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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
Two teenage boys - one under 18 - were publicly hanged by the Islamo-fascist regime in Iran yesterday for being gay. This information and picture were provided by Andrew Sullivan's website.
Violent fundamentalism, no matter the religion, is a cancer that must be defeated. Take a good, long look at this picture because this is what radical Islamists want to do to homosexuals. It is clear that Bush lied about Iraq and America should not be there. But, it is equally clear that this sick version of fanaticism must be crushed if we expect to live in a free and decent society.
It is not just Islam. Watching Eric Rudolph smugly defend his bombing of abortion clinics, a gay bar and the Olympics reminds us that home grown religious zealots also lurk in the shadows. The truth is, if you look throughout the world, fundamentalist nations are failures and are almost always backwards. Religious fanaticism in all its guises is an evil worth fighting and defeating.
17 Comments:
Homophobia is always barbaric.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/20/2005 1:24 PM
Don't think it couldn't happen here with the current political climate. Our home-grown right wing zealots would like nothing better than to see us gone.
These fucking A-rabs are evil. Bush was right by invading Iraq and blowing them up. I wish he could win a third term. Even though those people are hanging you people - you homos still don;t get it. Start supporting Bush to save yourselves.
And who is going to save us from people like you L.D.? Superman? You are as evil. I wonder why Texas didn't stay independent...
posted by Anonymous, at
7/20/2005 2:32 PM
Message for L.D. Why would any sane individual want to vote for Bush considering that he and his party don't believe in full civil rights for all? Yes, my friend, gays pay the same taxes as "you people" but we don't enjoy the same rights and privileges as "you people"...get it? I guess not. Your president's extremist right-wing supporters are not so far removed from those you describe as evil. It is not Arabs who are necessarily evil but their religious, fundamentalist sharia laws and ideology. For your information, Iranians aren't Arabs.
LD in Texas' hateful, ignorant, racist diatribe is not even worthy of a response, this hick even spells don't with a semi-colon.
I have no doubt that the most extreme religious right in this country would execute us Gays if they could get away with it. They were filled with glee in the early 80s when the AIDS epidemic surfaced. Whenever a society is totally dominated by patriarchal reglions such as islam or christianity without the protections of secular law, reason and science, murderous control, extreme backwardness, poverty, homophobia and misogyny are the inevitable result. Bush and his most ardent supporters aren't far removed from this type of world. Gary (NJ) ps..LD, a THIRD term for bush?!!? By then we'd be TRILLIONS of dollars in debt! I have a solution, let's start taxing your damn churches who are always sticking their hooked noses in politics anyway where they DON'T belong!!
posted by Anonymous, at
7/20/2005 2:58 PM
Wasn't the bomber of a gay bar and a abortion clinic an extremist too? Isn't "ex-gay" ministries extremist too? Please, L.D. (Low Dog?)open your eyes, when kids are send to ex-gay boot camps, when kids like Matew Shepard are killed in a barbaric way for being gay, when people protest gay marriage, we are witnesing extremism. I would laugh at you -as my friends who are reading your coment are- if it wasn't because you are a danger to the American society. I am sure that you find amusing hate crimes and other barbaric act, perpetrated by people who call themselves Christians. I actually don't want to use the term conservative anymore, because it implies that "conservativism" wants to "conserv" (or preserv) something. Conservaitvism is about destroying, not CONSERVING.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/20/2005 3:24 PM
Message to Gary, NJ: I echo your statement totally.
Lets face it, the Republican party is basically a party of hate, no question about it. Look what it has bred in Texas and elsewhere. I've no doubt L.D. in Texas would make a fine disciple for the christian right. Maybe he already is or maybe he's one of the ex-gay success storys. I find it odd that he's visiting Wayne's website and posting comments. Why the interest in us I wonder?
Message to Gary: Gary, I like what you said about taxing churches. Since it was the catholic swing vote that largely helped give Bush the nod in the last election, it would make sense to start taxing any religious institution that lends support or meddles in the political arena to effect hateful legislation against a targeted group of people. After the child molestation scandal in the church (not a recent phenomenon, but centuries old), the burden of taxation might shut them down altogether, along with all the other faith-based institutions that are wilfully dividing this society. Not a bad thing either. I welcome it. Maybe we can fight back and give it back to them on this one issue alone.
