Let's not forget that one-third of humanity is either Indian or Chinese.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/29/indias-gays-prepare-to-jo_n_222218.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/29/indias-gays-prepare-to-jo_n_222218.html
Gay Rights in India
- Thread starter jeffg
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peterh770
Well-known member
And the Muslim population in India has been growing. They have a real battle there.
toggleswitch2
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The msulim population is growing everywhere,and that is raising some eyebrows worldwide.
maytagbear
Well-known member
Now, now.....
the Muslims I have met have been peaceable people. There are extremists in every faith tradition, and certainly extremists who claim no faith tradition at all.
Of course, I do live in an academic village, and that may affect my sample.
Lawrence/Maytagbear
the Muslims I have met have been peaceable people. There are extremists in every faith tradition, and certainly extremists who claim no faith tradition at all.
Of course, I do live in an academic village, and that may affect my sample.
Lawrence/Maytagbear
Likewise . . .
I collaborate professionally with two Muslims. I know one of the two attends a local mosque, I'm not sure about the other but he does identify as being Muslim. Both know I'm gay, and couldn't be any nicer or more tolerant - sexuality is simply not an issue for them. Both are straight and married, and one has a delightful daughter. None of us are inclined to talk politics or religion, but one mentioned to me that as a child in Teheran his parents taught him to accept and respect people of all religious faiths. I think the moral of the story is that extremists of all religions are a pox upon humanity. Right now Islam seems to have more than it's share of extremists, but it could be argued that this situation was reversed in the Middle Ages.
I collaborate professionally with two Muslims. I know one of the two attends a local mosque, I'm not sure about the other but he does identify as being Muslim. Both know I'm gay, and couldn't be any nicer or more tolerant - sexuality is simply not an issue for them. Both are straight and married, and one has a delightful daughter. None of us are inclined to talk politics or religion, but one mentioned to me that as a child in Teheran his parents taught him to accept and respect people of all religious faiths. I think the moral of the story is that extremists of all religions are a pox upon humanity. Right now Islam seems to have more than it's share of extremists, but it could be argued that this situation was reversed in the Middle Ages.
# of Iraqi assailants on 9/11:
Zero.
# of Iraqi civilians killed by the U.S. invasion:
Estimates vary between 60,000 and 120,000.
# of Iraqi acts of retaliation on foreign soil:
Zero.
IMO Muslims have absolutely nothing to prove, in the peace department. A very few hypocrite extremists have given their religion a bad name, exactly like Christianity and Judaism.
Zero.
# of Iraqi civilians killed by the U.S. invasion:
Estimates vary between 60,000 and 120,000.
# of Iraqi acts of retaliation on foreign soil:
Zero.
IMO Muslims have absolutely nothing to prove, in the peace department. A very few hypocrite extremists have given their religion a bad name, exactly like Christianity and Judaism.
toggleswitch2
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- May 23, 2008
- Messages
- 5,000
~the Muslims I have met have been peaceable people.
Well yes, there are all types within all groups.
I bedded a Muslim of the Turkish variety while in London. Of all the Protestant Christians there what are the odds? *FEH* Like energies attract, I guess. My poor grandfather must have been turning over in his grave. It was a fine experience.
My great-grandfather had a friend who was roasted (while still barely alive) over hot coals with a spit up his @$$ and out his mouth as Greeks do a lamb or Puerto Ricans do a pig. So let's just be open to the possiblity that there may be more to the story than our limted experiences (and appearances) dictate.
I try to bleieve that NO group is a torturous as their ancestors were (in the Middle Ages). EVERY group has committed unspeakable atrocites.
I also worked with a NASTY woamn of "that" religion that was torturing me over my homeosexuality at work and believed it was her Allah-given right and duty to do so. Funny thing is her entire reproductive sysem was ripped out due to cancer. So If I'm worthless becaue I won't be reproducing, so must you be. She was a NASTY "SEE YOU NEXT TUSEDAY", but I don't think any less of her race or religion or gender because she was one rotten-to-the-core apple.
Well yes, there are all types within all groups.
I bedded a Muslim of the Turkish variety while in London. Of all the Protestant Christians there what are the odds? *FEH* Like energies attract, I guess. My poor grandfather must have been turning over in his grave. It was a fine experience.
My great-grandfather had a friend who was roasted (while still barely alive) over hot coals with a spit up his @$$ and out his mouth as Greeks do a lamb or Puerto Ricans do a pig. So let's just be open to the possiblity that there may be more to the story than our limted experiences (and appearances) dictate.
I try to bleieve that NO group is a torturous as their ancestors were (in the Middle Ages). EVERY group has committed unspeakable atrocites.
