It wouldn't surprise me at all that they are anti-gay, just given the prevalent cultural attitude towards gay people in this hemisphere. But what specific evidence did it refer to? I know little about the domestic politics of either country. After watching the video, they mentioned nothing about Chavez supporting discrimination against gays. As for Raul Castro, what has he done specifically? A quick search for some more info yielded this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Cuba Quoting: [rquoter] Following the 1959 revolution, Cuba’s communist government embarked upon a pervasive effort to rid the nation of homosexuality, which was seen as a product of a capitalist society. Through the 1960s and 1970s this campaign included the frequent imprisonment of lesbians and gays (particularly effeminate males) without charge or trial, and confinement to forced labor camps. This period was dramatically documented by Reinaldo Arenas in his 1992 autobiography, Before Night Falls, as well as his fiction, most notably The Color of Summer and Farewell to the Sea. Homosexuality was formally decriminalised in 1979. Cuban society has become more welcoming to gays and lesbians since the 1980s, and toward the end of the decade, literature with gay subject matter began to re-emerge. In 1994, the popular feature film Strawberry and Chocolate, produced by the government-run Cuban film industry, featuring a gay main character, examined the nation's homophobia. The year prior to the film's release, Fidel Castro stated that homosexuality is a “natural aspect and tendency of human beings”, and gay author Ian Lumsden claims that since 1986 there is "little evidence to support the contention that the persecution of homosexuals remains a matter of state policy".[20] However, the state's treatment of homosexuals remains a subject of controversy, and like other subjects relating to Cuba, the accounts of supporters of the Castro government are often quite different from those of its opponents. In 2006, the state run Cuban television began running a serial soap opera titled The Dark Side of the Moon[21] with story lines that focus on HIV infection and AIDS. Cuban gays describe a narrative in this soap opera capturing one character's sexual awakening as a pivotal moment in Cuba's long history of discrimination against homosexuals. [/rquoter]
More: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4907.html [rquoter] Almost a year after Cuba's president Fidel Castro temporarily resigned from power due to his ill health, human rights are still under threat on the island. At the same time improvements of LGBT rights are in sight. There is a change in attitude towards LGBT people in the Caribbean dictatorship under Fidel's brother Raul Castro, who holds the position of interim head of state. To a great extent, this change in policy has been pressed for by Mariela Castro, the daughter of Raul Castro. In charge of the government's National Centre for Sex Education, Ms Castro has been recognised as a supporter of LGBT issues. Following Fidel Castro's coup d'etat in 1959 and the Cuban revolution, LGBT people were persecuted and imprisoned. Now the Communist Party is set to bring forward a law which would legalise same-sex unions, grant adoption rights to same-sex couples and give lesbians access to reproduction services. Changes are also being made to accommodate trans people's need in terms of name and identity changes but also hormone treatment and surgery. "It's an important precedent for recognising all differences, including ideological differences and differences of opinion," Manuel Cuesta Morúa, a spokesman for a coalition of social-democrat groups, told IPS/GIN. A document made public by a dissident rights group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, on Thursday, discredits the situation regarding "civil, political, economic and certain cultural rights" as still "unfavourable." In their paper the group stresses that although there are now less political prisoners than there were at the end of last year, 200 people imprisoned for their political beliefs is still intolerable. They claim that the downward trend also deceives that fact that alternative sentences to imprisonment have been introduced. The legitimacy of the group's findings is being contested by the Cuban government. The authorities regard the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation as another US-sponsored attempt to cast a bad light on Cuba. The Foreign Minister of Cuba refers to progress in the sectors of health care, employment and education as examples for the improvement of living situation of the population. [/rquoter] It seems that Raul Castro's Cuba is more tolerant of gay rights than the political party Mr. Basso voted for in the recent election. It seems -- maybe there's some serious spin going on there. Anyways, what was his point again?
