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In some parts of the world, this is what you face for being gay.
Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.
Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa’s gay community is becoming more vocal.
Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment. Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with “religious, political, economic or social authority” who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.
[...]
Homophobia is rife even in more tolerant African countries.
In South Africa, the only African nation to recognize gay marriage, gangs carry out so-called “corrective” rapes on lesbians. A 19-year-old lesbian athlete was gang-raped, tortured and murdered in 2008.
Debate over the Ugandan bill follows a conference in Kampala earlier this year attended by American activists who consider same-gender relationships sinful, and believe gays and lesbians can become heterosexual through prayer and counseling.
This entire story sickens me but what gets me most is how the religious right fails to understand that their distorted views on homosexuality promotes violence and hate of this type. If one believes that gays require “therapy” then it follows that there is something wrong with these people which, depending on the individual, is deserving of either our help or our scorn.
In truth, gays have but a single request and it’s not about special privileges or pity. It’s equality. What is so damn hard about giving them and every other human being exactly that?
As an African gay-rights activist noted…
“In the beginning, when the missionaries brought religion, they said they were bringing love. Instead they brought hate, through homophobia.”
“I cannot believe this is happening in the 21st century.”
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Just one word for this situation from me: deplorable.
There is no comparison between this type of reaction to Gays and disapproval of Same Sex “Marriage”.
And, at least in my “homophobic” opinion, Gays have the exact same rights as all Americans, when it comes to marriage.
@Tennessean
“And, at least in my “homophobic” opinion, Gays have the exact same rights as all Americans, when it comes to marriage.”
If you wish to engage people in intelligent debate, why make a statement as blatantly wrong as the one above? You know as well as I do that what you wrote is nothing more than an invitation for someone to call you an idiot. Then you’ll respond and once again, a thread becomes all about you.
If you wish to approach the issue from a fresh perspective, then do so. But to come out with ridiculous statement like the one above takes the discussion down a useless path. It adds nothing to the debate. It’s not funny. It’s not smart. It’s just dumb.
I know you can do better than simply making nonsensical statements which you think will elicit reaction. Please.
Well, I categorically disagree with your interpretation of my meaning and intent. I’ll explain then you do as you please. I won’t respond. Obviously my mind operates on a different level. For better or worse.
My comment was intended in part to be tongue-in-cheek “pre-emptive”. I know you, in particular, view me as “homophobic” because I do not approve of same sex marriage. I was simply saving you, and in the process, others the trouble.
In my opinion, Gays have the same rights to marriage all Americans have enjoyed for some 200+ years. They have the right to enter into a marriage with a partner of the opposite sex and there is no debate. The majority of Americans share in that opinion. Perhaps we are all “just dumb”.
The controversy and again, in my opinion, arises out of the homosexual community’s desire to usurp the traditional meaning, idea and concept of marriage (not fidelity in marriage, but marriage) to include something I do not think it was ever meant to include.
Indeed, times have changed. I’m not sure they have changed for the better, but they have nonetheless changed. Same Sex couples desire to live together in an open, committed and legally recognized relationship. This behavior has become so common place and open now, that there has arisen a need (which I agree with) for a mechanism for Same Sex couples to enter into a recognized union of sorts. And I agree they should have that ability. But, and again in MY opinion, that should be something apart from what has for thousands of years been accepted as the traditional “marriage”.
I wasn’t trying necessarily to be funny. And while I lay no claims to being exceedingly smart, I certainly do not view my opinions, even though they are in direct contradiction with yours and many others, as “just dumb”.
And my comment was on topic. If subsequent comments become about attacking me, rather than supporting YOUR opinions or even attacking my opinions, I hardly see how you can lay the blame at my feet.
But I’m not surprised you do.
Have a good day and I hope you get to feeling better.
@Tennessean
Your comments are at odds. I do not understand how you think that homosexuals have the right to marry just like other Americans. They do not have that right in most states TN.
This topic isn’t about gay marriage it is about hate and ignorance. It is about cleansing one part of the population. It is about the misguided belief that if you are homosexual it is a sickness that can be cured. which is ludicrous