What is wrong with some people? A story from Uganda

A quick trip through Wikipedia produces the following:

These countries, areas, and regions can use the death penalty for homosexuality:
Saudi Arabia
the UAE
Pakistan
Mauntania
Northern Nigeria
Suden
Yemen
Somalia in areas controlled by Sharia Law
Areas under Taliban control
Iran

According to wikipedia, Iran has executed more than 4000 people for homosexuality since the 1979 revolution.

A large number of countries provide for fines and/or imprisonment.

It's not like Uganda has been the first to think of this.

that makes it ok then, lets start on those with Downs Syndome, Autism, Red Hair, Left Handed, Short Sightedness etc

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Originally Posted by Robinho

that makes it ok then, lets start on those with Downs Syndome, Autism, Red Hair, Left Handed, Short Sightedness etc

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If that's what a governing body chooses to do and their population does not stop them and/or the world doesn't intervene, then yes, if made a punishable offense under their penal code, it makes it ok.

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Originally Posted by Fiero 5.7

If that's what a governing body chooses to do and their population does not stop them and/or the world doesn't intervene, then yes, if made a punishable offense under their penal code, it makes it ok.

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So, While it was law in the USA keeping the blacks down was ok, cos noone opposed that....

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Originally Posted by Fiero 5.7

According to wikipedia, Iran has executed more than 4000 people for homosexuality since the 1979 revolution.

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"Uganda, the same culture that brought you the British trained Idi Amin, is free to do anything they want as a matter of national policy. If you object to their policies, I'd suggest you not visit Uganda."

You could replace Uganda with Iran there. I wish somebody had replaced it with Iraq before 2003 and said to Bush "Iraq, the same culture that brought you the US backed Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, is free to do anything they want as a matter of national policy. If you object to their policies, I'd suggest you not visit Iraq."

Well Eki, I am not going to bite on you dragging Iraq and Bush into this. It has nothing to do with this topic.

First off, Uganda is getting lots of bad publicity and scorn from western nations as it should be for what it is doing. Wish they were harder on places like Saudi Arabia too. That said, Islam doesn't go for open homosexuality, although there is lots of evidence of abuse and child molestation in some of those repressive cultures.

Should Uganda be doing this? No..of course not. Whether you are gay or straight, the state shouldn't have any bearing on what you do behind closed doors as a sexual being. Our former Prime Mininster Pierre Trudeau when asked about gay rights once said "The state has no bearing on what happens in the bedrooms of the nation" and for the most part, he was right. Might have been the only time I agreed with him.

Now, that said, should a modern democracy accept gay marriage? No...at least calling a marriage. The state SHOULD give Gays all rights and benefits when it comes to their pensions, state entitlements and the like. IF you have a constitution and human rights code in most civilized nations, there is nothing there that justifys the state interfering or discriminating in this fashion. Some of you may not like it, but there it is.

On the same hand tho, I don't want to see the state dictating to churchs to sanction Gay marriage either. If a gay person wants to be in the Catholic faith, he better realize he isn't a good catholic. Their rules dictate against it. (their rules dictate the priests leave the altar boys alone too but they haven't always followed THAT. Still doesn't change the ideal). If a gay couple wants to marry, there are churches that accept and they should go there. The state shouldn't interfere in religion as long as the religion is not a) taking state funds and b)not discriminating in such a way to deny a person's human rights. Since it isn't a human right to have ANY church marry a couple, the state shouldn't sit on a church to sanction a gay marriage. A civil cermony or liberlized churches will do the job.

What is happening in Uganda is their business as Fiero pointed out. We can rightfully crucify them as barbaric, but short of invading and changing things, we are on the outside looking in.

Furthermore, I don't think any more than a very small majority of homosexuals would choose that lifestyle for the headaches it causes, and if you were in Uganda, there is no way any one would choose that sexual choice as an idea of fashion. Gays are part of the human condition due to our advanced DNA, advanced mental capacity. There is more latitude for the human condition to branch off into such things.

Gay rights are a tender issue, but if a society is going to be advocating free speech, and freedom of religion and human rights, than the gays have to have their rights protected, no matter how annoying some gay rights activists can be.

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Originally Posted by Fiero 5.7

At this time, AIDS is largely considered a disease spawned and spread by the homosexual community.

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Its quite scary how many people believe this nonsense.

Since the late-80s AIDS is largely a disease of HETEROsexuals, the gay community having taken appropriate precautions ASAP to avoid being wiped out.

The vast majority of new AIDS patients are heterosexual guys who sleep around, or IV drug abusers. I guess many of those heteros are the same types who feel AIDS will never hit them because its a gay disease right?

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Originally Posted by Fiero 5.7

I would argue that a certain amount of humans are gay because they choose to be, DNA be damned.

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Thats not where current scientific thought is heading, if anything it looks like certain events during gestation and early childhood might be the determining factors, events that would be out of an individuals control.

There isn't much evidence if at all that being gay is a 'choice'.

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Originally Posted by Dylan H

Thats not where current scientific thought is heading, if anything it looks like certain events during gestation and early childhood might be the determining factors, events that would be out of an individuals control.

There isn't much evidence if at all that being gay is a 'choice'.

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Maybe being BI is a choice, but one only has to talk to a Gay male in particular to realize no one would subject themselves to that much potential abuse as a fashionable decision.

I agree Dylan, I suspect it is a gene gone astray that causes it. IT isn't a logical evolution of DNA, but rather a dead end since Gays cannot obviously reproduce.

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Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa

IT isn't a logical evolution of DNA, but rather a dead end since Gays cannot obviously reproduce.

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Many of them can, since many of them have reproduced while being "in the closet". This isn't either this or that case either (or you're either with us or against us case). For most it's something in between.