I also worked with a NASTY woamn of "that" religion that was torturing me over my homeosexuality at work and believed it was her Allah-given right and duty to do so. Funny thing is her entire reproductive sysem was ripped out due to cancer. So If I'm worthless becaue I won't be reproducing, so must you be. She was a NASTY "SEE YOU NEXT TUSEDAY", but I don't think any less of her race or religion or gender because she was one rotten-to-the-core apple.
'Muslim' is just a word...
...and here in the West we have come to stereotype people of that faith and ethnicity, espcially so since 9/11. We project our Western beliefs and understanding without taking into account that muslim and other societies are just as complex as our own. Non-western societies by and large also have histories of alternative sexual cultures and practices.
Based on what few studies have been done on this topic, it would appear that Western influences, through colonization and the export of our social, moral and political ideologies, has had a significant influence on the sexual morality of other cultures over the years.
A good point in case is Papua New Guinea. A nation with many different tribal groups that, in comparison to many other countries, was spared much contact with Western values until relatively recent. A number of studies have found that homosexuality, which once was widely practiced and fully accepted amongst the different tribes, has become stigmatized. Many tribal groups practiced ritualized homosexuality as a coming of age rite of passage for adolescent boys. Once boys came of age they were expected to take a wife and sire children, though there were no cultural restrictions regarding homosexual relationships. Apparently these practices were deeply entrenched amongst many tribal groups as recently as twenty years ago. Twenty years on, with more tribal people moving closer to towns and adopting western ways in their search for money, material goods, medical help and education, they are also finding our value systems and morality. Thus, atttitudes towards homosexuality, particularly amongst younger papuans, have become very negative. Male homosexuality is illegal in Papua New Guinea.
The concept of what we consider masculin and feminine in the West is also very different in many parts of the world. Asian societies have, by and large, always been far less condemning of homosexuality and gender-bending. Chinese society only became prudish as a result of communism - a western ideolgy. Much of the middle east is still strongly influenced by its British and French colonial history.
Here in the West we have created a homosexual culture, which, to my way of thinking, is contrived and restrictive in its own peculiar way. How we define ourselves and who we are supposed to be is currently crammed into this little three letter word that is applied to one and all with 'gay' abandon. For necessity and survival we have turned our sexuality into a ghetto culture that, in itself, is very restrictive and fosters its own prejudices. I hope that, when the time comes (very soon), we can move beyond the gay ghetto and it's stereotypes. Just as it is important to assert our rights, it is equally important that we don't end up marginalizing ourselves in the process.
Anyway, I've attached a link that some may find interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country#South_Asia
...and here in the West we have come to stereotype people of that faith and ethnicity, espcially so since 9/11. We project our Western beliefs and understanding without taking into account that muslim and other societies are just as complex as our own. Non-western societies by and large also have histories of alternative sexual cultures and practices.
Based on what few studies have been done on this topic, it would appear that Western influences, through colonization and the export of our social, moral and political ideologies, has had a significant influence on the sexual morality of other cultures over the years.
A good point in case is Papua New Guinea. A nation with many different tribal groups that, in comparison to many other countries, was spared much contact with Western values until relatively recent. A number of studies have found that homosexuality, which once was widely practiced and fully accepted amongst the different tribes, has become stigmatized. Many tribal groups practiced ritualized homosexuality as a coming of age rite of passage for adolescent boys. Once boys came of age they were expected to take a wife and sire children, though there were no cultural restrictions regarding homosexual relationships. Apparently these practices were deeply entrenched amongst many tribal groups as recently as twenty years ago. Twenty years on, with more tribal people moving closer to towns and adopting western ways in their search for money, material goods, medical help and education, they are also finding our value systems and morality. Thus, atttitudes towards homosexuality, particularly amongst younger papuans, have become very negative. Male homosexuality is illegal in Papua New Guinea.
The concept of what we consider masculin and feminine in the West is also very different in many parts of the world. Asian societies have, by and large, always been far less condemning of homosexuality and gender-bending. Chinese society only became prudish as a result of communism - a western ideolgy. Much of the middle east is still strongly influenced by its British and French colonial history.
Here in the West we have created a homosexual culture, which, to my way of thinking, is contrived and restrictive in its own peculiar way. How we define ourselves and who we are supposed to be is currently crammed into this little three letter word that is applied to one and all with 'gay' abandon. For necessity and survival we have turned our sexuality into a ghetto culture that, in itself, is very restrictive and fosters its own prejudices. I hope that, when the time comes (very soon), we can move beyond the gay ghetto and it's stereotypes. Just as it is important to assert our rights, it is equally important that we don't end up marginalizing ourselves in the process.
Anyway, I've attached a link that some may find interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country#South_Asia
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