Then I guess he and his VP need to get on the same page. Biden stated that they oppose gay marriage. CNN also said the following about Barack Obama...
thanks for putting words in my mouth. please point out where I said that people who vote republican are homophobes. you can't deal with the facts so you make my argument extreme. the post was about basso. i know basso isn't a homophobe, but he will criticize sean penn, but won't actually criticize the anti gay lawmakers in the party he supports.
basso claims to care about gay rights, but he supports the GOP...hmmm...I wonder what that could have meant. Come on man, everybody knows what that means. If that is not what you meant, you would have left that out. The only reason to use his support of the GOP in your argument is to infer that you have to be a bigot to vote for members of the GOP. Somebody calls you on it and you act as though you are mystified by it. Right.
Oh refman, if you could actually take the time to stop defending the honor of your beloved GOP ("now the official party of Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma AND Utah!") and look at the facts - you'd notice that PG is absolutely in the right here. Our buddy the bassmaster likes to start ridiculous threads claiming to expose left wing gaybashing (for example, this one, or the fraudulent claim that Obama supporters turned the tide in California - not true as Major outlined), while prominently and proclaiming his own righteous support for the United States of Gaymerica. Meanwhile, his own professed political idols like GWB and Sarah Palin are running around trying to hammer anti-gay amendments into the U.S. constitution - and our little muckraker is absent and silent on this....surprise! I know this sounds crazy to you, Refman, but the biggest obstacle to gay marriage in California and other things like that is NOT Sean Penn's alleged lack of heroic status in the gay community, or even Joe Biden contradicting himself on gay marriage - it's the religious right and its political arm, which just happens to be the a substantial portion of the Republican party
I mean attacking him for only pointing out one sides bigotry is kinda odd. There are plenty of attacks on conservative politicians around here why not mix in a gay rights story with all of those threads started? Do you prefer no light brought to the issue? Everyone here has the power to balance it.
Not really - one side's bigotry is the only reason why we're even discussing the issue in the first place. And it happens to be the people that are pretty much always on his side. So from this apparent conflict, I'm forced to concede that his support is simply a facade. Not like it matters, but I guess it matters to him since he takes his BBS posting very seriously.
See it is your argument that only one side contains bigotry. Thus this thread is relavant because Basso disagrees.
My argument - which is pretty much impregnable - is that the right wing political class is the primary force behind political discrimination against gays. The thread is irrelevant from its title. Did you happen to read it? And he doesn't disagree - that's why he's ashamed of supporting GWB et al and avoids the issue, seeking to distract with dumb threads like this one.
That's not true. The video basso linked to is inferring that Sean Penn is not a supporter of the gay community, because he had positive things to say about the state of present-day Cuba and Venezuela, without mentioning the past anti-gay policies by the Castro government. By the same twisting logic, we could say that basso is likewise not a supporter of the gay community, because of his strident support for the Republican party. You think its unfair to lump all Republicans in the same boat when it comes to gay rights? Well, isn't that precisely what basso's video link did with regard to Cuba and Venezuela?
Thats fine, and I guess I will see people bring that up in threads they make at some point citing specific examples but I have yet to see it.
So you are saying that somebody needs to give you examples in order to show you that the right wing forms the vanguard of political opposition to gay marriage, gays in the military, gay adoption, etc? I don't think there's any need to do that...if you are not that well versed on the subject then you simply shouldn't be posting about it.
Wow, this is pretty epic. On what I'm sure is an unrelated topic, has anyone seen basso? He was in here not long ago.
Other posters have addressed the inherent hypocrisy regarding bashing Democrats and Leftist over gay rights while ignoring the GOP and the Right regarding gay rights already my own comment is why should Sean Penn be considered a hero to the gay community anyway. He's an actor portraying Harvey Milk but he's not Harvey Milk. This is like saying Keifer Sutherland should be a hero to torturers because a character he plays tortures people.
No i am talking about examples of people posting on it. It seems if the negative posting is not about the people you dislike then it is unacceptable. The only fight against gay bashing you support is the fight hurts the people you dislike.
it means he wants to criticize other peoplefor their anti gay stance but he won't criticize republicans who have anti gay stances. stop projecting.
