Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The American Family Association has its panties in a bunch over speculation that the European Union might try to pass a UN declaration that opposes laws throwing gay people in prison.
A push will be under way soon at the United Nations to advance the activist homosexual agenda.France is currently president of the European Union, and Austin Ruse of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) believes they will try to give the pro-homosexual movement some clout. "In their role as the president of the European Union for the next six months, France has announced that they are going to push for a political declaration in the General Assembly, calling for the decriminalization of sodomy," Ruse explains.
Can you believe that? I mean, it's outrageous! That damn "activist homosexual agenda." Those gay people actually think that they shouldn't be arrested and imprisoned merely for being gay. Who do they think they are, human beings with equal rights or something? Now here's the important part of the article:
Ruse stresses that the proclamation will not be a treaty forcing other countries to comply and will not be subject to the General Assembly for a vote. He says it will not be legally binding, but it likely would have an impact anyway. "It will be used by lawyers around the world to say that there's a new international standard coming out of the U.N. General Assembly, and all of that will be a lie," Ruse contends. "It won't be an action of the General Assembly, but it will be gussied up as if it is something from the General Assembly -- and radicals on the ground will use it in their own court cases."
Notice that the AFA is objecting to a non-binding declaration supporting the right of gays and lesbians not to be made into criminals, on the grounds that it will be used by "radicals" to overturn laws that do make them into criminals. Do you need any more evidence that they really do think gays and lesbians should be thrown in prison? Yes, these people really ARE that extreme.
Some 90 countries have laws that ban sodomy, and could eventually feel the brunt of the U.N. action.
They leave out one tiny little fact: virtually the only nations that actually enforce anti-sodomy laws are nations run by Islamic reactionaries based on Sharia law, like Iran and Saudi Arabia. You know, the very same nations who give support to the very terrorists we are fighting against around the world. The ones they constantly rant about as being evil - except, of course, when they agree with them, as they do here. And they wonder why we sometimes call them the American Taliban.
Politics
Comments
What a horribly misnamed organization they are. What is more anti-family than proposing that many people's family members be declared criminals for such a harmless and natural difference in sexuality?
Considering their views on women as well as homosexuals, American Taliban is perfectly appropriate, and they ought to be referred to that way whenever their backward and hateful name comes up.
Posted by: Bee | September 15, 2008 9:59 AM
Did they sing "Why Should God Bless America" at this summit too?
Posted by: Technogeek | September 15, 2008 10:20 AM
Doesn't sodomy just mean any sexual activity other than vanilla missionary?
Posted by: tincture | September 15, 2008 10:22 AM
Maybe someone should tell this guy that the UN General Assembly has already made such a declaration 60 years ago. It's called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Posted by: Flaky | September 15, 2008 10:26 AM
Ed, the issue is that the AFA and related bigotry-promoting groups would like to overrule the ban on sodomy laws in the USA as soon as they get more conservative judges in the supreme court. An UN declaration would be most unfortunate as it will shed more light on their biggoted and hatefull motivations.
Posted by: Kim | September 15, 2008 10:29 AM
France has announced that they are going to push for a political declaration in the General Assembly, calling for the decriminalization of sodomy," Ruse explains.
I wonder if the religious right's appropriation of the word will come back to bite them here. They use it to mean "gay people," but the word refers to oral and anal sex in general, which, you'd think, would elicit a fair amount of support on behalf of the declaration.
Posted by: Craig | September 15, 2008 10:30 AM
Sodomy is a term used today predominantly in law (derived from traditional Christian usage) to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, as well as bestiality. When used in a religious context, it has a negative connotation.
The Wikipedia article is actually pretty detailed.
Posted by: chris | September 15, 2008 10:33 AM
I should probably note that the paragraph describing sodomy is the opening of the article; I didn't write it.
Posted by: chris | September 15, 2008 10:35 AM
I thought it was something like that. I guess nobody told the AFA that straight people can enjoy oral&anal too, must be boring at their house.
Posted by: tincture | September 15, 2008 10:39 AM
I'm sure that when the mayor of Orange Co., California, the blogs favorite gay basher Mr. Mroberts wakes up he will weigh in on this issue with his usual aplomb.
Posted by: SLC | September 15, 2008 10:46 AM
Wars and disputes, famines and disease, political instability, human rights, environmental destruction and climate catastrophe...obviously, these are very minor issues compared to the monster of all issues - the evil homosexual agenda (EHA):
Watch out my friends, a monster lurks today, it will always offend, it is the EHA.
