GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Columbia University, New York, NY (USA)

Today, President of Iran, Ahmadinejad spoke to faculty, staff, and students at Columbia University in New York, NY . Amid quite a bit of protest, this controversial speaker not only questioned the legitimacy of Jerusalem , argued for the proliferation of nuclear armaments and even denied that gay men and lesbians exist in an Arabic state. During the speech, a questioner asked him why does his country deny women and homosexual's rights. His answer was not only startling in this day and age, but it was disgusting:

QUESTION: Mr. President, the question isn't about criminal and drug smugglers. The question was about sexual preference and women.

(APPLAUSE)

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country.

(LAUGHTER)

We don't have that in our country.

(AUDIENCE BOOING)

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it.

Since the year 1979, over 4000 gay men and lesbians have been put to death in Iran. Estimates indicate that 100,000 other individuals have been put to death for violations of cleric law. The world was outraged in July of 2005 when two Iranian teens were executed for simply being gay. The fact of the matter is that there are homosexuals in Iran, but due to sexual cleansing, there may not be for long.



While gay rights activists are doing their part to help out gay men and lesbians here in the USA, so much more work is needed in other countries. Ahmadinejad claims that women have the full safety protections of the Iranian government, but humans who happen to be homosexual do not have any rights, in fact, they are put to death. Just this May, the Iranian government arrested 87 gay men at a house party, their fate is still up in the air.

Isreal and Jordan have both realized the errors of their old ways and legalized same-sex relations (however, not legally recognized for any amount of public service). In , there are no laws against sodomy or homosexuality, but individuals being caught with a member of the same sex will usually be stoned to death by local vigilantes. In , UAE, and a gay man can be put to death. In and Palestine , a gay man or lesbian will spend a minimum of 10 years in a state-run prison, where they will most likely die at the hands of the other prisoners. The stories that we continue to hear around the world about things that are more than just discrimination sicken us here at GenerationQ. Still, American teens and young adults are ignorant to what is happening to their gay brothers and lesbian sisters world-wide.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch named Pope Benedict the XVI, President George Bush, and President Ahmadinejad of to their "Hall of Shame" for people purposefully creating atrocities against gays and lesbians. (source: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/16/global15955.htm)

We as a world need to rise up against this disgrace. Feudal times and ancient history of putting people to death for who they are needs to stop now! History will judge those of you committing crimes against humanity, but first members of the present time need to bring these plights to the public eye. Our conversation MUST start now. We MUST work to end human sacrifice around the world. We MUST join together and fight this evil. And, we MUST do it NOW!


Sources:  http://www.sodomylaws.org/, CQ Transcripts Wire, http://hrw.org/