Gay Rights Are Human Rights

While motivated by recent anti-gay incidents in South Africa, the Los Angeles Times has an editorial that makes the argument that needs to be thrown in the face of anti-gay politicians and professional Christians who are little more than the daily purveyors of hate and ignorance: gay rights are human rights and that those who oppose gay rights are opposed to human rights. I'm sorry, but too much hate, violence and misery have been the principal fruits of religion - I suspect religion has ruined more lives than it has bettered - to continue to give bigots a free pass to spew lies, untruths and bigotry. The Christianist version of "religious freedom" ends when it tramples on the civil rights of others. Here are column highlights:
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When it comes to gay rights, South Africa is something of a paradox. Legally progressive, the country allows gay marriage and, in its Constitution, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Gay groups flourish — soccer clubs and church organizations included — and middle-class gay men and women live relatively openly.
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But in some parts of the country, particularly in rural areas and townships, the progressive laws collide with deeply traditional views of homosexuality as un-African and as an import from the decadent West.
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The violence in South Africa is a reminder that the struggle for gay rights is a global one. A gay rights demonstration in Moscow was disrupted last month by counter-protesters, and Russian security forces detained people from both sides of the protest. In Jamaica, homophobic lyrics in dancehall music have been blamed for violent attacks on gay people.
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On the other hand, some countries have progressed further faster. A decade ago, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. Since then, nine more have followed — and the U.S. was not one of them.
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[A]s in South Africa, paradoxes exist. Although the United States has made much progress on gay rights, Human Rights Watch last month picked American pastor Scott Lively, an outspoken critic of homosexuality, for its homophobia "Hall of Shame,"
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While the progress is encouraging, the brutal violence in South Africa is a reminder of how much still needs to be done worldwide to show not just governments but communities that equal protection for gay people is not a Western convention, not a modern fashion, but a human right.