Terrorizing small town America, and our country's moral fiber, turning all our little children, into prissy homo subscribers.
EHA marches into the fields, all lavender with classy pumps, felling the righteous values of god, into San Francisco's lurid dumps.
I lost my job and the war drags on, but our morals and values are held up high, the American Family Association saves our souls, while I will starve to death and die.
Posted by: ebina2 | September 15, 2008 11:56 AM
@Bee: PZ Myers had the nailed the thing with the name. Every time religious conservatives say "family" they really mean "patriarchy".
Posted by: Matt Heath | September 15, 2008 12:38 PM
I don't see any evidence that the AFA is involved in this. I looked on their website for an action alert related to this and found nothing. A search for AFA and sodomy on google news returns this article as the only hit. The article you link to actually says that the C-FAM is unhappy, and does not mention the AFA. Why does your headline call out the AFA?
Posted by: funkotron | September 15, 2008 12:53 PM
funkotron, OneNewsNow.com is AFA's online news service. See here: http://www.afa.net/cfc.asp
Posted by: Abby Normal | September 15, 2008 1:17 PM
Funkotron, look at the bottom of the OneNewsNow page:
"All Original Content Copyright 2006-2008 American Family News Network"
OneNewsNow is wholly owned by the bigots and fanatics at the AFA. It says so ON THEIR WEBSITE. The article you claim offers no evidence that the AFA is involved WAS WRITTEN BY THE AFA! This is obvious within ten seconds of looking at the FAQ!
Posted by: phantomreader42 | September 15, 2008 1:23 PM
Well, I am having an interesting email exchange with a person from Catholic group mentioned in AFA's article -- she says that states do have the right to punish 'pernicious' behavior like the 'aggressive homosexual movement' and homosexual behavior, but she thinks incarceration is going too far.
I wonder what punishment is appropriate... no Logo Channel for a month, for every act?
Posted by: TikiHead | September 15, 2008 1:35 PM
Bee, I'm with you on the misnomer. I think that we should start referring to all of the oppressive Christian organizations by the names of oppressive Muslim organizations, and see how they feel about that.
This really is ridiculous. What's nice is that the EU doesn't give a crap about what Christians think, and since this is hardly attacking the Western World (it's obviously a shot at the Muslim world), this is probably going to be pushed through the UN.
Posted by: JStein | September 15, 2008 1:58 PM
ebina2 - if you had written those verses to match the some patriotic hymn or other, it would have been more ironically humorous (okay, it could be better: I'm writing extemporaneously):
Mine eyes have seen the wisdom of equal rights for gays,
They are living in our world just trying to be themselves;
Yet have suffered persecution from the bigoted multitudes;
May their equal rights be saved.
Equal rights for all! Equal rights for all!
Equal rights for all! Fight against the AFA!
I have seen the AFA sitting in their gilded cage,
They preach for simple times-gone-by and family values;
Yet turn to spears of hatred, bigotry and fear;
May the AFA be spurned.
Equal rights for all! Equal rights for all!
Equal rights for all! Fight against the AFA!
Posted by: Umlud | September 15, 2008 2:11 PM
Ummm... Where does that Orange County bit come from? And... Counties don't have mayors. That's cities.
Posted by: Nentuaby | September 15, 2008 2:33 PM
Here's the exchange with her so far -- interesting, and so wrong-headed, on her part (my emails are from cox.net, newest emails first)
Please note that your sarcasm is much appreciated.
Willy-nilly? Abitrary? To you maybe but not to jsut about every society in teh history of the world that has regulated and even criminlalized certain sexual behaviors..pretty willy nilly that!
As to other "behaviors" (sneer quotes just for you!) would be willy-nilly and arbitrary in regulating or criminalizing; your inference that there could be no others, of course, is silly (silly-nilly?). Try prostitution. Or shoplifting. Or cheating on your taxes. Or beastiality. Take your pick. States regulate and criminalize behavior constantly.
I wonder why you bring up religion? I haven't. It tends to be a stick that they left uses quite a lot. "Chrisitan!" Pow! Kapow! Take that! (what a good conversation stopper!)
What could a state do to protect itself from homosexual behavior. Keeping it illegal for a start whcih is the states right to use the law as a teacher.
