GLBTQ activism faces multitudinous challenges within the international community, not least of which is the difficult-to-walk line between respecting local cultures, and wanting to adopt a universal standard of equality. As a self identified gay man, and a first generation American from Ghana, I understand very personally the difficulty of rectifying sexuality and culture. While I do not have any concrete solutions for the problems of what I will term ‘international gay bashing’, I do think that a healthy discussion about the circumstances that same gendered loving people face globally, and the model for types of responses would be useful in coming to some sort of conclusion about the issue…or at least make me feel better about it.
 

This blog was prompted by much internal introspection and consultation with other activists, but perhaps most importantly by of the unspeakable news I read about the newest form of creative persecution directed at the gay men of Iraq. I read here, that people suspected of being gay in Iraq have been disowned by their families and tribes, hunted down by militias, have had their anuses glued shut and then fed medicine that will give them diarrhea. That sort of inhumanity defies words, but it is certainly not the only instances of violence coming out of Iraq recently, or many other countries, namely in sub-Saharan Africa.

A few weeks ago some bodies were unearthed that were tagged with hate-filled messages referring to their sexuality in Iraq. In Burundi, the government has recently legalized a measure that makes homosexuality punished by prison time and fines. Recent reports out of Senegal are that youth activists (shock) are publicly calling for the lynching of gays. Finally, In Uganda, where being accused of being a member of the LGBTQ community is not looked favorably upon and is generally taken to be a death sentence, the faces and names of gay people are being published in newspapers. Indeed, while we in the United States seem to be charging towards marriage equality, many parts of the world remain…let’s just say ‘inhospitable’ to our friends, allies, and community.

Earlier this week I was watching the news and I was elated to see something very interesting. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan did something he rarely ever does—he backed down. In the face of mounting international media scrutiny, a women- led grassroots movement, and statements coming from international leader’s he removed his support from legislation that legalized marital rape. What I found particularly interesting was the response that the United States government gave on the issue. President Obama at an interview in Prague said (in admittedly lukewarm criticism) that there “are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold, and respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also issued a statement about the situation.   Given their willingness to make a statement about the oppression of women, why are leaders (at least ostensibly) more reticent to comment on some of the circumstances about gays that I’ve outlined above? Where’s the outrage?

It is worth recognizing that, insofar as the United States is concerned, while LGBTQ people (usually) are not the subjects of torture, we are still a long way from full equality. Two days ago at congressional hearings about a federal hate crimes bill that would allow the federal government to step in if local law enforcement officials, blinded by their own bigotry failed, to expediently administrate justice Congresswoman Virginia Foxx referred to Mathew Shepherds 1998 murder as “a hoax”. Moreover, there are a number of states that ban gay adoption and even gay foster parenting, and (of course) LGBTQ couples will never be able to enjoy over 1,138 rights afforded exclusively to straight couples unless the Defense of Marriage Act is repealed.  The point here is that, theoretically, it becomes difficult to make the case that other countries must respect the rights of this specific minority population when they remain demonized, disrespected, and disenfranchised here. I’m sure there are some who would argue that not being able to marry your partner and having your anus glued shut are two different things. Those people are right, but they should also remember that we operate in different cultural context. In the words of Whitney Houston "It’s not right, but its o.k.", (well at least there it’s o.k.) 
 

A little birdy (ahem, Brian Ackerman) posits that attacks on gay people in these countries, specifically in Iraq can be viewed more generally as an attack on all that is Western. I have to agree. Insofar as we can trust the international media on this issue (remember, they rarely report on issues with adequate reference to local culture), the murder of gays is usually associated with a statement about how this ‘lifestyle’ is brought in by the west; and surely no one as forgotten when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said there were no gays in Iran. (All I can say to that is….lolz.) In a larger context, Brian would say, GLBTQ members of society provide a perfect group to target for "crackdowns" since various competing members of a sectarian society can seemingly rally around a similar call to "protect society from Western (sexual) perversion." That’s true, and I might expand the statement to say that it is true even in homogeneous socities. After searching the message boards on Ghanaian community websites I found that, even in that relatively tolerant community, being gay is definitely associated with being Western.
 

I guess now is the time for the ‘solutions’ part of this blog. Obviously, this section is going to be short. If the United States is going to be a leader on this issue it can only be effective if it leads by example; it needs to maximize the rights of GLBTQ people domestically. That does not solve the gay/western association but it will give us a greater foot to stand in promoting gay rights multilaterally through different organizations like the United Nations, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Coalition. Finally, where governments cannot act, the media needs to fill the void of making this an issue for the average person. I have a feeling that greater publicity about the violence that GLBTQ people face in many countries could be instructive in shedding light on why violence towards gays in the United States is similarly unacceptable.

Ok…I dont really feel better.