Just curious Regan, what religion are you?
posted by Anonymous, at
7/21/2005 9:27 AM
"Organized religion is a lie." --Sinead O'Connor
(posted by Johnny in Minneapolis)
posted by Anonymous, at
7/21/2005 11:31 AM
Johnny in Minneapolis, I think there may be something in what Sinnead O'Connor said. The longer I live, the more I observe that organized religion seems to be about "business and politics" today. They cherry-pick the pieces that serve their agenda but actually don't adhere to everything that appears in their bibles, qurans, talmuds, etc. They are all basically self-serving, hypocritical and bigoted and irrelevant to modern day living with a lot of frightened, insecure followers who need to be lead. I daresay there may be a few genuine adherents, but I think they're few and far between. Judge not and ye shall not be judged applies to all of them, but I've not found any that practice what they preach.
Follow-up to Robert's posting-- Buddhism seems to be the most humane and least hypocritical of them all. It is the only major world religion that has never had a war fought in its name. When the Taliban blew up the ancient Buddha statues carved into the mountains in Afghanistan, Buddhists did not go on a bloody rampage and only said it was a painful lesson 'in the impermanence of all things'. Can you imagine what the muslims would have done if someone else had blown up several of their ancient holy sites?!
posted by Anonymous, at
7/21/2005 1:22 PM
Wayne, you need to really do better research. These men were hanged for raping a 13 year old boy, not because they were gay.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/23/2005 7:04 PM
Peter:
You need to read the Iranian penal code sometime. Okay?
posted by Anonymous, at
7/23/2005 10:28 PM
Peter - I did read the same report of a rape as you did - however, other sources now say that there was no rape. The rape charge (or fabrication of a charge for the media) may just be a red herring to distract from the hanging. I sure could be very very wrong, but take a look at the two boys in the photo in the police station (behind wire screen). One is weeping. He sure does not look like a rapist to me. He looks like a normal adolescent. Perhaps they were "fooling around" with a thirteen-year -old and tht was classified as "rape."
posted by Anonymous, at
7/23/2005 11:29 PM
Whoever this Peter is, he seems like an apologist for Iranian propaganda, and not particularly bright. He ought to take a look at HRC's statement. _________________________________
For Immediate Release -- Friday, July 22, 2005
SECRETARY RICE URGED TO CONDEMN EXECUTION OF GAY IRANIAN TEENS
"Atrocities committed by foreign governments against all people must be condemned swiftly and forcefully by the world's greatest democracy," said HRC President Joe Solmonese
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign sent a letter today to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to condemn the recent execution of two gay teens in Iran as well as other horrific human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people across the globe. The text of the letter follows:
July 22, 2005
Dear Madam Secretary:
This week, the world learned of a horrific case of brutality against two young Iranians. This crime warrants an immediate and strong condemnation from the Department of State. This week, two Iranian teenagers were hanged in a public square after being tortured for 14 months, simply for being caught having consensual sex. Pictures of their execution have been published in various newspapers around the world and can be found at the following Internet link: http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/07/iran_executes_2.html Unfortunately, images like these are all too common in parts of the world where gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals are persecuted and treated with gross injustice by their governments. Just two weeks ago, a Nigerian man was sentenced to be stoned to death for admitting past sexual acts with men. Atrocities committed by foreign governments against all people must be condemned swiftly and forcefully by the world's greatest democracy. We urge you to do so. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was signed by the UN General Assembly in 1948, declares that every human should be guaranteed the fundamental right to life, liberty, and security of person and every human should be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Tragically, this guarantee of basic human rights does not exist for GLBT individuals in certain regions of the globe. According to research done by organizations such as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International, human rights abuses are perpetrated against the GLBT community in all corners of the globe. As we have seen in recent weeks, the barbarous punishments for sexual acts in these countries run contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For that reason, these acts must be condemned. We hope you join us in our belief that every inhabitant of this world, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, has the inherent right to be free from human rights abuses, and will take action to highlight these injustices and condemn those countries that commit such inhumane acts.
Sincerely, Joe Solmonese President
posted by Anonymous, at
7/24/2005 11:35 AM
