Comments on: Iraq Anti-Gay Torture, Murders Continue

By: Peter LaBarbera Wants To Kill Gay People « Queer Hatred

Peter LaBarbera Wants To Kill Gay People « Queer Hatred — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:40:37 +0000

[...] so Peter doesn’t want to see gay people tortured with electric drills and surgical glues before they are killed. Good to know. But other than that, what does he [...]

By: JJQR

JJQR — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:28:07 +0000

Oh, sorry Timmy Kincaid. I didn’t realize we’re only allowed to criticize those who have posted their own views right here on BTB.

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:48:24 +0000

Andrew, not even remotely the same thing. I doubt your suggestion that every day in the U.S. an LGBT is murdered at the hands of a homophobe – any statistics to back that up? In any event the few murders of American LGBTs aren’t being widely sanctioned by the government and the community and the level of torture and murder in Iraq is much much higher than it is in the U.S. I’m sure if you asked any American or Iraqi LGBT where they’d prefer to take their chances, in Iraq or in the U.S. you’d find the U.S. the overwhelming choice.

I don’t at all buy the idea that one must be perfect before one can suggests improvements to others. If that were the case no one would ever encourage better behavior in anyone else, the justice system would let murderers go because god knows every member of it is imperfect and probably some of them even told lies at some point or spoke harshly to their children.

I find your humanity lacking when you suggest looking the other way to what is going on in Iraq. People can walk and chew gum at the same time. Pressure can be brought upon the Iraqi government to improve the situation there while at the same time working to improve things in the U.S. If you want a perfect U.S. before encouraging improvements in Iraq you’ll turn your back on those atrocities forever. Saying (falsely) “where almost as bad” and doing nothing is cooperating with evil.

By: Andrew Conte

Andrew Conte — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:33:33 +0000

priya, Not sure I agree with your comparison. Every day an LGBT is murdered at the hands of a homophobe. The suicide rate for LGBT youth is much higher than the general population. We have kids bullied and beaten at schools every day while teachers and guidance counselors and principals do nothing. A boy just recently hanged himself in Massachusetts. The mother tried to intervene in the school but to no avail. If we were to use your comparison, I might say that it would be like a 100 pound overweight person telling a 200 pound person to lose weight. We have a long way to go. AND, we created the mess in Iraq to begin with. If we had taken the trillion dollars spent and put it to use here, our problems might not be as great. The U.S. is a bully and many in this nation condone bullying in all forms. You clean up your own house first.

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:26:11 +0000

Andrew, the U.S. is not anywhere near as wrong as Iraq is. What you’re suggesting is that someone who is 10lb overweight cannot suggest to someone who is 200lb overweight that they should drop a few pounds.

By: Andrew Conte

Andrew Conte — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:04:33 +0000

AJD, you made my point exactly. We are not a leader. We were there for oil and control. Priya, where did I show that I have no humanity. What I was saying is that our attitudes toward gays in this country is far from stellar. It is rather hypocritical to tell someone else they are wrong, when you are wrong too.

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:02:43 +0000

Andrew, the highest priority should not be those closest to you but those in the greatest need. The gays in Iraq are in fare more dire need of help than the gays in the U.S. Have some humanity.

By: AJD

AJD — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:41:03 +0000

Andrew,

It’s true we’re not a leader — far from it — but we’re the ones who invaded Iraq and threw it into disarray in the first place. Gay people were by no means tolerated under Saddam Hussein, but they were able to live in relative safety.

Islam has a rotten core that is causing people to behave in this way, but we bear a lot of responsibility for what’s happening in Iraq as well. It should come as no surprise that after we overthrew an evil but nevertheless secular leader, the mullahs would step in to fill the power vacuum.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:24:02 +0000

I got as far as the mention of the word “clan” and realized that we’re talking about cavemen, not normal people.

By: Andrew Conte

Andrew Conte — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:45:58 +0000

What is going on in Iraq and other Islamic countries is atrocious. But, we do need to clean our own house out first before we start cleaning out others. We have a president who does not believe in equality. Separate but equal did not work for his ancestors and it is not working for the gay community. We are far from what is happening in Iraq. We are also far from what is happening in Canada, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, South Africa, Norway. The United States is not a leader.