Reasonably Logical

Since the invasion of Iraq six years ago, the treatment of Iraqi gays has steadily diminished. Under Hussein, gay men were largely ignored. While they didn’t have many rights, they also weren’t hunted down and killed as is happening today. With the religious extremism that has been brought forth by the civil war in Iraq, Iraqi gay men are being hunted by all sides. Now that the actual fighting has died down, more and more Iraqi gay men are facing violence, rape, and death.

Disturbingly, this trend is getting very little attention internationally. Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen three articles - two of them within the last month - on gays in Iraq. (See links below) There has been no action taken by international forces, and the United States barely seems to have noticed. Our government and troops do nothing, and our gay political groups are so caught up in domestic concerns that they haven’t even raised the issue.

Thankfully, there is some evidence that this might be changing somewhat. There is a group in London (Iraqi LGBT) - primarily of Iraqi ex-pats - which is organizing an underground railroad to get some Iraqi gay men out of the country. The issue is finally getting mainstream press coverage with both a CNN and Newsweek article in the last month.

Despite this, there is still a lot more than needs to be done. I strongly suggest you read the articles linked below and think about the issue. Talk about it with your friends. Better yet, talk about it with your congresspeople. And possibly most importantly, if you’re involved with a gay political group (HRC, NGLTF, NCLR, Lambda Legal, GLAAD, etc..) bring it up with them. We have no excuse as a country, as the LGBT community, or as individuals to this issue any longer.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Do Kill
Nobody wants to talk about gays in Iraq, much less who is killing them.
By Lennox Samuels
Newsweek Web Exclusive

Gays in Iraq terrorized by threats, rape, murder
By Frederik Pleitgen, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Wayne Drash
CNN

Iraq struggles to stop persecution of gays
Monday, April 16, 2007
Deb Price, Detroit News
(This article has apparently been taken down. The link is dead and I can’t find reference to the article on their site.)

I’m sure most of you hate phone menus as much as I do. Hell, I recently moved my brokerage account away from E*Trade primarily because their phone system (and thus customer service) was an absolute disaster. Well, I just ran across a product which could change all that. *

Fonolo essentially allows you to call a company and skip the whole damn phone tree to get right to the person you want. Honestly, if it weren’t for the privacy concerns, I’d be jumping up and down and begging to sign up for the beta. This sounds like it could save hours of frustration.

Unfortunately, there is one big catch for me: all of your calls are routed through Fonolo’s servers and recorded. Do I really want them recording my call to my credit card issuer? Or bank? The ramifications of them having that data is beyond scary. I don’t know what there privacy policy is, but honestly it doesn’t really matter. How long until they get bought out? What happens to all that - potentially very personal - information then?

* I first saw mention of Fonolo in Seth Godin’s blog.

Pa. court upholds gay-rally ruling
Published: Jul 25, 2008
By MICHAEL YODER, Intelligencer Journal

While obviously I’d rather it wasn’t this particular law that was used to set the precedent*, overall this is a positive outcome for anyone who has any interest in limited, understandable government. Essentially, the legislature used a completely unrelated bill to lump unpopular changes into something that legislatures couldn’t vote against. This happens all the time at both the state and federal levels and is one of the things that drives my nuts about congressional politics.

*As it happens, I tend to feel hate crimes laws are used *way* too broadly. Overall, they do more good than harm though.

Wednesday’s ruling, initiated by a lawsuit involving Manheim Township resident Mark Diener, found that the Pennsylvania Legislature’s altering of a 2002 crop-destruction bill into an amendment to the “ethnic intimidation” law violated Article III of the state’s constitution.

Rather than make a separate post for each of these, I’m stringing together a couple of interesting news articles and making one big post out of them.

Judge OKs adult trial for teen suspect
Attorney sought juvenile court for fatal shooting case
By Raul Hernandez, Ventura County Start
Friday, July 25, 2008

The judge responsible for the trail of the young boy who shot a (gay) classmate in California a few months back has decided that he must face an adult court, not juvenile court. Excuse me but the kid is 14! If he’s not a juvenile, who the heck is?

I thought I’d mentioned this before, but I can’t find the reference if I did.

Bush signs sweeping AIDS bill
Landmark measure repeals ban on HIV-positive immigrants and visitors
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade | Jul 30, 3:00 PM

OK, some mostly good news this time. The long standing ban against people with HIV traveling to the United States has been repealed. The congressional mandate was reversed, but there is still one more step to see it totally gone. The Department of Health and Human Services must change their policy, and unfortunately that is unlike to happen as long as we have Bush in office.

Assembly’s Gay Rites Backers Reap Benefits
Donations Pour In for Republicans
By JACOB GERSHMAN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | August 7, 2008

Nice to see that some Republicans can vote in support of gay marriage and keep there seats. Maybe my party isn’t total hopeless after all…

OK, more articles to come, but I need a break from typing.

Not that I have anyone to drive there with… (I’m taking applications for that position if anyone’s interested. -_- )

I doubt this is really news to anyone given how much press coverage it got, but given the significance I figured I’d go ahead and post it anyways. For the first time ever, out-of-state same-sex couples can get married in Massachusetts.

Mass. lawmakers OK all gay marriages
Advocate News
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Thought I’d go ahead and share this article from UIUC’s ACES News. According to a study done by an assistant professor there - Ramona Faith Oswald - legal recognition of same sex relationships is most often sought by parents and people of religious faith. While not exactly a surprise, it sure contradicts the messaging of the religious right.

In the interest of full disclosure, Oswald is an acquaintance of mine whom I’ve worked with on various community initiatives including the Champaign County LGBTQA Resource Guide website which I still maintain.

Belief in God, Parenthood Prompt Gay Partners to Make Commitment
Published: Jul. 30, 2008
Source: Ramona Faith Oswald, (217) 333-2547, roswald@uiuc.edu

URBANA - Which gay and lesbian couples are more likely to legalize their relationship and hold a commitment ceremony? Those with children and strong religious beliefs, says a new University of Illinois study.

“Opponents of relationship recognition for same-sex couples often say that we have to protect children, or that same-sex relationships are against God. But this study suggests that lesbians and gay men who seek relationship recognition may be acting to protect their children and enact their own religious beliefs,” said Ramona Faith Oswald, a U of I associate professor of family studies.

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