What Trumps Gay Advocacy For Gay Rights?
The answer to that would be the fact that President Donald Trump is behind them.
In case you're new around here, I am not a Trumpster.
But what I am is someone who is firmly behind individual rights -- and who is also not naive about why politicians make decisions.
Frankly, I'm uninterested in the reasons for pols being behind individual rights. All I care is that they're pushing for them.
Bizarrely, guess who's now sending boos to the Trump administration, which is "set to launch a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in dozens of nations where anti-gay laws are still on the books," as Mathew Rodriguez puts it in Out Magazine:
While on its surface, the move looks like an atypically benevolent decision by the Trump administration, the details of the campaign belie a different story. Rather than actually being about helping queer people around the world, the campaign looks more like another instance of the right using queer people as a pawn to amass power and enact its own agenda.It almost goes without saying but the Trump administration does not have a great human rights record at home when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. Advocacy group GLAAD has kept a record of the many times the administration has harmed LGBTQ+ people, from its transgender military ban to the reversal of plans to include LGBTQ people on the 2020 US census. And prior to his ill-conceived plan to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Trump's administration had an abysmal record on addressing the virus.
The most telling detail of NBC News' report is that his plan centers homophobic violence in Iran, who NBC News calls the administration's "top geopolitical foe." The plan has reportedly been spearheaded by the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who is also the administration's top-ranked gay official, in response to news that a young gay man was hanged in Iran recently. Grenell has had his eyes on Iran for some time and just a week ago, he was trying to get several European nations to pass sanctions on Iran, unrelated to the country's stance on homosexuality, to no avail.
Homosexuality has been illegal in Iran since the theocratic 1979 Islamic Revolution. By at least one Guardian account, since the exit of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2013, enforcement of anti-gay laws has softened somewhat. Homosexuality, according to the writer, is an "open secret" and most queer people fear homophobic reaction from fellow citizens more than the authorities.
Um, somebody was HANGED there last year for being gay, and we've got a writer for Out Magazine minimizing it?
Welcome to Backwards Day!
Being an adult means sometimes admitting that the pol you loathe has a good idea or an important initiative.
You won't get cooties or anything doing it -- I promise -- unless, of course, you hang out with the sort of tiny tribal assholes who can't manage adult views.
Rodriguez goes on absurd infinitum. This bit stood out:
The truth is, this is part of an old colonialist handbook. In her essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak coined the term "White men saving brown women from brown men" to describe the racist, paternalistic process by which colonizing powers would decry the way men in power treated oppressed groups, like women, to justify attacking them. Spivak was referencing the British colonial agenda in India. But Grennell's attack might be a case of white men trying to save brown gay men from brown straight men, to the same end.
Gay. Men. Are. Being. Hanged. In. Iran.
Do we really give a fuck who stops this and what their political reasons for it are?!!
via @ClairLemon
"Do we really give a fuck who stops this and what their political reasons for it are?!!"
Of course we do. Anything Trump does must be stopped. Because he's the wrong person in office.
Right?
Who cares about lives? We have a cause to pursue!
As I recall, the "adult" candidate supposedly took money from governments who actually imprison gays -- but it is Trump who must be stopped because he might be mean to them, or, as cited above, he might restrict them from duties where asserting individualism reduces readiness.
Radwaste at February 19, 2019 11:31 PM
This sarcasm is not clever or appropriate. It's a big office— If one outcome in one distant corner of the planet might be agreeable even as expression of local policies are deleterious or worse, we need not pat the Orange Hairdo and admire his compassion. Y'know, men with a secret second family don't need to be congratulated for bringing tacos to one while the other gets surf 'n turf.
Mostly, you want to defend TRUMP on a personal level. It upsets you that people don't like him.
Which I think is just darling.
Crid at February 20, 2019 12:12 AM
I can't stand Trump but there are still times I agree with him. And occasionally I'm glad he did something.
NicoleK at February 20, 2019 2:11 AM
I was going to share this on your links section, but I see I don't need to. Rarely do I see this much stupidity in a single headline: "Trump’s Plan to Decriminalize Homosexuality Is an Old Racist Tactic."
