I completely agree. Especially since the United States itself only just recently allowed gay marriage and has a long way to go. Most countries need to go through a natural, independent progression on social issues.
See, this is how I feel.
And it's the same on a lot of social issues. Womens rights. Religious freedom. Freedom of the press. Etc.
I just made a similar point in
this thread about the Trinidad mayor getting fired because of feminist.
I'm sure that others will disagree, and on an academic level, you certainly can (I'm taking a very sociological, linear stance to this). But I just for the life of me can't understand why some would expect poorer, developing nations to mirror the etiquette of the western world (Especially when, frankly, plenty of Western nations haven't even gotten this Gay Rights stuff figured out...)
You want gays to be accepted in Nigeria? Work towards improving the quality of life of the average Nigerian first. When their lifestyles change, their lives change, they'll be more educated, they'll have a larger world-view, they'll spend more time philosophizing these types of issues. Right now, this feels like a pet-peeve issue....
Well, let's play devil's advocate. Should a country A - that renders a lot of financial, humanitarian and military aide to country B - not be allowed to, at least, speak their mind about country B? What if country B is condoning something truly abominable like pedophilia? Should country A still fall back?
It's not as simple as y'all are trying to make it.
Country A has the right to do what it pleases. But making ONE social issue the single issue upon which they base their decisions on won't always be reasonable or responsible. And it looks worse when a country like the US isn't putting the same (or, a proportional) amount of pressure on other nations that it is allied with (How are gays treated in Saudi Arabia? Can they get married?)
I agree it's not simple, it's complicated as fukk. But I think it centers on a sociological issue, not a moral or necessarily geopolitical one.
It's the same thing with this "over-population" stuff, and trying to get some of these countries to have a lower birth rate. Western countries have a lower birth-rate for a variety of reasons, none of which has fukk all to do with those governments malthusian or environmental concerns. It's about, ya know, consumerist culture, women in the work-force, needing less children to take care of you when you die, etc.
The US should know this, considering its recent utter failure in Afghanistan. Those surges work?
you guys really ok with them killing or jailing gay people in africa?
I mean, we seem to be okay with large swaths of the population lacking access to clean drinking water, electricity, and modern technology....
