Fridae

you know until England and Europe got involved being homosexual was never on the list of crimes in so many countries of the world. These so called puritarian wankers, who dressed up as priests and raped young men have destroyed so much for so many gay men, for something that wasn't illegal until Europe started colonising the world.

I think you're right hunter!

These people are inhumane mongrels of the lowest sort of life. This is what religion gets you - a mob enabled by a superiority complex that will shred human dignity without a thought. I am so disgusted by these savages. I have no remorse or pity to see the worst retaliation possible befall these "morally righteous" criminals. Fuck Islam and fuck Africa.

so sickening !!! Cant believe this is happening !!!!

@1; True to a great extent I think, both through the imposition of versions of the Indian Penal code throughout Asia, but also perhaps down to the zeal of Christian missionaries, past and present in places such as Africa, where the American evangelists have been stirring it up more recently, though some of them are at least now trying to get the homophobic genie back in the bottle.

But what about the Middle East, and the expansion of Islam through conquest, it'd be interesting to know how and when it became illegal in those countries too, though not all of them have made it illegal.

The Middle East has a homophobic tradition stretching back to at least the Old Testament /Leviticus (about 6000 yrs ago) - and Islam is no more elightened than the older Jewish writings.
Sadly, even the more benign religions like Budhhism offer neither support for gay people nor condemnation of their assaillants.
(Catholocism is of course not benign.)
In his letter about the Los Angeles visit of the previous pope, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) said gay people must expect to be brutalized for our loving acts - he had no condemnation for those who attack us.

I read this article on MSNBC, and I can't even put into words the sadness and anger and really, the total moral outrage I felt. My opinion is that this isn't the FAULT of religion, in its strictest sense. However, it does give these lunatics a very easy platform to justify their actions -- they're using a pretend, imaginary god as a pretext to do what human beings do all the time -- ostracize and demean that which is different.

I find it appalling and it just fuels my disdain for organized religion, Islam and Christianity chief among them. An absolutely gutting article for me to read.

creepy article and creepy practice, but it doesn't reflect true spirituality or love found in most religions, just another extremist group fueled by hate and misunderstandings, a few bad apples

more creepy articles from Sylvia Tan, where does she get this things? everyday scouring the web for the worst articles ever to again protray gay men in a bad light and associate the cause with extremist religious kooks, really morbid to read over my morning coffee and totally out of touch with her younger audience

i just read the leading cause of gay (and straight) men 20 to 30 years old is still traffic accidents so fasten your seat belts, followed by suicide

www.trevorproject.com

Lagunabro said:
"...everyday scouring the web for the worst articles ever to again protray gay men in a bad light and associate the cause with extremist religious kooks, really morbid to read over my morning coffee and totally out of touch with her younger audience

"i just read the leading cause of gay (and straight) men 20 to 30 years old is still traffic accidents so fasten your seat belts, followed by suicide."

I guess the pain for these people must be very real; something that the rest of fortunate enough to be relatively more empowered cannot perceive from the relative comfort of our own situations.

These people are trapped in hellish societies and have no easy way out of even their own neighborhoods, unlike for some of us who could choose to fly off to Phuket for a full-body massage to calm our stressed nerves and recover from the trauma created by having skimmed through this article over a cup of coffee.

Try as I may, I am not able to visualise that guy's HIV positive boyfriend as looking any happier or more reassured with a seat belt strapped across his bed.

Also, clearly suicide is an outcome of something else; it is an effect arising from another cause, and not a cause of death in itself. It's not like a person gets up in the morning and wonders: should I have a shower, or should I commit suicide?".

Incidents like the one reported in this article add to the already deep sense of alienation from society among gay people; to the feeling of unworthiness, which robs life of meaning, builds up into depression, and makes them commit suicide. Obviously it makes no sense to separate the cause from the effect and then state that the effect is the cause. The question should be, "Why did they want to commit suicide?".

sad...

Lagunabro, as morbid as these articles are, we have to thank Sylvia Tan for bringing these to our attention. These are hideous acts happening to gay people (or any human being for that matter). In order to address these issues (even though we may not be able to take immediate action), we first need to be aware. We cannot help what we don't know.

According to the reports coming out from Africa, I think it's irresponsible to make a sweeping comment that it's just a "few bad apples". Remember Rwanda? It usually starts from a "few bad apples" which eventually decay the minds of the rest into irrational acts of cruelty.

motherfucker! =(

it is not simply about the american evangelists etc. The fact is, in a continent as poor and unfair as Africa, political elites welcome the kind of hatred ideology towards specific minorities, and allow its expansion and even promote it. It gives the population something to attack/despise, other than the ones who keep making their lives miserable. And thanks to the fucking world we live in, even democratic countries can do nothing about it, but that's a long and complex story.

They need education. Perhaps, Esperanto language can help them to acquire better reading skills and understand the world.

Of course it's all very well to blame Europeans and Christianity (or indeed Islam) for this tragedy in Senegal and for others throughout Africa. Howevwer, the reality is that there is plenty of homophobia throughout the world that is not based on religion - the people that bash gay people in America or Australia (for example) may well have never been into a church, or prayed to any deity, in their lives. Moreover, the homophobia sweeping across Africa isn't being imposed by the British or any other white faces. This scourge is being imposed by Africans on Africans.

The reason human life is so cheap in Africa today, I believe, is because that is the value that Africans themselves place on it. This is exemplified by the Africans that think what they did in Senegal was appropriate.

RIP Madieye ... prayers and good thoughts only

xoxoxo
Yong

western homosexuals must take some responsibility for the plight of gays in thirdworld countries, the negative images coming out of the west unfortunately does have an impact on how homosexuals globally are perceived, the inetrnet does some good but then again it has largely been infiltrated by skanky 'queer' activists and they encourage homosexuals every where to emulate their scungy beliefs and behaviour, personally I think first how my behaviour would impact on others and behave accordingly and I am happy to say I have contributed to help modify many a 'homophobes' view of ALL gay men by having known me, often 'what is termed 'the gay life style' is not how all of us live but it is the often ugly underbelly that is all to often too openly visual and those images are transported every where by sensationalised media reporting and the internet, Sydney shambolic once a yr Mardis Gras is a case in point along with American so called 'pride' events, there really is good reason for western homosexual men in particular to begin cleaning up their public acts and beginning a more positive PR campaign that will help assist our brothers and sisters else where

@1; on a closer look, the homophobic laws in Senegal have nothing to do with colonialism. In fact homosexuality was made illegal there in the 1966 Penal Code, 6 years AFTER independence from France (which legalised homosexuality over 200 years ago).

It looks like there was some minimal level of tolerance of the gay community there, but which has disappeared recently with the spread of religious fundamentalism, predominantly Islamic. Also, it has nothing to do with what Atzlan_oz suggests in his moralising about the behaviour of (other) gays, rather than their violent oppressors. - In fact it is the expression of stable unions between gays by a couple of local gay marriage ceremonies that has been used to whip up violence against gays in Senegal. Casual, secretive sex in the bushes is unlikely to bother them so much. Heterosexual behaviour seems to be far more promiscuous. The AIDs epidemic in Africa is very predominantly a heterosexual one. The western style, nuclear, monogamous family is, according to gayUganda, not the tradition in Africa, that is something that Western evangelists are trying to introduce, while simultaneously claiming that that is the "traditional" family there, and that gays are a threat to it.