Really? So, how old is this tactic? Did the founding members of the Ku Klux Klan lobby for the decriminalization of homosexuality to advance their racist agenda? (The Klan was originally a social group for southern war vets, but when elections came around in which black men would be allowed to vote, it didn't take long for the Klan to adopt the agenda they're most known for.)
I've heard it said that the wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing. Inversely, the right thing done for the wrong reason is still the right thing. We can impugn Trump's motives all we care to, but I think this is something we can all get behind.
I think even those of us (including me) who were against the decision of Obergefell v. Hodges can still agree that we don't want to see gays hanged or thrown off buildings.
I never thought Trump was homophobic anyway. True, as Rodriguez points out, Trump did reinstate the ban on transgenderism in the military. Which is a decision I agree with. I do believe that gender dysphoria is a mental illness and can be successfully treated. I also don't think it's fair to join the military just so you can have the government pay for your gender reassignment surgery.
If anyone would suggest that it would be inconsistent of me to suggest that homosexuality is not a mental illness but transgenderism is, I would point out that homosexuality exists in every species that reproduces sexually, but transgenderism exists only in the human species.
As I recall, Trump handpicked once Perez Hilton as one of the judges in a beauty pageant. (And Hilton made a total ass of himself - so, what else is new? - by bragging about how he rated a contestant a zero in a specific category for not giving him the answer he wanted when asking the pageant question. I think she should have been judged fairly on her poise and articulation of her beliefs, not those beliefs themselves.) I don't believe a raging homophobe would choose a known (and obvious) homosexual to judge his beauty pageant.
I don't read Out Magazine, but apparently, there's a few wingnuts writing the editorials. I found this little gem: I Believe Jussie Smollet. You Should Too.
No, I shouldn't. -20 degrees wind chill in Chicago in the wee hours of the morning, and I'm supposed to believe that there were two MAGA-hat wearers in ski masks, carrying a rope and a bottle of bleach, who just happened to see Jussie Smollett (whom I'd never even heard of before this incident) and recognized him as the actor from Empire.
Patrick at February 20, 2019 4:19 AM
President Trump has that effect on his critics. A sort of grudging admiration, if nothing else. Ann Althouse and James Howard Kunstler come to mind. Now Amy Alkon. The End Times are upon us.
roadgeek at February 20, 2019 4:56 AM
Hah!
Amy Alkon at February 20, 2019 6:10 AM
Crid just provided your counterpoint Amy. Orange man bad, always. What is there to discuss? And that is why you have the anti-war left insisting the US continue it's war in Syria.
Ben at February 20, 2019 6:12 AM
> A sort of grudging admiration,
> if nothing else.
There are a few more things, but they don't accrue to his credit.
> Orange man bad, always.
More that when good, he's contextual and unreliable. A broken clock is right twice a day and nonetheless useless.
…And here come the socialists before whom he paved the populist path. Your personal admiration for him will make your years of butthurt just ahead kinda pleasant. For others.
Crid at February 20, 2019 6:31 AM
"Um, somebody was HANGED there last year for being gay, and we've got a writer for Out Magazine minimizing it?"
Of course we do. Remember, everything the Left does is partisan. Everything.
Cousin Dave at February 20, 2019 7:31 AM
"Mostly, you want to defend TRUMP on a personal level. It upsets you that people don't like him."
Where is the real Crid, and what have you done with him?
Cousin Dave at February 20, 2019 7:32 AM
No politician has ever been worth your personal admiration.
Crid at February 20, 2019 8:01 AM
The article I read about this called this a huge turnabout, given Trump's ongoing "hostility to the homosexual community," citing his ban on transgenders in the military as proof of that hostility.
Is "hostility" to the trans community by default hostility to the gay community? And is banning a sector of the population whose service causes hardships to the rest of the military de facto "hostility?"
Is it just me or has the trans community latched onto the gay community to pretend that hostility to it is hostility to both?
