John Spritzler wrote:
 http://spritzlerj.blogspot.com/2009/11/stop-irans-execution-of-three-gay.html
Stop Iran's Execution of Three Gay Teenagers by John Spritzler
 Apparently the Iranian government is preparing to execute three gay teenagers arrested while they were minors for their homosexual conduct (see the UrukNet article copied below for details.) If the Iranian government executes these youths it will be a heinous act that nobody should support even if, as I do, they think same-sex marriage is wrong and homosexuality is nothing to "celebrate."
  The problem with same-sex marriage is not what the couple does in the bedroom; it is a) their use of donated egg or sperm to conceive a child in a manner that denies the child its natural bond with one of its biological parents, and b) their claiming they have the right to do this to the child because they have a marriage license, which, unlike a Civil Union certificate or any other social contract, does indeed confer formal social approval to produce a child. (See "Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage: What is at Stake?" , What is a Liberal to Do?, and "Why They Voted For Obama But Against Same-Sex Marriage".[html links are in the original, if not the version you are reading])
The Iranian government is wrong for making homosexual behavior a crime. Conceiving babies with donated egg or sperm in a way that denies them the bond with their natural mother or father should be a crime (as it is in some countries), but it should be a crime whether the couple doing it is gay or straight. I disagree with "celebrating homosexuality" in public schools, and I think "Gay Pride" marches send a bad message, but I also say these are questions for people to resolve by democratically adopting policies for our schools and by expressing one's opinions in order to sway public opinion, the way many other issues are settled, not by declaring private sexual behavior a crime, and certainly not executing people for it!
 The Iranian government's attack on homosexuals has the very same purpose as the American corporate elite's promotion of homosexuality. (The latter is evident from the facts that many American TV shows now portray homosexuality as if it were just as good a basis for a family as heterosexuality, that most of the mass media endorse same-sex marriage, and that politicians and judges insist on legalizing it despite people consistently voting against it when given the chance.) Corporate America promotes the idea that same-sex marriage is fine, not because they have any concern for people who happen to be gay, but because it is a way of attacking the core idea of democracy--the idea that ordinary people are fit to rule society instead of being ruled over by an elite.
 Americans are indeed unfit to rule society, says corporate America, because too many Americans are bigots, the proof being that they oppose same-sex marriage. Liberals and the Left say that ordinary Americans should not even be allowed to vote on this fundamental question because it's "too important," or, as they speciously argue, "It's wrong to vote on rights." Only judges and politicians, they say, should decide the really important questions. Like war. Should we invade this or that country? Only the President, they say, should decide, certainly not ordinary Americans who, by their eventual opposition to the Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have demonstrated they are unfit to call the important shots.
While the American ruling elite attacks democracy by promoting homosexuality, the Iranian ruling theocracy attacks democracy by asserting its right to kill people for homosexual behavior as minors; behavior that, I am willing to bet, the great majority of Iranians do not think is wrong enough to be punished by execution even if they think it is wrong. The theocracy argues that what ordinary Iranians may think does not count, at least not when the question is "too important." Instead of saying, "It's wrong to vote on rights," they say, "It's wrong to vote against what Allah has decreed." By executing gay teenagers, the regime warns everybody else in Iran that if they don't obey the theocracy, they risk being executed too!

 It should not come as a surprise that the American and Iranian ruling classes share a common reason for their opposite views on homosexuality. They also share a common reason for their opposite views on Israel, as I discuss in How Israel Helps the Islamic Republic of Iran Control the Iranian Working Class, where I show that Iranian leaders adopt an "anti-Israel" stance to strengthen their control over their own people, and American leaders adopt a "pro-Israel" stance for exactly the same purpose.

 We should condemn the Iranian regime for even considering executing these three teenagers, and in the same breath we should condemn the oh-so-gay-friendly American ruling class for attacking democracy here at home and everywhere else in the world.
 
Three gay teenagers are on death row in Iran: please help to try and save them Paul Canning November 9, 2009 - Iran is preparing once again to execute young gay men arrested while they were a minor. Guilty of 'lavat' (i.e. sexual conduct between two men, regardless of penetration), the three teenagers do not yet have dates set for their state-sponsored murders, but according to Human Rights Watch and Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees it could happen any day with no warning. They are Mehdi P., from Tabriz; Moshen G., from Shiraz; and Nemat Safavi, from Ardebil and who has been detained for over three years. Under Iranian law lavat is "punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will" - something that not only conflicts with the boys' age at the time of the alleged 'offenses', but also a gross violation of international law, which forbids, under any circumstance, the executive of juvenile offenders...

      Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=59884

 posted by John Spritzler @ 7:36 PM   0 comments links to this post