Man Arrested for Posting Gay Rights Posters

Malawi, South Africa

As a person who openly supports gay rights, it hurts me to read this story. But I'm also one who believes the United States shouldn't go around trying to change the situation in foreign countries. In South Africa, a man was posting gay rights posters.

Sawali, 21, was putting up posters that read, "Gay rights are human rights," on a busy road in the city of Blantyre, the spokesman said... Basically, he was promoting a criminal act. This is what this is all about.

Wait.. does America even do that? Do we prosecute people for promoting a criminal act? Murder is illegal in every state, and some would consider violent video games promoting a criminal act, but those are still legal.

Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to Malawi's government, accusing it of threatening citizens' fundamental rights.

Wait, fundamental rights? Maybe to United States citizens, but these people aren't United States Citizens. Malawi has its own constitution that decides what the rights of the citizens are. I find it acceptable for activists to go and talk about human "rights", but don't expect them to change their laws. Truly, when you think about it, there are no basic human rights. People's rights depend on where they live, because they're decided by the government.

"All these countries want to impose their culture on us, but homosexuality is a crime, according to the penal code in Malawi," he said. Those found guilty of homosexuality in Malawi face a maximum of 14 years in jail.

As a supporter of equality, I hope that all countries get to the point where there is no hate or discrimination because of something someone can't control. But America isn't even there yet, so we can't expect other places to be.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell... Even if it Costs Us 2 Million...

CNN published a story about a man who was discharged under the policy of "don't ask, don't tell". I think, and have always thought, that this policy is absolutely degrading to gays in the military, forced to keep one of the biggest part of their lives a total secret from their friends.
In this story, Darren Manzella had served two tours in Iraq before he began receiving threatening emails and phone calls, saying he was going to be discharged. He went to his supervisor for advice. His supervisor reported him, but he still served another term in Iraq with fellow soldiers knowing he was gay. It wasn't until he went on television and did an interview about being a gay man in the military that he was officially discharged. His discharge papers read "homosexual conduct admission". But he didn't display any homosexual conduct whatsoever. He had a partner at home, not in the military. But here is the most ridiculous statistic:

Since don't ask, don't tell was introduced, the military has discharged more than 13,000 lesbians, gays and bisexuals, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. A 2005 government report found that about 800 of them had skills deemed "critical," such as engineering and linguistics, and that it cost the military about $200 million to recruit and train their replacements.

So, the military wants openly gay people out of the service so bad that they are willing to pay 2 million dollars to do it? This is absolutely heinous.
Obama said he would end "don't ask, don't tell". Okay Obama... I'm waiting...