Opn: Why I am a straight man support of gay rights » YNaija

Contents:

• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• THE 61 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS, 13 OWNERS AND 9 HEAD ACH SUPPORT GAY AND BI ATHLET
• WHAT IS A SYMBOL SHOWG SUPPORT FOR GAY RIGHTS THAT MAK CLEAR I AM A STRAIGHT SUPPORTER?
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
• GAY RIGHTS

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Sce the 2013 “gay propaganda” law was passed  Rsia – a law that bans anyone om “spreadg propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatns” among mors – the Rsian ernment has ntued to crack down on LGBTQ rights the untry the name of prervg “tradnal valu”. Glenn Bishop, one of the 12 who sought to fly the flag, told CBC that the group was “not agast the gay pri people at all” and that “anybody’s sexual preference is their choice” – echog nservative sentiments about gayns beg a matter of personal choice rather than an herent inty. But the legimacy of this so-lled missn to qutn when many of the group’s members are associated wh var homophobic, transphobic, and whe supremacist far-right factns such as the Proud Boys, the New Amerin Guard, and Rist Marxism.

A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia. ”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program.

THE 61 CURRENT NFL PLAYERS, 13 OWNERS AND 9 HEAD ACH SUPPORT GAY AND BI ATHLET

”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe.

“I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay.

WHAT IS A SYMBOL SHOWG SUPPORT FOR GAY RIGHTS THAT MAK CLEAR I AM A STRAIGHT SUPPORTER?

“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn. “The silent majory of sports legends have yet to speak out favor of LGBTQ+ sports, and I’m sure is not due to homophobia but a lack of knowledge and fear, ” said Rsell, who is also the thor of his upg memoir, The Yards Between Us. All of this is addn to Roger Gooll — the NFL missner and the most powerful person Amerin sports — who has for 10 years talked publicly many tim about his support for the LGBT muny, cludg his gay brother.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

As the untry turned s attentn to the two historic marriage equaly s before the Supreme Court, Prop 8 on March 26 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on March 27, a handful of celebri voiced their support of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny this week. ’The rponse I felt was of much annoyance – not bee I’ve been a relatnship wh a woman for the past two and half years – but for the narrow mdns displayed by another straight person only a or two my ignorance brought back terrible memori of beg hound by other straight men thkg I was gay bee I didn’t have a girliend high school.

It seems the leafy, affluent suburbs of south east England which I’ve had to ll home only gay, lbian and bisexual and transgenr people make up the LGBT movement and are the only people who read LGBT now is the time to expose the tth about the gay rights movement, which is bt scribed as the civil rights movement of our generatn. Such ignorance om the whe, upper class, heterosexuals who have been charge of the world sce anized relign replaced the ancient civilisatns where homosexualy was an attu is what kept blacks, Asians and other racial groups segregated by the whe man who thought he was superr. 2 ‘Gay’ is not a phemism for ‘bad’A ltle history: the term ‘gay’ was origally an acronym for ‘Good As You’, started by gay people the 1960s and was always meant to be a term of pri and the generatn I grew up , the term has been stolen and secrated to a disgtg phemism to scribe anythg that is wrong.

You will fd this termology belongs to gay people and not to the word ‘gay’ for the horrible thgs life is watered down homophobia so I urge you to thk about the terms you pick next time you exprs your anger at someone or somethg. This is ak to the current trend of parent groups, like the Coaln for Marriage, sayg they want to protect their children om gay upl marryg and havg their own I n say to this, is groups like the Coaln for Marriage are basg their iology on tradns which are so out of date they belong to the era before Darw’s Theory of Evolutn and women gag the rights to vote, let alone the sexual who support the groups do not unrstand love and passn people feel for one another and are the kd of parents who are sred of discsg important thgs wh their children. The urt found 303’s ADF’s rightwg advocy extends further, however, as the anizatn has donated to more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortn found that the ADF donated $85, 000 to the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, a group which, acrdg to a Poli report, helped Florida Republins shape the state’s so-lled “don’t say gay” law, which prohibs discsn of sexual orientatn and genr inty group has also sued two school districts Florida over issu relatg to the rights of trans youth.

THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE

The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law. Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy.

Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia". "It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says.

GAY RIGHTS

This means protectg stunts om vlence, guaranteeg their right to anize events and clubs like other stunts, and makg sure that gay teachers who might serve as healthy role mols are not themselv victimized by discrimatn. The ACLU has fought harassment of stunts California, Nevada, Oh and Washgton, fend gay teachers California, Idaho and Utah, and advoted for gay stunt groups Alabama, Indiana, Mnota, Utah and Wisns. As a remr of what is supposed to be the sence of child-welfare policy, the ACLU’s Lbian and Gay Rights Project 1998 published a report entled In the Child’s Bt Intert: Defendg Fair and Sensible Adoptn Polici.