Political Jokes & Funny Quotes (125): Arguments Against Same-Sex Marriage

Here are some serious people making serious versions of these arguments:

1. homosexuality is unnatural
2. gays encourage others to be gay
3. homosexuality and gay marriage lead to bestiality
4. the institution of marriage has a long tradition and should be protected as it is
5. gay marriage will harm traditional marriages
6. marriage is supposed to produce children and gay marriage will lead to a world without children
7. gay parents will raise gay children
8. our religion doesn’t support gay marriage, hence gays should not be allowed to marry; otherwise our religious liberty is in danger
9. children benefit from having both a male and a female parent
10. gay marriage threatens the foundations of our society

For those of you who have clicked on any – or, God forbid, all – of the links above, I’m truly sorry I made you do it and I forgive you if you take this as sufficient reason for not visiting my blog ever again.

The Most Absurd Human Rights Violations (115): Detection of Homosexuality in Malaysian Children

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The Malaysian government has begun holding seminars aiming to help teachers and parents spot signs of homosexuality in children, underscoring a rise in religious conservatism in the country.

So far, the Teachers Foundation of Malaysia has organised 10 seminars across the country. Attendance at the last event on Wednesday reached 1,500 people, a spokesman for the organisation said.

“It is a multi-religious and multicultural [event], after all, all religions are basically against that type of behaviour,” said the official.

The federal government said in March that it is working to curb the “problem” of homosexuality, especially among Muslims who make up over 60% of Malaysia’s population of 29 million people.

According to a handout issued at a recent seminar, signs of homosexuality in boys may include preferences for tight, light-coloured clothes and large handbags, local media reported.

For girls, the details were less clear. Girls with lesbian tendencies have no affection for men and like to hang out and sleep in the company of women, the reports said. …

Official intolerance of gay people has been on the rise. Last year, despite widespread criticism, the east coast state of Terengganu set up a camp for “effeminate” boys to show them how to become men.

The latest seminar for the teachers and parents was run by deputy education minister Puad Zarkashi, his office confirmed.

Zarkashi wasn’t immediately available for comment but national news agency Bernama quoted him as saying that being able to identify the signs will help contain the spread of the unhealthy lifestyle among the young, especially students.

“Youths are easily influenced by websites and blogs relating to LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] groups,” he was quoted as saying.

“This can also spread among their friends. We are worried that this happens during schooling time.” (source, source)

Ominously, the story doesn’t tell us what they plan to do with the detected children, apart from sending them to a reeducation camp. I’m afraid it may involve something like this.

More on LGBT rights here. More absurd human rights violations here.

LGBT Rights (9): U.S. Public Opinion on Homosexuality

Homosexuals, or LGTB, are a minority that faces different kinds of discrimination, varying from rather moderate forms such as discrimination in family law, over hate crime, to outright criminalization (see here as well) and even capital punishment, depending on the country and the circumstances. Gays suffer rights violations even in countries where human rights normally receive ample protection by the courts and the governments.

Globally, the U.S. does a pretty good job: homosexuality is no longer illegal, and some states allow homosexuals to get married and receive the same benefits as heterosexual married couples. Depending on the survey, many Americans now believe that homosexuality shouldn’t be illegal and that homosexuals should be allowed to marry.

Regarding the public’s acceptance of homosexuality as such (independent of criminalization and marriage rights), the data are still a bit disappointing. A large minority wouldn’t vote for a homosexual presidential candidate, for example. Again depending on the survey, only a small majority or a large minority thinks homosexuality is morally acceptable. But public opinion is growing more tolerant over the years:

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Same-sex marriage as well is becoming more acceptable:

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This graph may be a bit hard to read but it tracks popular support for same-sex marriage at different points in time, for the different states of the U.S., and it indicates whether same-sex marriage is or isn’t allowed in those states.

Gay marriage has increased in popularity in all fifty states. No news there, but what was a surprise to me is where the largest changes have occurred. The popularity of gay marriage has increased fastest in the states where gay rights were already relatively popular in the 1990s.

