*Viva La Revolucion*
10th July 2009, 06:52
It is such a massive issue that sometimes it's hard to know how to help, where to start, or even what to campaign for. I've collected some of my ideas about things and I'm looking for some advice on how to work towards a homophobia-free world.
Homophobia stems from ignorance and the cure for ignorance is education, so one of the best starting points would be for the UK and other countries to introduce proper education about homosexuality and similar social issues. I can't speak for the entire country, but I remember being taught about contraceptives, STDs and heterosexual sex. At the end of the lessons there was something along the lines of 'Oh yeah, there are also gays and lesbians.' That was it. Gay is still the most common insult in the playground so even if they are doing something to educate people it's not working, is it? So I want sex education that includes information about gay sex and relationships (and not just in this country). But how do I go about campaigning for it? Anyone here in an organisation dealing with this issue, or does anyone agree with this?
Then there's the issue of making it safe to be homosexual. This isn't so much of a concern here, but in other parts of the world (Jamaica, Iran, Iraq, majority of African countries) it is dangerous to be openly gay or lesbian. This has to change. But again...how? The treatment of homosexual people in these countries isn't something anybody can take lightly. To prove the point - extracts from articles I read recently:
'Jamaica is Taliban Afghanistan for gay people. If caught, gays and lesbians face ten years hard labour but they are more likely to be lynched
A father found a picture of a naked man in his 16 year old sons rucksack, so he produced it in the playground and called on his classmates to encouraged them to beat him to death which they promptly did. Nobody was ever charged.
In Montego Bay, a man was caught checking out another man so the crowd lynched him. When the police arrived, they joined in.
Hospitals routinely refuse to treat the victims of gay bashings, leaving them to die
A heroic Jamaican called Brian Williamson set up an organization called J-FLAG to campaign for the rights of gay Jamaicans. His body was found stabbed and slashed over seventy times. The police did nothing.
The most popular song in Jamaica in recent years by Beenie Man choruses: Im dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays Take dem by surprise/ Get dem in the head.
In the past two months, over 25 corpses of gay men have been found in one slum, Sadr City, alone, mutilated, with notes saying pervert pinned to their chests. Ayatollah Ali-Al Sistani, the countrys leading religious cleric, says gays should be killed in the worst way possible and they are obeying.
And I think this is old but...:
According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.
From Ahmadinejad: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country" and "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it.''
Possibly the worst news story of all (I cried and almost threw up):
Iraqi gays are being shot to death by militias and anti-gay family and tribe members, allegedly executed by the government, and - in the latest twist - are having their anuses glued shut by death squads. Human Rights Watch on April 20 confirmed the newest method being used to cull the Iraqi gay population.
Gay men are captured, their anuses are superglued with something called American gum, they are forced to ingest a diarrhea-causing substance, and they sometimes die.
Mobile phone videos of the gruesome practice are said to be circulating in Iraq.
Now. After reading that I really don't feel like sitting down, writing a letter and waiting for nothing to happen while things like that are going on, but it's not as if we can all fly to Iraq or Jamaica tomorrow and start rioting.
So what can we do? Any ideas, comrades?
(And I warned you it was going to be a long post)
Homophobia stems from ignorance and the cure for ignorance is education, so one of the best starting points would be for the UK and other countries to introduce proper education about homosexuality and similar social issues. I can't speak for the entire country, but I remember being taught about contraceptives, STDs and heterosexual sex. At the end of the lessons there was something along the lines of 'Oh yeah, there are also gays and lesbians.' That was it. Gay is still the most common insult in the playground so even if they are doing something to educate people it's not working, is it? So I want sex education that includes information about gay sex and relationships (and not just in this country). But how do I go about campaigning for it? Anyone here in an organisation dealing with this issue, or does anyone agree with this?
Then there's the issue of making it safe to be homosexual. This isn't so much of a concern here, but in other parts of the world (Jamaica, Iran, Iraq, majority of African countries) it is dangerous to be openly gay or lesbian. This has to change. But again...how? The treatment of homosexual people in these countries isn't something anybody can take lightly. To prove the point - extracts from articles I read recently:
'Jamaica is Taliban Afghanistan for gay people. If caught, gays and lesbians face ten years hard labour but they are more likely to be lynched
A father found a picture of a naked man in his 16 year old sons rucksack, so he produced it in the playground and called on his classmates to encouraged them to beat him to death which they promptly did. Nobody was ever charged.
In Montego Bay, a man was caught checking out another man so the crowd lynched him. When the police arrived, they joined in.
Hospitals routinely refuse to treat the victims of gay bashings, leaving them to die
A heroic Jamaican called Brian Williamson set up an organization called J-FLAG to campaign for the rights of gay Jamaicans. His body was found stabbed and slashed over seventy times. The police did nothing.
The most popular song in Jamaica in recent years by Beenie Man choruses: Im dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays Take dem by surprise/ Get dem in the head.
In the past two months, over 25 corpses of gay men have been found in one slum, Sadr City, alone, mutilated, with notes saying pervert pinned to their chests. Ayatollah Ali-Al Sistani, the countrys leading religious cleric, says gays should be killed in the worst way possible and they are obeying.
And I think this is old but...:
According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.
From Ahmadinejad: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country" and "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it.''
Possibly the worst news story of all (I cried and almost threw up):
Iraqi gays are being shot to death by militias and anti-gay family and tribe members, allegedly executed by the government, and - in the latest twist - are having their anuses glued shut by death squads. Human Rights Watch on April 20 confirmed the newest method being used to cull the Iraqi gay population.
Gay men are captured, their anuses are superglued with something called American gum, they are forced to ingest a diarrhea-causing substance, and they sometimes die.
Mobile phone videos of the gruesome practice are said to be circulating in Iraq.
Now. After reading that I really don't feel like sitting down, writing a letter and waiting for nothing to happen while things like that are going on, but it's not as if we can all fly to Iraq or Jamaica tomorrow and start rioting.
So what can we do? Any ideas, comrades?
(And I warned you it was going to be a long post)