Senator Harry Reid issued a statement on marriage equality that balances his religious beliefs with his liberal principles.
Tagged: gays Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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aziz
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johnpi
Contrasting the difference between how homosexuality is viewed in Europe and America versus the Muslim world.
Luongo — who details his adventures in Afghanistan, where he attends a “gay party” — agrees with Sharma, saying that while in Europe and America “homosexual desire and acts become the very definition of a person,” in the Muslim world, “homosexual desire and acts are simply one aspect amongst others, something people do but not something that defines a person above all things.” Thus many of the Muslim men the writers encounter do not identify themselves as gay, and ask the latter why they don’t have wives, causing deep confusion, and in the case of Richard Ammon, offence.
Via Kawdess tweets.
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johnpi
Islam Online has a new section called “Unveiling the homosexuality.”
Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Dr. Awsam Hanna, an Egyptian psychiatrist who has experience in ‘reparative therapy’ where he is describing the ‘homosexual personality.’
It is also a part of the whole “homosexual personality,” characterized by low self-esteem, lack of social skills, disconnection from body, and emotional isolation from society with varying degrees in different individuals. The isolation is not just because of the hatred and homophobia of society, it is an element in the psychopathology (disease process) of the disorder itself. Of course the homophobia of the society adds to it, but it is not entirely caused by it.
I guess that means there is no such thing as a socially or economically successful gay person.
Via Kawdess tweets
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arif
The best substantive documentary on this topic is Jihad for Love [youtube link]. The most rational argument I have seen so far is by Scott Siraj al-haq Kugle [Amazon link]. The essay by him in this book is a very good read.
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Pretty Pink Unicorns
I hate homophobia.
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johnpi
In researching another story about homophobia in Muslim communities, I came across this three-years-and-still-going thread about in-the-closet Muslim lesbians. It seems that a lot of “secret” Muslim lesbians are finding succor on this thread, so I thought I would pass it along. The descriptions of flourishing lesbian communities in some Muslim countries are also noteworthy. Some excerpts:
From Saudi Arabia:
Yes there are many Muslim Lesbians around. I am from Saudi Arabia, the worst country there is for Homosexual yet, I am telling you I have never faced any problems. Ok, I am not very “visible” but it is my choice for a variety of reason one of which is my style and fasion taste. But, dykes are every where. We have a famous shopping mall here in Riyadh with a floor for women only. That place is heaven! Just visit the place on weekends and you will be amazed at the number of “couples” strolling around, window shopping etc. There are a few lesbian spots on the floor as well.
From Malaysia:
How are you? I was born, raised a muslim and I practice Islam well… quite religiously. hehe..
I am out to most of my friends, and most of them are practicing muslims. and they cant be more supportive. Well, two or three have showed negative responds and those two/three were egyptians. But we Malaysians are really quite open about it. They treat me the same if not better.
These supportive friends of mine, they know and love me for who i am. Alhamdulillah, being gay does not change their perspectives on me. I even changed some of their mind about lesbians and homosexuals.
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HOMOPHOBE
BULLSHIT!!! LESBIANISM IS HARAM in ISLAM, and it’ll never become OKAY.
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johnpi
Attack on Tel Aviv gay youth club leads to victims being forcibly ‘outed’ to their families.
Members of The Aguda said that the process of notifying the families of the victims, a portion of whom were alone in Tel Aviv hospitals, had been particularly trying as some of the families are unaware of their children’s sexual orientation or involvement with the group.
“Most of these kids are in the closet and their parents know nothing,” Sofer explained. “Meanwhile photographers are chasing the ambulances and the whole country is talking about it.”
“Some of them were trying to prevent the ambulances from taking them because by law the hospitals must notify the kids’ next of kin,” he added. “In the end the parents had to be notified. There was no other way.”
It was rumored that one of the victims was an orthodox Jew, a claim The Aguda and the Israel Police refused to confirm or deny.
Israel is more ‘tolerant’ than those repressed Arabs and their morbid homophobia…while this incident does undermine the hasbara campaign in the link, it doesn’t take away from the fact that this could just as well have been Muslim gay youth in an Arab country suffering a vigilante religious attack, and it would have been just as despicable.
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johnpi
Recently, I posted a link to a blog post by Richard Silverstein that explained how Zionist hasbara-heads were promoting the first-ever all-Israeli, all-Jewish gay porn film for the purpose of placing Israel on a pedestal and showing how ‘tolerant’ and ‘freedom-loving’ it is – which, as the theory went, would also throw into stark relief the morbid homophobia of the Arabs/Palestinians.
A story out of Tel Aviv tonight:
Israeli police say a gunman entered a youth club for gay teens in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night and sprayed the interior with automatic rifle fire, killing three people and injuring 11.