The article went on to portray the Trump administration's effort to decriminalize homosexuality as a diplomatic ploy, designed to get Europe on board with Trump's efforts to isolate Iran and scrap the nuclear deal Obama made with them (but never submitted to the Senate to be ratified into law).
So, even when Trump does something the Left can agree with, it must be reduced to ulterior motives.
The frenzied effort by the opposition to nullify an elected president seemed to begin in earnest with Reagan, whom the Left abhorred. Fortunately for him, he was opposed by old-school politicians who understood politics was more show than go, so they stormed and ranted but made deals with him (most of which they later reneged on). The nullification efforts continued to various degrees with Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. It has seemingly reached its peak with Trump.
Conan the Grammarian at February 20, 2019 8:22 AM
Just another demonstration that politics makes people STUPID.
He'd rather people keep dying rather than "support" anything Trump does. TDS in action.
Kent McManigal at February 20, 2019 8:37 AM
Conan:
I think I touched on this in my rather lengthy post in response to this.
LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered. So, yes, they consider themselves part of the gay community (even if I don't). Worse, pedophiles are trying to piggyback their way into the gay rights movement, too.
And some gay people are quite willing to include transgendered. I've had gay friends announce on Facebook, for instance, that if I don't support Caitlyn Jenner, then I must unfriend myself immediately.
I don't support Caitlyn Jenner. I will call him Caitlyn because he has the legal right to change his own name (Bruce was actually his middle name), but his DNA tells him he's male, no matter what medical procedures he subjects himself to.
Besides that, he's an overrated athlete and a terrible father.
I also supported the ban on transgenderism in the military. People were using it to get the military to pay for their gender reassignment surgery.
Transgenderism is a mental illness. Homosexuality exists in every species that reproduces sexually. Gender dysphoria does not.
I would love to see the gay community make a break with the transgendered, the nonbinary (no such thing) and all the other freaks (yes, freaks) that seek to attach themselves to the movement.
Patrick at February 20, 2019 9:48 AM
My query was less concerned with what trangenders consider themselves part of and more with what the rest of the world considers them a part of.
From that article, it seems the mainstream press considers the "T" in LGBT to be a valid part of a monolithic and relatively homogenous culture - i.e., Trump's attack on one is an attack on all.
I have not heard whether, in general, the Ls, Gs, and Bs are welcoming the Ts into their movement, merely tolerating their presence, or bristling at having been hijacked.
If they're welcoming the Ts into the movement, I have a feeling they'll come to regret that at some point in the future as the movement becomes unwieldy with divergent points of view and varying levels of societal acceptance.
Wait, wasn't there a "Q" in there at one time? Is surety about one's sexuality now a requirement for membership?
Conan the Grammarian at February 20, 2019 11:33 AM
I've been trying to find out, but the last I heard it was LGBTQIAPK+
Lesbian, woman who craves greatest intimacy with other women.
Gay, man who craves greatest intimacy with other men.
Bisexual, someone who swings both ways.
Transgender, mentally ill person who believes they are the other gender.
Queer, blanket term for someone who loves someone of their own gender, whether as gay or bisexual.
Intersex, no idea.
Asexual, no sexual desires.
Polygamous/polyamorous, plural relationships. (Strange. I always thought this stood for "pansexual," not that I know what that means.)
Kink, sexual weirdness.
Patrick at February 20, 2019 12:03 PM
""White men saving brown women from brown men" to describe the racist, paternalistic process by which colonizing powers would decry the way men in power treated oppressed groups, like women, to justify attacking them. Spivak was referencing the British colonial agenda in India."
Is he referring to the British effort to ban the burning of wives when their husbands died in India? This is a bad thing? What kind of idiot is in favor of this?
Also, listing trans rights by a gay person is pretty rich considering the war going on between trans advocates and TERFs (including physical violence).
