Gays to be Executed in Iraq! While We Watch!

Special Note! PapaM, my heart goes out to your wife and her father. I hope he's okay. We will keep him in our prayers. I'm sorry for deleting reader comments earlier, but I had to remove this article after reading PapaM's call for prayers. It was too important. Anyway, here's my post again from this morning.

Hello Papamoka Readers! We have another tragedy unfolding in Iraq! According to the UK Gay News group that, among other things, keeps a watch on gays and lesbians at risk of persecution in third-world countries, the latest gays to end up on death row come from our new ally IRAQ!

"More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution. Many of them, says an underground gay rights organization in the country, are believed to have been convicted of the 'crime' of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group revealed this afternoon.

According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week. There is, said Hili, at least one member of Iraqi-LGBT who are among those to be put to death.

And the London-based group, which believes that a total of 128 executions are imminent, is calling on the UK Government, international human rights groups and the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva to intervene "with due speed" to prevent "this tragic miscarriage of justice" from going ahead."

I don't know about the rest of America, but this gets me extremely angry. I cannot believe that our young men and women died to free a country that is now supporting an elected government that is actively executing gays and lesbians.

Those Republicans who screamed about overthrowing Hussein due to his atrocities should join me and speak up about this pending Iraqi tragedy. Where is your anger? We need to do something about it, especially since we helped free their damn nation.

I hope you all agree that we should not permit them to commit these atrocities while we die to defend their freedom. We shouldn't allow it! President Obama and the US Government needs to act and STOP the killings. We have a right to interfere as long as we're helping them.

Please, get angry and help me. Join me in calling (202.224.3121 Capitol Switchboard) or writing to your representatives and ask them to get involved to save the lives of those people. I must admit, the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. We have the power and influence to save them. We need to try.

a VERY ANGRY Michael Boh

Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor

from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Update: Senator Boxer's office responded requesting the source of the news. They said they intend to contact various critical parties to do whatever they can to help. Thank you Senator Boxer and staff! Michael

*****Crooks and Liars has kindly linked to this post.... Thank you!

California Prop 8 and Marriage

It seems ironic to me that anyone would begrudge the partnership of a committed relationship between two people in America. This is after all the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the nation that fights for freedom and against oppression on all shores across the world. We are a nation of acceptance of all nationalities, all nations, all immigrants. So why is Gay Marriage a threat to anyone?

If my neighbor or friend that is gay or lesbian, has a long term relationship, and they are happy together, then who am I or anyone else to tell them that they can not have a legally binding marriage? When did it become acceptable for Joe Six pack or Jane Decanter to insert their opinions into your heterosexual relationship lives? And if they did I’m certain it did not have any basis as to the relationship you had or have with your spouse. If it did, then you did not have a lifetime of thought and commitment to the other person in your relationship. Politics and propositions on the ballot have no place in our state or national elections. The bedrooms of America are off limits and none of your damn business on the ballot.

Prop 8 in California is all about making sure that Gay and Lesbian people can never have a “Marriage” so to speak. It is not demanding that all religions have to marry same sex couples by any means. Changing California’s state constitution to literally ban same sex marriage is not by any means from a thinking persons point of view. What it is really about is fear and misunderstanding of our fellow citizens in America. I’ll get into that later but this is what Ballot Pedia has for legal language on the proposition…

Proposition 8 is a proposed amendment to the California constitution which if passed into law would be known as the California Marriage Protection Act. This California ballot proposition will appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot along with eleven other statewide propositions. Proposition 8 is one of four ballot measures which propose to amend the California state constitution and appears on the ballot titled as Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.

If it passes, it will amend the state constitution to say "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California".[1]
The electoral contest over Prop. 8 is attracting passionate interest and attention from around the country (and even the world)[2] as it enters its last week. - BallotPedia.org

This issue really isn’t what the fear mongers are selling to the people of California. Having a Gay or Lesbian married couple living next door is not intruding on your bedroom. Voting for Prop 8 would in fact be invading into everyone’s bedroom. What is next on the proposition voter initiatives questions? You can’t hold hands with your wife in a public square? How about throwing a burkah over your wife and daughters? Any deviant sexual positions not authorized by the state you could be arrested for an imprisoned for. Would Peeping Tom's be sanctioned by Homeland Security? Even if you were two consenting adults.

Gay marriage is not a threat to traditional marriage in any logical terms unless you think you or your spouse may be gay or lesbian. Then that is an issue that you and your spouse need to discuss or hire a damn good lawyer for. Speaking of that, if gay people want to get married then let them, in America today just over 50% of long term relationships break up and the legal community could use the economic benefit. We are after all in an economic recession.

My wife and I have been married (Catholic) for over 14 years and we have had our good times and our bad times. We have survived to date by having one another through a traditional marriage. I lean on her and she on I on a daily basis. Nothing less than that and either one of us could have just said “Screw it!” and walked away. We have been blessed from God above with five baby girls and they do play a major part in our relationship and love for one another. Not once in our 14 years of marriage have we ever feared our gay or lesbian friends influence on our children or our marriage. There has never been reason to do so! It’s simply irrelevant of our personal commitment to one another as a “Married” couple. So why is Gay marriage a threat to anyone else’s relationship as a married couple? This isn’t about invading anyone’s faith, demanding churches wed them because the state constitution says you have too! It does not work that way when our nation has separation of church and state. That is in the United States Constitution. You can’t trump that legal document.

Proposition 8 in California is a disaster and has no bearing on your relationship with your wife or husband. Massachusetts passed a gay marriage law and we have not fallen off the face of the Earth. Matter of fact, it hasn’t changed anything other than the fact that two people can make a lifetime commitment to one another. And yes, the divorce rate is on par with the rest of us that are married in churches and temples and what have you. If anything, we should let the gay community across America see how frustrating or rewarding a true marriage of two people can be. Misery loves company so to speak.

Till death do us part can have many interpretations and if the two people that exchange that vow mean it, then God bless them both for it. Man and woman, or same sex participants in one relationship that joins two together for life.

Common sense has to prevail where fear is used to subjugate your fellow Americans. This is not an issue for states to vote on! This is a human rights issue where people need to see that love sometimes comes in forms that you as an individual do not understand but it is still love between two people. How is this relevant to real issues our states and our nation need to face? It isn’t. Prop 8 should go down in defeat just as all racist legislation should. Enough is enough!

Papamoka