Thank you to all those who have come before us who made the world a better place. More specifically, thank you to those who have moved homosexuality from 'sin' to 'mental illness' to 'lifestyle' to whatever it may be today and tomorrow. Some of those who came before us worked quietly, some publicly; some worked civilly, and some used physical force. I think some of each ended up having their place in making the world as it is today. And I think our work is not yet done.
Where work is needed most is not same-sex marriage, nor renters rights, nor lessening job discrimination, or passing 'hate speech' laws. These just aren't the most important or terrible things happening to homosexuals right now. The most important and terrible thing happening right now is that homosexual men (and sometimes women) are being put to death in Islamic countries. Being stoned to death really and truly is worse than being called a faggot, no matter what cultural relativists may have to say on the subject. All things are related but all things are not equally related. Efforts to make this a better world should continue in many areas, but "people being killed to appease an invisible monster that lives in the sky" trumps what I think much of the West pays attention to on Pride day. That noise about respecting diversity and honoring ancient traditions and the hands-off policy religion gets? That's all over now. When people stop dying, we can play nice-nice with theists again.
And so on this Pride day for 2007, I will do two things. I will give thanks where thanks is due. And I will suggest that more efforts need to be made toward saving homosexuals in Islamic counties. Homosexuality is still at the 'sin' stage in Islamic countries. Not in the all-but secular way the West talks about sin, but in the way religions have talked about sin throughout history: as a kind of germ that physically exists and must be physically destroyed.
Amnesty International has done some work on this topic. The International Society for Islamic Secularization has done some work on this topic as well. Jack Malebranche's book Androphilia isn't specifically on this topic, but is in agreement on this topic. What work will you do today?
Labels: superstition, theocracy
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