized codpiece that landed on the USS Lincoln to declare that he had won the Iraq War.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Hail Bush? Posted by: gliserman
» RE: Hail Bush? Posted by: malcolmartin
» AGREE 10,000% malcomartin Posted by: Michiganman
» RE: AGREE 10,000% malcomartin Posted by: malcolmartin
Splitting hairs of "christian".
Posted by: kittynboi on Mar 10, 2006 12:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When things like this are brought up, I wish people on the left would have better things to do than hand wringing over how the christians doing this are not christians.

Yes they are.

We need to spend time fighting homophobes, not worrying and fretting over offending people by saying christians are christians.

Jesus was NOT a long haired liberal socialist jew.

The sooner the left gets rid of the delusion that we're going to win people over by convincing them jesus wants us to help the poor, the better.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Splitting hairs of "christian". Posted by: Asses of Evil
if the left paid as much attention to economic issues as it does to gay and minority rights
Posted by: cry0fan on Mar 10, 2006 3:39 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am a leftist. Hardcore.

But leftism should be about MONEY.

Leftism should be about progressive taxation. getting the money from the rich and sending it to the people.

Leftism should be about universal healthcare.

Leftism should be about getting the highest wages possible for American citizens.

Leftism should be about making the labor supply and demand equation work in favor of American citizens. And that means leftism should be fighting against mass immigration from 3rd world nations.

Leftism should be about getting the BULK of the populace on its side. Leftism should be about getting the white lower middle class on its side. If leftism is not about targeting the bulk of the population, it is dead.

Leftism should AFFIRM rather than DISAFFIRM the dominant culture of America. Leftism should not be about fighting against the social mores of the masses. It should be about AFFIRMING them.

When leftism makes gay rights as big an issue as progressive taxation and universal healthcare, that is a left that is doomed.

You may have noticed that the left in america is dead. Now you know one reason why.

Look at how many articles on leftist websites like alternet are about progressive taxation, about universal healthcare, about mass immigration depressing wages for American citizens.

THOSE are CORE economic issues that speak to the middle and lower classes, across race and gender lines.

Now look at how many articles on leftist websites such as Alternet are about gay rights, about minority rights, about social wedge issues such as abortion, religion etc.

Most of the social wedge issues articles are written by writers and activists who are funded by the large nonprofit foundations, either directly or indirectly. These foundations were set up by the plutocrats and megacorporations in order to divert leftism away from economic issues, and set it on a path that alienates the largest voting blocs in American--the white lower middle class and white middle class.


The left has been evolved over decades so that it no longer threatens the real powers in America. Why does it no longer threaten? Because it focuses on gay rights, minority rights, and other issues that tend to alienate it from the largest voting blocs and that tend to distract the Left from the money issues.

This is not a conspiracy. It is just human beings acting in their own best interests.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Me thinks cryofan is Posted by: Michiganman
Rooting out Trolls and Others....
Posted by: FedUp on Mar 10, 2006 6:02 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't want to stray too far off this topic, but I want to commend those of you that have stated what should have been obvious; Alternet is peppered with right-wing trolls, driving a wedge amongst those who should see the true enemy, instead of championing the anti-immigration, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-socialist movements, etc.
If you visit other articles, you'll notice the vehement divisive positions taken by these plants in the name of "patriotism", while ignoring the common thread that all the people of the world share.
I'll continue to state: hate-mongering leads to genocide, civil war and more repression.
Insularism is the death knell of all countries and societies.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: ooting out Trolls and Others.... Posted by: Asses of Evil
anti-what?
Posted by: hangman on Mar 11, 2006 5:41 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
after reading the article about the exporting homophobia. it is obviously clear that the United States is Not the leader in the world about Human Rights and Freedoms. If they were they would be providing Equal Human Rights and Freedoms to the GLBT community (meaning Marriage and funding for HIV/AIDS and so on).If the US were the leaders in the World they would have separated Church and State permanently and set that as an example of leadership.For it is clear that they have no intention of respecting anything or anyone, all for their own political purposes.
For the States to try to push their Christianity onto the rest of the world only shows that they are actually the "anti-Christ" . If they Believe in Christ then Christ does not discriminate against any Human Being whether its homosexualtiy or health reasons. The US is responsible for the destruction of Humanity should it continue to practice its hatred and homophobia.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Hiding History: ILGA's cowardice
Posted by: welshzen on Mar 12, 2006 8:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Typical of the so-called gay rights “movement,” Makras’s piece lulls us into thinking that ILGA and LBL are progressive organisations that exemplify the ideals of queers everywhere. First of all, neither one of them can claim to speak for global queer rights. Secondly, ILGA’s history with the UN is one of rank cowardice. Makras conveniently erases history – he forgets to tell us the details behind ILGA’s fall from consultative status in 1993-94. With regard to the story about the Iranian hangings, it's interesting that he makes no note of the many left-queer critiques of the way that gays everywhere jumped the gun on the story and effectively fell in line with the Bush administration's stance on Iran. History, it turns out, is just a giant spin.

The prevailing spin on the recent story is the combined supposed homophobia of countries like the US and Iran, strange bedfellows in their resistance to ILGA. But queers might remember that ILGA has an interesting history with the UN. In 1993-94, the organisation caved in to the Jesse Helms crowd which charged ILGA with supporting "pedophilia" in its inclusion of NAMBLA.

Below is a link and a detailed story about the events of the time. ILGA responded to Helms et al by quickly jettisoning NAMBLA and *still* lost its consultative status. The quest for respectability, the erasure of sexual history, and the refusal to stand by our own "sexual minorities" will always come back to bite us in our queer behinds (and not in a good way). I have no sympathy for ILGA. And I don't believe that any group, regardless of how many times it uses the word "international," can claim to speak for queers worldwide.

If there is to be a real left and queer perspective on these matters, it requires that we dispense with simplistic divisions between left and right, homophobia and bigotry. The Bush bovernment's stance on queers is an easy target. It's much more complicated -- but more worthwhile -- to look long and hard at queer politics today and seriously acknowledge that much of what passes as the "movement" is in fact reactionary, apologist, and yearns for nothing more than a giant slice of the status quo.


Yasmin Nair

http://www.camprehoboth.com/issue07_27_01/pastout.htm

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The GLBT Movement Must Seek Solidarity
Posted by: Steven Wanzell on Mar 13, 2006 3:16 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In this fight, we must come together, with a solid and consistent message. I feel that, like the Democratic Party, our movement needs to stop bickering over details and personal agendas, and unify in voicing a clear, serious and non-partisan message - that there can be no justification for exclusion of any group (or individual) from basic civil rights, and that no group or individual has any "divine" rights. Steven Wanzell, artist/activist, www.wanzellarts.com.ar

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The homophobia was already there.
Posted by: ace1974 on Mar 16, 2006 12:42 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
No offense, but the nations listed at the top ofthe piece aren't exactly pro-anything. I mean, this is the part of the world where they hack of your clit if you are a woman! So while the Bush peeps are enflaming their anti-gay stance, it's not as if they are making a turn away from The Castro to The Koran. The tolerance we pretend to practice isn't even considered there.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]