….“This was a hate crime, a premeditated attack,” witness Yaniv Weisman told Channel 10 TV. He said Cafe Noir, the basement club, was popular with youth.
“Those hurt were very young,” he said.
Openly gay Knesset lawmaker Nitzan Horowitz said it was “without a doubt the biggest ever attack on the Israeli gay community, we are all in shock.”
Witnesses told Israeli media that the gunman was dressed all in black, and described the scene as a “bloodbath.”
The gunman fled the scene and has not been caught. May Allah give the victims peace and justice.
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johnpi
Zionist Hasbara activists are marketing the production of the first all Israeli/all Jewish porno film. Why?
Richard Silverstein tells all:
Make no mistake, this is not a one-off promotion by an odd-ball Jewish gay pornographer. This is part of an orchestrated hasbara campaign spearheaded by groups like Stand With Us, who promoted Israel during the latter’s Gay Pride Festival as a natural ally of gays around the world. The angle for SWU (and there always IS an angle with groups like this) is to trumpet the alleged homophobia of Palestinian/Arab society compared to the alleged freedom and tolerance of “western” Israel towards a gay lifestyle. Never mind that Israel is less tolerant of gays than the average western country. That matters little for the hasbaraniks of SWU.
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Pretty Pink Unicorns
Alligottasay is http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/mon/1051294294.html and rah rah for it.
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johnpi
Gay bloggers and gay newspapers have been aggressively questioning the use of donated funds by an activist group called Iraqi lgbt, an unregistered charity that works to protect Iraqi gays from homophobic violence. One blogger claims Iraqi lgbt has been stonewalling him, and the SF Bay Times picked up the story:
Reading Petrelis’s hectoring email string, posted on his blog, one first feels some sympathy for the beleaguered activist at the receiving end of Michael’s incessant demands for details. In the end, however, one starts to wonder why the hell [Chairman] Hili can’t get it together to send even a minimal report…
Iraqi lgbt has now produced an account of its spending here. The group’s statement says its financing of efforts to bring refugees to safety are very sensitive, involve stealth to avoid authorities, and sometimes bribery when authorities can’t be avoided. Recent efforts at outside oversight backfired, putting gay refugees at risk.
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johnpi
India decriminalized homosexual acts.
The petition had been staunchly opposed by religious groups, particularly leaders of India’s Muslim and Christian communities who argued that all homosexual acts were “unnatural” and should therefore be banned.
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johnpi
ABC has a four-page expose on Saudi gay life in particular and throughout the Middle East in general. Some highlights:
- Paranoia is rampant: In a recent case, the muttawa arrested a man at a Jeddah shopping mall for homosexuality because his jeans and shirt were too tight.
- Denial is widespread: Among Arabs, it seems, a mix of stigma and machismo causes most gays to identify as “tops.” “It re-enforces this feeling that you’re not really gay. They’re more comfortable with being tops, because it’s easier to negate [the gay stigma].”
- Egypt was once known as the “San Francisco of the Middle East,” but whomping on gays is a great way to steal fire from the Islamists. “One of the ways [Arab authorities] prove they’re bona fide is by cracking down on people that everyone hates.” Hate as an organizing principle of society doesn’t seem any closer to God than war as an organizing principle of society (as in the US).
- Elites imitate the neoconservative mindset in having one set of rules for themselves and another for the ‘little people.’ “I’ve been invited to private parties for gay men in Jeddah, but I never go because I know what would happen if we were caught. Unless it’s a VIP house — if the party is at the home of one of the princes or one of the sheiks then you’re protected.”
- ABC fails to apply post-colonial analysis and observe that all Arab homosexuality is derivative of Western colonization…oh wait, Saudi Arabia has never been colonized. Never mind.
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Willow
As it turns out, denial is a river in Egypt.
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Conrad Barwa
Paranoia is rampant: In a recent case, the muttawa arrested a man at a Jeddah shopping mall for homosexuality because his jeans and shirt were too tight.
Paranoia or boredom? Sometimes when they can’t pick anybody obviously violating their rules; they will pick on the next best thing. probably has more to do with their need to justify their existence/patrols than anything else. After all if society really becomes ‘virtuous’ and all these deviants disappear then these guys are out of job.
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Pretty Pink Unicorns and 
arif are discussing. 
HOMOPHOBE is discussing. 
Conrad Barwa and 
To my knowledge, this analysis concurs with what the research literature says about Islam and homosexuality in some parts of the Muslim world and for some Muslims, but sexuality within the Muslim world does sometimes parallel Western identity models. Cf: Boellstorff, T. (2005) The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia (Princeton: Princeton University Press) ; Massad, J. (2007) Desiring Arabs (University Of Chicago Press) ; Murray, S, and Roscoe, W. (1997) Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History and Literature (New York: New York University Press) .