It’s not exactly a neat trick, but reminders are sometimes useful. Here’s a picture from this summer’s gay rights march in Jerusalem:
Looks awful. A gay man being denied his rights? Not so much. Think more: an overeager ultraorthodox counter-protester who got a little too close to the parade route for the peace of mind of security officials. He was told to step back. As the brash young are wont to do, he refused. And so they arrested him. Because in Israel – in sharp contrast to the sophisticated and fascinating Iranian regime – gay people are people too:
Roughly 3,500 people marched in the much-contested gay pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, as some 1,500 ultra-Orthodox men and right-wing activists demonstrated against the event. Some 500 ultra-Orthodox protesters marched along Jaffa Street in the city, in an attempt to intersect the march and confront the participants. Police blocked the demonstrators, however, arresting 12 of them. “I am demanding my civil rights, including the right to get married and have children,” said marcher Guy Frishman, 27. “I want to have rights like every other person.”…
The march took place under heavy guard, with more than 7,000 police officers protecting the participants. The Magen David Adom emergency medical service was expected to deploy 45 ambulances and 200 medical personnel along the parade route.
Agree or disagree with the much-vaunted “gay agenda,” at least it’s not this. In Israel when you see gay people in front of a crowd it’s because they’re marching for civil rights. In Iran when you see gay people in front of a crowd it’s because the government has arrested them, publicly tortured and humiliated and hung them, and left them to dangle. But the left insists that Israel is the world’s worst human rights abuser – because the UN, where Iran finds massive sympathy and support, told them so.
References:
* Some 3,500 march in gay pride parade in Jerusalem [Ha'aretz]
* Photographs To Help Explain Why There Are No Homosexuals In Iran [Content Warning: Graphic Photos] (Updated: Video Added) [MR]
Previously:
* Sophisticated Washington Post Debunking Of Terrorism Lacks Something In The Way Of Not Being Smugly Banal
* VDH on Israel
* Some De-Facto Republican Acceptance of Gays: Not Ideal, But We’ll Take It