From: XXXXXXXXXX@cox.net [mailto:XXXXXXXXXX@cox.net]
Sent: Mon 9/15/2008 1:32 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Re: France to Push Homosexual Rights at the UN General Assembly
Interesting. I really don't see how countries can, willy-nilly, have right to regulate behavior that harms nobody. I can't credit your term 'pernicious' in connection to homosexuality -- arbitrary at best. Do you mean it as wicked and evil, or in its newer meaning of harmful, injurious, fatal? What other behaviors might a state 'rightly' call pernicious, and thus exercise its 'rights and responsibilities?' Perhaps being atheist or of a minority faith could count as pernicious (especially in the Christian world-view, where those things, like homosexuality, lead to damnation). There's not a lot more pernicious, I suppose, from a Christian view, than damnable behavior -- so again, does a state have the right/responsibility to sanction such people?
And why would incarceration be going too far? Fines, humiliation?
On Sep 15, 2008, at 10:11 AM, XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX wrote:
Well, countries do have rights since they also have responsibilities. One of their responsibilities is to protect their people from pernicious behavior, among them the aggressive homosexual movement in general and homosexual acts in particular. Though we don't believe in incarceration, like the church we believe in just discrimination against homosexuals. Homosexual behavior is not a right or a right of concience. As to punishment, it iswithin the rights of states to determine (though incaceration seems to go too far).
Best,
XXXXXXXXXX
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
From: XXXXXXXXXX@cox.net
To: XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Mon Sep 15 12:18:49 2008
Subject: Re: France to Push Homosexual Rights at the UN General Assembly
Dear Ms. XXXXXXXXXX,
Excellent to hear -- so really, countries that do incarcerate gays are not really countries one would want to defend, at least in that practice? Countries don't have 'rights,' but individuals do.
It's nice to hear an organization as conservative as your own is still committed to the dignity and cosncience of those who may disagree with your religious precepts.
Regards,
XXXXXXXXXX
On Sep 15, 2008, at 7:40 AM, XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX wrote:
No.
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
----- Original Message -----
From: Hannah XXXXXXXXXX
To: XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Mon Sep 15 10:37:43 2008
Subject: FW: France to Push Homosexual Rights at the UN General Assembly
-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXXX [mailto:XXXXXXXXXX@cox.net]
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 9:59 AM
To: Hannah XXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Re: France to Push Homosexual Rights at the UN General Assembly
Dear Sirs or Madams,
Regarding the article referenced above, is it your position gays
should be incarcerated?
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXX
Posted by: TikiHead | September 15, 2008 2:34 PM
Sorry if that's too long -- basically she's saying countries have the right to set punishments for whatever, because they have since time immemorial.
Same old same old.
Posted by: TikiHead | September 15, 2008 2:40 PM
Ryan Seacrest: [wearing mesh shirt and short shorts]Alright, Umlud! You certainly made that song your own. Lets see what the judges have to say.
Randy: That was a'ight dawg. Ya know? Just a'ight. [shrug]
Paula: Umlud. You. Move. Me. I mean... [slow clap]
Simon: That was the worst piece of crap I've ever heard. I think you should sue your mum for telling you, you could sing.
Ryan Seacrest: I'm sorry Umlud. Your quest to become America's next Gay Idol ends here. Seacrest out... and proud!
Posted by: Abby Normal | September 15, 2008 2:44 PM
Re Nentuaby
1. Mr. mroberts has previously informed us that he lives in Orange Co., Ca.
2. The reference to mayor was a snark. If I knew which town Mr. mroberts lived in, I would refer to him as the mayor of that town (snark). Unfortunately, there are a substantial number of towns in that particular county (e.g. Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Fullerton, La Habra, Yorba Linda, Anaheim, et al).
Posted by: SLC | September 15, 2008 3:00 PM
Posted by: Taz | September 15, 2008 5:04 PM
You mean xians actually want to ban the ritual of 'washing of feet'?
The biblical meaning of this was 'fleshed out' over on Pharyngula today.
Re SLC - Does mroberts reall exist? I thought he was just heddle's arsemuppet. Or was that the other way round?
Posted by: eddie | September 15, 2008 7:06 PM
"I wonder why you bring up religion? I haven't. It tends to be a stick that they left uses quite a lot. "Chrisitan!" Pow! Kapow! Take that! (what a good conversation stopper!)"
