02/06/2006
Firefighters join 40,000 in Melbourne's largest gay rights march ever.
Barney Frank asks Condoleezza Rice why the U.S. sided with other repressive governements to exclude gay rights groups from a U.S. panel. "I had hopes for better from you," he reportedly said in the letter. "To refuse them status, what else is it except an act of bigotry?"
It's not much of a surprise that there are no protections for gays in the new Iraqi constitution: "Muslims believe that homosexual behaviour is an offence against Islam and anyone who behaves this way should be sentenced to death without compassion."
David Beckham has thrown away his trademark Adidas Predator boots after he was told by an animal rights group that they are made from the skin of baby kangaroos. They look a lot like ruby slippers, don't they? How's he ever going to get home now?
Turkey is still a backwards nation in terms of gay rights, even as it bids for inclusion in the European Union: "The efforts by rights groups to change public opinion are hampered by officials in the government who consider gay groups a threat to traditional values. During the regular process of registering advocacy groups with the Interior Ministry, traditional prejudices against homosexuality place the groups seeking legal parity at the mercy of interpretations of Turkish Civil Code statutes that prohibit the establishment of any organization that works against the rule of law or public morality."
A frightening article about our digital destiny: "The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online."
Posted 10:40 AM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
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>>Turkey is still a backwards nation in terms of gay rights
That's not surprising. The population (about 70 million people in a country the size of Texas) is 99.8% Muslim (mostly Sunni), and the other 0.2% is mostly Christians and Jews. So it's pretty obvious that Islamic laws and Turkish laws will not be in conflict with one another.
Head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, said he believed homosexuality was harmful to society. In an interview with Peter Tachell, Sacranie said: "Certainly it is a practice that in terms of health, in terms of the moral issues that comes along in a society - it is. It is not acceptable."
"Each of our faiths tells us that it is harmful and I think, if you look into the scientific evidence that has been available in terms of the forms of various other illnesses and diseases that are there, surely it points out that where homosexuality is practised there is a greater concern in that area."
Then there's this, from The YOESUF Foundation:
In order to discuss homosexuality in a manner acceptable in Islam, I have taken stock of the views on homosexuality according to Islam and based on Islamic literature. This point of view can be divided into six points:
1) Muslim scholars unanimously agreement that Islam rejects homosexual acts. However, it only becomes punishable when anal sex occurs in public (or is obvious, meaning where others can witness it).
2) Islamic punishment for anal sex in public varies according to the situation. There is a light and a heavy punishment.
3) The Juridical tradition has written that anal sex can only be punished if four witnesses saw the actual penetration with their own eyes and are prepared to act as witnesses. The sanction is actually against having sex in public, because the punishment is also applicable to heterosexual acts in public.
4) The rule about four witnesses weighs heavily. An accusation by someone without four witnesses (as evidence) is also punishable.
5) Above all, the Islamic law is only applicable for Muslims who live in a country with an Islamic tradition and where Islamic law in implemented.
6) The Islamic view of homosexuality doesn't limit itself to strict statutory regulation. Islam recognizes that the sex drive is inherent in everyone. Islam has complete views concerning feminine and masculine homosexuality.
The above rules and summaries come from Islamic literature, written in Arabic and discussed in the Koran. Comparable summaries can be found in various Koran exegeses and other Islamic sources, in the languages of the Moslem world. These ideas are familiar with those who know Islam, regardless of origin.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Feb 6, 2006 11:56:22 PM
Condoleeza,
You've come too far to have learned so little.
Posted by: Gilli | Feb 8, 2006 2:39:08 AM