If your total appraisal of the admin is based on trans in combat and in bathrooms, you are in favor of violating other people's rights (to have a combat-fit soldier in the foxhole with you in one case and to privacy in the other) and I don't need to respect your opinion. And I would also point out that a lesbian tennis player (Martina N) is not happy about trans "women" winning in sports. To claim that all gays should march in lockstep supporting all trans rights causes is not exactly coherent. It is not even true that all do so.
cc at February 20, 2019 12:15 PM
I thought the "Q" was for Questioning, gathering in those who were still trying to sort things out into the group. Hence my "surety" quip.
Conan the Grammarian at February 20, 2019 12:25 PM
Conan:
You might be right. I only got this stuff from the Urban Dictionary. Take that for what it's worth. It's an alphabet soup.
Patrick at February 20, 2019 12:37 PM
Is he referring to the British effort to ban the burning of wives when their husbands died in India? This is a bad thing? What kind of idiot is in favor of this?
Well, sometimes you have to be a misogynist to own the cons. Sir Charles Naiper's quote
I R A Darth Aggie at February 20, 2019 1:05 PM
Hanging gay men is actually quite civilized.
Relatively speaking. Compared with being buried to your waist and stoned to death, being flung off a building, or having a wall knocked over on you. Or as one of the Iraqi imams said to be killed in the worst way possible.
I R A Darth Aggie at February 20, 2019 1:07 PM
"Which I think is just darling."
Shouldn't you be linking to someone else's tweet?
Radwaste at February 20, 2019 2:18 PM
Intersex means that their physical genitalia was or is ambiguous/does not line up with their genetic sex. It's a birth defect like hermaphrodism.
Janie4 at February 20, 2019 2:53 PM
That just raises another question Janie4. Where is the H for hermaphrodites in that alphabet soup? Are the hermaphrodites too mainstream?
Ben at February 20, 2019 5:33 PM
> Shouldn't you be linking to
> someone else's tweet?
That's a weird as criticism. You have this need for teenage adoration in your life... You want first sources before whom you can genuflect, like the singularly magnificent Orange Weasel, whose wealth you admire (even though he inherited [and then squandered] it).
But I'm just flesh and blood, Raddy... I can't come up with all the jokes and studies and columns and insights and amusements on my own. So I have to share ones from other people. I read books and things, too.
I'm waiting to see someone affirm that Trump is a reliable defender of the rights and safety of gays, rather than one contextually enthused in this context. And waiting. And waiting.
Crid at February 20, 2019 6:15 PM
"linking to someone else's tweet"
Crid at February 20, 2019 6:16 PM
Sorry about the double context, just woke up. In the context of sleeping and being annoyed by Radwaste0\
Crid at February 20, 2019 6:23 PM
Sorry about the double context, just woke up. In the context of sleeping and being annoyed by Radwaste
Crid at February 20, 2019 6:24 PM
One possible scenario is that Trump (or whoever has his ear on this; I don't think he himself gives a crap about Iran one way or another) is just using this as an excuse to attack Iran, and won't actually do anything to promote gay rights there. Not just possible, but likely IMO; if gays were being hanged in Saudi Arabia (maybe they are, for all I know), would Trump be giving that government a hard time about it?
Rex Little at February 21, 2019 9:05 AM
Mathew Rodriguez: "While on its surface, the move looks like an atypically benevolent decision by the Trump administration, the details of the campaign belie a different story. Rather than actually being about helping queer people around the world, the campaign looks more like another instance of the right using queer people as a pawn to amass power and enact its own agenda."
What?! The right using queer people as pawns to enact its agenda? That's what the left does. And it uses black people, Muslim people, stupid people and college students the same way.
Can you imagine what they'd be saying if slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation enacted by another Republican president were current issues?:
While on its surface, the Emancipation Proclamation looks like an atypically benevolent decision by the Lincoln administration, the details of the order belie a different story. Rather than actually being about freeing slaves, it looks more like another instance of the Lincoln administration using slaves as a pawn to amass power and enact its own agenda."
If Trump proposed a civil rights act just for LGBTQ people, left-wing LGBTQ people, college students and AOC would declare it evil - and dangerous!!
Ken R at February 21, 2019 12:10 PM
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