Comments on: Global Gaze: Paving the Road to Hell? http://thenewgay.net/2009/06/paving-the-road-to-hell.html For Everyone Over the Rainbow Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:03:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Mark http://thenewgay.net/2009/06/paving-the-road-to-hell.html#comment-12631 Mark Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:27:46 +0000 http://thenewgay.net/?p=9173#comment-12631 <i><b>"...men-who-have-sex-with-men who were too rich or too poor or too masculine or too effeminate were unlikely to be attracted to the gay center or welcomed as members of the emerging ‘gay community.’” By doing this, these organizations actually created a situation of division and discrimination despite the fact that their attempts were to actually bring a group together and protect it."</b></i> Funny. Sounds just like the U.S. “…men-who-have-sex-with-men who were too rich or too poor or too masculine or too effeminate were unlikely to be attracted to the gay center or welcomed as members of the emerging ‘gay community.’” By doing this, these organizations actually created a situation of division and discrimination despite the fact that their attempts were to actually bring a group together and protect it.”

Funny. Sounds just like the U.S.

]]> By: tim http://thenewgay.net/2009/06/paving-the-road-to-hell.html#comment-12624 tim Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:58:29 +0000 http://thenewgay.net/?p=9173#comment-12624 Um, there is something fairly absurd about assuming that human rights has anything to do with US foreign policy and specifically that it had anything to do with the invasion of Iraq and then drawing conclusions about the value of international efforts to support queer communities in specific countries using that as an example. Come on -- actually strengthening protection of glbt people in Iraq was never part of the strategy and so it doesn't make sense to judge the occupation of Iraq based on a goal it never had. It's really not worth engaging with the completely farcical arguments that some people made back in 2003 that a US invasion in Iraq would somehow improve the overall human rights conditions. Isn't pretending that the war had anything to do with human rights, WMDs, etc. so 2003? A different kind of international support that is qualitatively different because it is honestly about listening directly to queer people in other countries and building actual partnerships is international solidarity. As queer folks in the US we should first of all call for an end to US occupation in Iraq and then listen very carefully to the demands and specific requests from queer communities in Iraq. Is anyone actually talking directly with queer organizers in Iraq and asking them what they want us to do as opposed to going in with our own agenda? This post on this issue is very interesting: http://www.bilerico.com/2009/05/where_the_violence_starts_--_gay_support.php Also, what groups specifically are you referring to in the Bolivia case? Are you talking about USAID or PEPFAR-funded programs or grassroots organizations working in solidarity with queer people in Bolivia? Um, there is something fairly absurd about assuming that human rights has anything to do with US foreign policy and specifically that it had anything to do with the invasion of Iraq and then drawing conclusions about the value of international efforts to support queer communities in specific countries using that as an example. Come on — actually strengthening protection of glbt people in Iraq was never part of the strategy and so it doesn’t make sense to judge the occupation of Iraq based on a goal it never had. It’s really not worth engaging with the completely farcical arguments that some people made back in 2003 that a US invasion in Iraq would somehow improve the overall human rights conditions. Isn’t pretending that the war had anything to do with human rights, WMDs, etc. so 2003?

A different kind of international support that is qualitatively different because it is honestly about listening directly to queer people in other countries and building actual partnerships is international solidarity. As queer folks in the US we should first of all call for an end to US occupation in Iraq and then listen very carefully to the demands and specific requests from queer communities in Iraq. Is anyone actually talking directly with queer organizers in Iraq and asking them what they want us to do as opposed to going in with our own agenda?

This post on this issue is very interesting:
http://www.bilerico.com/2009/05/where_the_violence_starts_–_gay_support.php

Also, what groups specifically are you referring to in the Bolivia case? Are you talking about USAID or PEPFAR-funded programs or grassroots organizations working in solidarity with queer people in Bolivia?

]]>