Policies on gay marriage are highly congruent with preferences – pretty much, gay marriage is legal where more than 50% of the people support it, and illegal where the policy has less than 50% support. (source)

LGBT Rights (8): US Public Opinion on the Legality of Homosexuality

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Lawrence v. Texas invalidated the so-called “sodomy laws” that were still in force in 14 States at the time. In the decades before that, the other States gradually abolished their laws voluntarily. Here’s an overview:

(source)

In this respect, the U.S. compares favorably with the 86 other countries in the world where homosexuality is still illegal and where punishment for this “crime” can be very severe.

The Supreme Court’s decision seems to be supported by a democratic majority:

(source; I don’t believe everything in this statistic: popular opinion on something like this doesn’t change overnight, and it certainly doesn’t change back overnight, but still, the trend is clear if you don’t look at the outliers)

More on the legality or criminalization of homosexuality here. More on homophobia.

LGBT Rights (3): Equal Adoption Rights for Gays and Lesbians

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While for some Americans religious beliefs remain an obstacle to their support of marriage rights for gays and lesbians, many of those same Americans have a tough time reconciling their religious conviction and compassion with the idea that a child may remain homeless in spite of the fact that a loving home exists in which they could be raised, simply because the home is inhabited by a same sex couple. A Pew Research Center poll shows that a clear majority of Americans now support adoption rights for gays and lesbians. Keli Goff

More on gay rights.

LGBT Rights (2): Some Facts

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Some facts about gay rights (or LGBT/Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights).

This is a problem of discrimination and unequal treatment, both in law (legal discrimination) and in social life (homophobia and hate crime). It’s not about special rights or special treatment for homosexuals as some kind of minority group with a separate identity, but about their equal rights and treatment.

First a word about so-called “reparative therapy”. Of course, attempts to change gay, lesbian and bisexual people into heterosexuals should be opposed, but this can be done on the basis of normal human rights. No special group or identity rights are necessary. Changing people’s behavior through force is in general a human rights violation.

The underlying question in the debate over reparative therapy is whether homosexuality is a choice or an innate characteristic with which people are born. But this question is irrelevant with respect to the human rights of gays or LGBTs. These rights should be unconditionally respected, as all human rights, whether or not the people who have these rights choose a certain life style, whether or not they are born with certain characteristics. It’s not as if people who are born with certain characteristics have more human rights than people who choose to adopt these characteristics.

Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states:

Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Sexual orientation is not mentioned but it is accepted that the list given here is a list of examples and not complete. “Without distinction of any kind” is clear enough.

Article 3 states:

The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.

And Article 26:

All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Many objections to gay rights have religious roots (recall the story of the people of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, which, by the way is also mentioned in the Qur’an). Most major religions oppose homosexuality. In the US, conservative white evangelicals who attend their places of worship weekly are more likely to oppose gay marriage and gay rights (see here). Opponents of homosexuality or equal rights for homosexuals also point to human anatomy and reproduction as proof that same-sex intercourse is unnatural. However, if we start branding all unnatural activity as immoral, we may as well stop living.

In a 2003 decision striking down anti-sodomy laws, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gays and lesbians have a right to sexual privacy and are “entitled to respect for their private lives.”

Over the last centuries and especially the last decades, acceptance of homosexuality by people in the West and in Asia has increased, as is shown by this graph (figures for the US):

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However, in large parts of Africa and the Middle East this is not yet the case. The following graph shows the status of homosexuality laws in the world. I know one cannot deduce public opinion from laws in non-democratic countries, but there must be some correlation:

Public opinion is as follows:

(source)

But even in the countries with the most liberal legal systems and the most favorable (or least unfavorable) public opinion, there is still discrimination based on sexual orientation. Areas where most work still needs to be done are:

• Protection against discrimination in employment and housing
• Domestic partner benefits similar to those granted to married couples, or
• The right to marry or have their relationships recognized in “civil unions”
• The ability to serve in the military without hiding their sexuality.

More on discrimination.