I wonder why she brought up the "left?" No one mentioned left or right. It tends to be a stick the right brings up quite a lot. "Liberal! Pow! Kapow! Take that!"
Posted by: Dr X | September 15, 2008 8:07 PM
Years ago I wrote a satirical newletter that used far left rhetoric to promote far right ideology. I called it "The Friends of Decency".
Posted by: Cheddar | September 15, 2008 9:09 PM
My weekend wouldn't have been nearly as good without the sodomy.
Posted by: steve s | September 15, 2008 9:31 PM
President Bush will be speaking at 3:00 PM on Monday, October 6, 2008, at:
The Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza
35 West Fifth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
I know this through the Ashbrook Center in Ashland, OH, which is helping organize the event.
Posted by: Dick | September 15, 2008 11:08 PM
Damn liberuls. Next, they'll ban witch-burning.
Posted by: Paul Murray | September 15, 2008 11:26 PM
Everytime I read an article like this, I think about how cute those fundamentalists are, with their fists in the air, railing against inconsequental things while the world passes them by unconcerned. Then I realize that these fundamentalists are numerous, wealthy and organized. Then I start to freak out.
Posted by: JakeS | September 15, 2008 11:59 PM
How the hell did you get it to go through, Tikihead?
I feel so used. Dammit. I set them some very nice, um, feedback and all I got was errors and disappearing comments :(
(There was no swearing or fake email addresses!)
Damn them. I really want to tell them how much I... love them :(
Posted by: Leni | September 16, 2008 12:32 AM
Leni,
I actually did not deal with AFA -- I followed the link in their article to the original author, which is a Catholic site -- I just hit 'contact' and emailed them.
Here's the link to their article
http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.748/pub_detail.asp
Posted by: TikiHead | September 16, 2008 12:39 AM
SLC - You need to drink a couple cups of coffee, THEN read.
Mrroberts USED to live in Orange Co. CA, now he's up around Seattle WA. - Helpfully DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | September 16, 2008 2:28 AM
slc:
I'm not sure why mroberts hasn't made it onto this thread.
If, as Dingojack says, he's now living in Seattle, WA, he may have just found out about the abortion clinics that are operating in the Seattle middle and high schools or perhaps he's found out about the giant trees that are the focus of worship by all of the pagans out on the peninsula. Those things would, necessarily, take first priority--sanctimony, like charity, begins at home.
I think that it might also be the case that someone here (could have been anyone, even me) said something so nasty, in a gratuitous ad hominem attack, that mroberts left, with hurt feelings. If that is the case I, for one, want to know what that thing was--so that I can cut and paste it into every comment I make to him, when he returns.
Posted by: democommie | September 16, 2008 8:14 AM
Oh that religious right, always good for a morning laugh.
Posted by: Reginald | September 16, 2008 8:28 AM
Re DingoJack
I missed Mr. mroberts' move to Washington State. Of course, one must admit that it's painful to read Mr. mroberts diatribes and stupidities. So I guess we should call him the mayor of King County.
Posted by: SLC | September 16, 2008 10:33 AM
Or maybe Emperor Roberts of the Christian Parallel Kingdom. :) -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | September 16, 2008 10:40 AM
C'mon Abby, you know that would have had a great chance of clinching the Eurovision Song Contest.
Posted by: Umlud | September 16, 2008 10:52 AM
OOOOH. Umlud lands a powerful right hook into Abby's gonads! -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | September 16, 2008 11:04 AM
You say that like it's something to be proud of. Winning the Eurovision Song Contest is like winning at the Special Olympics. You may take home the medal, but at the end of the day you're still riding the short bus. ;-)
Posted by: Abby Normal | September 16, 2008 12:10 PM
Posted by: llewelly | September 16, 2008 12:33 PM
Abby, but at the end of the day, I have a shiny heavy object-on-a-string and a chauffeured ride home. Plus I'm an "inspiration" for next year's aspirants. (And I would have had some face-time on TV.)
Luckily, too, (unless I have a bit of bad luck) no one will remember my "triumph" at the Eurovision, save for a few anoraks who catalogue anything and everything - and for whom my "grand performance" is merely another piece of trivia.
;)
Posted by: Umlud | September 16, 2008 4:31 PM
Perhaps Mrroberts is the Earl of Orange? -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | September 18, 2008 4:37 AM
Abby - On the closing day of the Paralympics too! Classy. ;) DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | September 18, 2008 5:39 AM