Liberate Palestine?A harrowing article appears
in the Aug 19-26 issue of The New Republic on the persecution of
gays in the territories under the control of the Palestinian
Authority. "Refugee Status" by Yossi Klein Halevi (unfortunately,
not posted online at the magazine's website) discusses the arrest
and torture of suspected gays. Several stories are recounted,
including that of a 21-year-old Gazan whom the author calls Tayseer
(a pseudonym):
[A] young man he didn't know invited Tayseer into an orange grove. The next day he received a police summons. At the station Tayseer was told that his sex partner was in fact a police agent whose job is to ferret out homosexuals. If Tayseer wanted to avoid prison, he too would have to become an undercover sex agent, luring gays into orchards and turning them over to the police. Tayseer refused to implicate others. He was arrested and hung by his arms from the ceiling"
Months of horrifying torture followed. After his release, Tayseer crossed into Israel, where he now lives illegally. His dream is to move to Tel Aviv. According to Halevi, in the last few years hundreds of gay Palestinians have fled to Israel. Think about this if you should happen across a pro-Palestinian Authority demonstration, especially one in which gay left groups such as QUIT ("Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism") are taking part.
Capitalism Liberates! Some 92% of major U.S. companies now have nondiscrimination policies that included sexual orientation, and more than two-thirds also offered domestic partnership benefits for the partners of their gay or lesbian employees, according to a new survey by the Human Rights Campaign. Think about that the next time yet another GLBT "progressive" labels corporations, free markets, and trade as the enemies of "social justice."
Addendum: Unlikely Heroes? Here's the AP story on the new survey of gay-friendly corporations. Notice how corporate America is easily outpacing both state and federal governments, which overwhelming do not protect gays from workplace discrimination, or extend partner benefits to gay government workers.
Notice, too, Human Rights Campaign leader Elizabeth Birch's comment, "The truth is it's corporate America that has been the unlikely hero in the movement for equality for gay and lesbian Americans"" Why unlikely? Typically, shareholder-owned companies are driven to both attract the best personnel they can, and to market their products to as wide a customer base as they can appeal to. It's government that is more likely to cut deals among narrow interests in order to rough out an electoral plurality. As HRC's Kim Mills says at the end of the AP story, "Most successful companies know discrimination is bad for business."
For politicos, pitting group against group is an electoral strategy.