So why are Iraqis, Sub-Saharans and Russians so homophobic? If only it were that easy to demonize cultures that we don’t really understand. The second (and more important) common factor among these people is their desire to be free of us. Anti-LGBT violence in these countries is usually related to increasing religious conservatism among their leadership, which is itself a response to increased pressure by the United States for them to conform to our beliefs. A severe lack of respect by the U.S. government, combined with a cultural arrogance about our “superior” way of life, makes negotiations with these countries difficult because they view our presence as a threat to their cultural uniqueness...
Supporting the global fight for LGBT rights is neither simple nor short-term. When Western governments bring their self-aggrandizing views into the discussion, they alienate their allies and hurt those allies’ LGBT constituents. An effective strategy to protect sexual and gender minorities around the world is one written in terms that the locals can understand. It must reflect local values and respect local beliefs. Without such compassion, homophobia and Americaphobia will continue to grow.
Richard Furstein, The Triangle.
Update: Posh gayist Hugo Rifkind defends neo-colonial homophile attitudes in The Times. Apparently Section 28 could have been defeated if we had Twitter back then! A quite remarkably silly piece.
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Yes we have to tolerate these other cultures. They're no better or worse than our own culture, just different.
ReplyDeleteThey are no worse than our own culture - are you f*cking serious ?! Just go and live there for 6 months as an openly gay man and see what happens. I admit it's far from perfect here but it's paradise compared to those places. They blame far too much on imperialism.
DeleteColin, if other cultures want to be homophobic or racist, that's their entitlement. We, in the West, have no right to criticise or intervene.
ReplyDeleteI think it's more about how "intervention" by people in the west is often counter-productive and makes things worse for LGBT people in those countries.
Delete"if other cultures want to be homophobic or racist"
DeleteCultures don't have desires and don't want to be anything. There are just people, and in some of these countries some people do awful things to gay people.