Taking the LGBT Fight Abroad
By Dylan Matthews - Nov 10th, 2008 at 3:45 pmEmily makes some characteristically insightful points. While marriage equality should still be a major part of our nefarious gay agenda, that fight requires running up against some serious religious hang-ups. More worrisome is the possibility that an excessive focus on marriage rights will lead to complacency in other areas. Emily had some good ideas for new causes to pursue, and I’d like to add another: international LGBT rights.
Though the defeats in California, Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas show that the United States still has a long way to go, we’ve come a lot farther than most of the world. Our government doesn’t encourage sex changes for gay men, like Iran’s does. Our courts don’t disband gay rights organizations, as Turkey’s do. Our presidents don’t threaten to decapitate gays and lesbians, as Gambia’s does. Our police no longer routinely beat and abuse LGBT activists, as police in Bangalore, India do. Call me crazy, but I’d rather have a worldwide end to the death penalty for homosexuality than a repeal of Prop 8.
What can American activists do about this? A robust asylum program would be a start. There’s nothing more tragic than when gay and lesbian immigrants are deported back to countries where they will almost certainly die. Jamie Kirchick, of all people, had a good idea when he proposed resurrecting the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Just as that amendment denied most favored nation status to socialist countries which didn’t allow their residents to emigrate, the US government should withhold MFN status to countries with bans on homosexuality which deny emigration rights.
More broadly, LGBT rights should be on the table in diplomatic negotiations, just like any other issue of human rights. A grand bargain with Iran should include additional leniency toward Iranian gays and lesbians. Talks with Uganda on HIV/AIDS and the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict should also include discussion of that country’s abysmal record on LGBT issues. Gay rights are human rights, and American foreign policy and American immigration policy ought to reflect that.
Post a Comment