UN-Gay. For those who think the U.N. has any relevance whatsoever, it's worth noting that when it's not acting as a megaphone for the propaganda of Jew-hating suicide-killers, or setting up "safe zones" for refugees which it then leaves utterly defenseless, the U.N. is busy bashing gays and lesbians. As reported in a Washington Times article on May 1, Muslim and Catholic countries this week (1) kept the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) from being designated as a consultant nongovernmental organization, charging that the group was soft on pedophilia, and (2) blocked a proposed redefintion of "family" in a U.N. Child Summit document that would have recognized families "in various forms," which critics charged would have opened the door to granting legitimacy to same-sex relationships.
"Altogether, it was a pretty pro-family day," gloated Austin Ruse, of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. Which I suppose shows that a rightwing Catholic spokesperson can still get away with being the voice of "pro-family" and anti-pedophile policy these days. Maybe the Catholic Church's being soft on pedophilia should keep that suspect group out of the corridors of U.N. power.
This is a bit complicated, but bear with me. Barring ILGA from participating on U.N. committees was justified, said its critics, because the Brussels-based lobby, with 300 member groups in 76 countries, did not document that it had purged pedophile groups such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association, which in years past had enjoyed some traffic with ILGA. ILGA, for its part, said that divulging all its member affiliates could put some in danger, which isn't hard to believe. But nevertheless, ILGA, which is a creature of the political and cultural left, has brought on many of its own troubles. Still, the attack against the group was infused with good, old fashioned, gay-baiting in the name of traditional religious values, both Catholic and Islamic. If those elements of the gay left that support Islamic terrorists had any brains, they could see the hellish nightmare that their new allies would create, if given half a chance.
Interestingly, the Bush administration had supported ILGA's application, arguing in January that ILGA was helpful in the fight against HIV and AIDS. While the U.S. delegation was silent this week in the debate, it voted on the losing side in a procedural vote to send the group's application back to the nongovernmental organizations committee for further investigation, which the Pakistani delegate denounced as a "delaying tactic" to buy another chance for ILGA.
For this, the Bush administration deserves some credit (which of
course it won't receive). On the other hand, the U.S. delegation
did an about-face and opposed broadening the U.N.'s definition of
family. As noted in
a previous posting, a senior official at the U.S. Mission has
told the Washington Times last week that the Bush administration
was backing the redefinition. However, the paper now reports
that:
"pro-family and conservative groups that support the "natural" family in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- married heterosexual mother and father and their children and other blood relatives -- persuaded the administration of "dangers" in the loose, undefined language proposed by European delegations""
Given the pressure, which the conservative Washington Times helped engender, the administration caved. Hey, it's the U.N. Like it matters.
Guns 'R Us, Too. Here's an
interesting article from planetout.com about some unfortunately
gay-bashing rhetoric at a recent National Rifle Association confab
in Reno. It seems that some of the speakers couldn't resist linking
together Rosie O"Donnell's new gay advocacy with her previous
anti-Second Amendment activism (how often Rosie keeps coming up, in
unexpected contexts!). At the same time Tom Boyer, a representative
of the Pink Pistols, the gay and lesbian gun owners
group,
...noted that, at a members' forum in Reno on Saturday, he introduced himself as a Pink Pistol and urged the NRA not to mix other social issues into the agenda of the gun-rights organization. Other members supported that comment, he said. "I did have an NRA director come up and actually ask what he could do to help the Pink Pistols," Boyer said. "So there certainly is an outreach effort."
How often it seems that knee-jerk conservative homophobia is real but superficial and thus "counter-able," as opposed to die-hard fundamentalist bigotry.