Comments on: Pardoned Malawi Couple Appear on TV

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:07:38 +0000

You’re the one playing games Richard. You went way beyond what she expressed in her post.

By: Richard Rosendall

Richard Rosendall — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:39:38 +0000

Priya, don’t let’s play games. Regan’s third paragraph suggests an all-too-familiar worldview. She cited Obama’s alleged exploitation as an example to illustrate her generalization about “heterosexual hierarchy in all these countries…and ours.” That is agit-prop that erases vast differences.

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:56:36 +0000

Richard you’re reading stuff that is not there. Regan did not say President Obama is comparable to President Mutharika and she has not refused to acknowledge the progress that has been made.

By: Richard Rosendall

Richard Rosendall — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:46:34 +0000

Regan, it is odd that progressives from Western countries so often equate the situation in their countries with those in countries where gay people are routinely and officially brutalized.

I do not minimize the continuing injustice faced by LGBT people in the U.S. and elsewhere; the fact that I continue to be an activist demonstrates my dissatisfaction with the status quo. Of course we have a long way to go in the U.S., but it is an insult to people like Steven and Tiwonge, whose experience is far worse than ours in the U.S., to pretend that President Obama is comparable to President Mutharika.

I don’t see how it helps our cause to refuse to acknowledge the progress we have made just because it is not enough. The fact that it is not everything does not mean it is nothing. An imperfect ally like Obama is nonetheless an ally. Would Mutharika have signed Obama’s pro-gay executive memoranda, the trans-inclusive hate crime law, or work with the national legislature for even a delayed repeal of the military gay ban? Even gestures that do not change the law, like Obama’s Stonewall 40 reception in the White House, are a far cry from the treatment of LGBT people by Mutharika.

To be sure, the situation for transgenders in the U.S. is a good deal worse than for gay men and lesbians. This is reflected in my own group’s latest policy briefing paper, at http://www.tinyurl.com/glaa2010 . But surely few American transgenders would wish to trade places with Tiwo.

Do we really need to talk as if there are two and only two positions on any given topic? Can’t we allow shades of gray? Can’t we give whatever paltry credit is due without being accused of selling out? How are Steven and Tiwo, whose situation scares and sickens me, helped by our pose of moral equivalence?

By: Regan DuCasse

Regan DuCasse — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:04:42 +0000

Nice looking young men. One is more outspoken than the other, and all I can tell by their posture is that there is still much pressure on them to say the right things publicly, but this is still a threatening and harsh situation.

There is a lot of courage on their part to speak. But I get the sense too, of their President further aggrandizing himself (and not wanting any financial sacrifices to be made), yet…still expecting gays and lesbians to remember the power he has over their lives.

No matter what, the heterosexual hierarchy in all these countries…and ours always manages to exploit gay people for their own ends, while making a mess of gay lives.
Our President Barack Obama, is a case in point.