When the president of Iran said that homosexuality doesn't exist in his country, he received a hearty laugh heard around the world. But, back in Iran, it is a clear reminder that persecution of homosexuals is a part of life for the country's gay and lesbian population.
For a country that is said to have no homosexuality, Iran goes to great lengths to ban it. Gays are punished by lashing or death if it is proved that they have had homosexual relations. Two gay teenagers were executed in 2005 in Mashad, a northeastern city.How does this mirror America and its comparatively progressive view on gays and lesbians? America no longer ignores the existence of gays and lesbians, but a certain minority still aim to stomp it out through legislation or the ever-effective 'gay rehab.' In Iran, gay men and women get married to hide their homosexuality and then live secret gay lives. While this happens in America, too (much more than you think), gay men and women are free to live their lives open and honestly.Fear of persecution is so strong that some gay men and lesbians have sought and received asylum in Western countries.(NYTimes)
By banning gay marriage, gay adoptions and the like, homosexuality will not disappear. The results are secret lives lived with self-loathing and dangerous behavior. Ted Haggard, Mark Foley and Larry Craig are all examples of gay men that were not brave enough to live their lives with courage and honesty...instead they resulted to furtive and dangerous behavior, and then got caught. By condemning homosexuals as deviants, you force those not brave enough to fight back to become deviants.
Society shouldn't tolerate me if I solicit heterosexual sex in a public place, but that doesn't lead to people trying to keep me from marrying someone I love.
You need to disconnect your perception of homosexuality and lewd behavior as being one and the same.
Yes, Craig's behavior unfairly gets lumped in with the gay population in general in the minds of people like you. It's a cyclical reaction, people have intolerance so others feel the need to remain closeted. Some closet cases then reach out for it in poorly chosen venues, get busted, and create more intolerance.
Joe, I hope your comments are directed at PD because I didn't originally make the connection between gay marriage and deviant behavior ,he did when was trying to turn Craig into a "victim" of society's intolerance. I simply posed a question.
So it is your opinion that its society's intolerance of homosexuals that led Craig to solicit sex in an airport bathroom stall?
Very interesting.
Did you ever think that maybe its Craig's solicitation of public bathroom stall sex that leads to society's intolerance?
Or as George Michael says about soliciting sex in public places: "This is my culture".