OK, so maybe Huffington Post writer Johann Hari didn’t exactly say gays were being beheaded in the Deep South, but that’s exactly what he implied by saying that the Deep South one of the most homophobic places on Earth.
This bizarre assertion came in an article that defended Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie about a gay Austrian fashion designer:
The joke isn’t on gay people; it’s on the bigots who, when confronted with this creation, believe he is real, and typical of gays. Baron Cohen literally risked his life to make the point. He went to some of the most homophobic places on earth — the refugee camps of the Middle East, and the Deep South of the US — and behaved as a gargoyle drawn from the subconscious fears of homophobes.
There you have it. Homophobia is as bad in the American South as it is in the Middle East. Except for one thing. Unless we’re mistaken, they’re only comparable in the twisted mind of Johann Hari.
Hari should read what the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association says about homosexuality in Islamic countries:
Homosexuality is illegal in most Muslim countries and punishable by death in several. Amnesty International, Homan (an exiled Iranian group) and other human rights groups regularly report shocking abuses and crimes against homosexuals. For example, in April 2001, nine gay men were given prison terms of 4 to 5 years with 2400 to 2600 lashes in Saudi Arabia. Abdul Sami (18) and Bismillah (22) were killed by the Taliban by having a wall toppled on them in 1998. In 2001, 52 men were arrested following a party on a river boat and charged with “immoral behaviour” and “contempt of religion” in Egypt (a supposedly “moderate” Islamic country). Many were given prison sentences with hard labour.
Iran has been particularly enthusiastic in its persecution of homosexuals. Estimates of the numbers of gay and lesbian people this evil regime has murdered range from hundreds to thousands but, as many executions are not public, and bereaved families may cover up the reasons out of shame, the higher estimates are plausible. Those cases that have been publicised include three gay men and two lesbians beheaded in January 1990, and 70 people executed in the early 1980s for trying to set up a lesbian and gay organisation. The Iranian Chief Justice, Morteza Moghtadai, justified the 1990 beheadings by saying, “The religious punishment for the despicable act of homosexuality is death for both parties.” False, trumped-up charges of homosexuality are also used to suppress political opponents, as happened to Dr Ali Mozaffarian, a Sunni Muslim leader executed in Shiraz in 1992.
Now we readily admit that we can’t read every newspaper in the world every day. So we may have missed the stories about gays being beheaded in Alabama and lesbians sentenced to hard labor in Mississippi.
Or maybe there’s another possibility:
Perhaps the HuffPo writer is as prejudiced against Southerners as he claims Southerners are against homosexuals.
Source: HuffingtonPost.com, GALHA.org
This post was last modified on October 18, 2023
View Comments (10)
Don't you just love how the left equates the slightest tinge of something Americans may think/say/do & tie it to the most radical & dehumanizing elements in the most oppressive of nations? These idiots are the enemy within, & will do great harm to our security if it ever really hits the fan. Sad thing is, they don't understand it, & when you explain it to them, they don't get it.
It's so sad to see how far down our country has gone morally.Growing up in the 50's & 60's,You didn't see or hear a lot about homosexuality.They were there but they weren't praised & glorified & made out to be a normal lifestyle,which they are NOT.It's their choice to sin against God & nature itself,BUT they do not deserve special treatment & our children should NOT be taught to think this is a normal way to live.This lifestyle is SICK & SHAMEFUL.I pray for them to repent.We have to love them as people ,But we should hate their SIN.Go back in the closet & leave Normal people alone & Quit poisoning our country
Judging by the comments here, America and particularly its south ARE as homophobic as those Muslim countries...it's only the laws which are different, thanks to politicians being educated. The religious and ignorant bigots here would welcome homosexuality being made illegal... that much is very clear. Those who wouldn't want a don't ask/don't tell situation, which is only half as ignorant... but still ignorant.
'TW' claims to love the person and hate the sin, but the tone of his/her message make it all too easy to read between the lines. The misinterpretation in the King James Bible is no valid reason for your ignorance. The "man shall not lie with man" misinterpretation has been bust open time after time - not that you should be using a book of fairy stories, written by uneducated sheep herders 2000 years ago, to shape your moral compass anyway.
Some of the kindest, gentlest, selfless and loving people I have met have been gay. Not for a single second do I believe that a superior intelligence capable of creating a universe teaming with life would punish these people merely because they love members of the same sex.
I knew a strict and tough Irish Catholic family near my childhood home - of all the 7 siblings, one of them was tottering around in his mothers shoes and clothes from the age of 2...and his behaviour was strongly discouraged by his family, yet it was plainly obvious he would grow up gay... and he did. Clearly this was nature over nurture, and it happens millions of times over with other kids all_over_the_world. You *cannot* nurture sexuality, just as you cannot change it. So obviously gays are "normal" and equally deserving of the same rights as we heterosexuals.
No doubt I will be tagged here as a leftie liberal...and that is so far off the mark it is untrue. I just have a brain in my head, and do not let a book of fairy tales guide my beliefs on certain issues.
Typical feces-feeder propaganda.
Typical Liberal moral equivalence. AMERICA (at least it's white hetero males) ALWAYS AS BAD AS HER ENEMIES, WHATEVER THE ACTUAL TRUTH!!
Genesis 19 , Leviticus 18:22 , Leviticus 20:13 , Romans 1:26-27 , 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 , 1 Timothy 1:9-10 , Jude 1:7 , enough said.
Obviously, he's never been to Atlanta - the San Francisco of the South. On Peach Tree Avenue - what used to be a really nice area - you see them hanging out in packs, behaving lewdly. If hetero couples acted like them the police would quickly put an end to it, but I guess the City of Atlanta is afraid of getting sued. They can have it.
Sir, or Ma'am, whatever you are, don't lump a group of people together in that way. Your attempt at providing evidence for the terrors of homosexuality are so feeble it's hard to believe you've gotten through reading the entire article. Your assertion is so silly and childish.
Mia's right... they do. Every time I have to drive down Peach Tree that "group of people" are out in force. The only gays being "beheaded" are by their fellow gays down on their knees.
Speaking as a Deep Southerner, who cares what this limey idiot has to say? It's time to start building a border fence on the Mason-Dixon line! (kidding)