And I quote:
I do believe I got my you-know-what handed to me there. Read the rest of Zakia's fiery response in the comment section of my first official foray into the murky waters of legislating Tanzanian sexuality. And by all means, tell us what you really think :)
"I think there is actually more nuance to this story than you have included. First, I believe the British have only threatened to remove aid where gay and lesbians are actively discriminate against, not where gay marriage is illegal. My understanding is that the British already actively enforce an anti-discrimination policy for aid recipients, so this is not actually a change of policy except to make gay rights explict.
Second, the US has not threatened to remove aid, but rather to establish programs that promote gay rights as human rights. As the Americans say, it's the carot or the stick (in this case, the stick is the British and the American is the carrot). Also, I encourage you to do some research before you write: same sex marriage is only legal in a few locations in the United States. there is no way that same-sex marriages are the condition being set.
I find all of the discussion about this these days, including your post, unfortunate. When will we stop arguing that it is ok to discriminate some people?"
I do believe I got my you-know-what handed to me there. Read the rest of Zakia's fiery response in the comment section of my first official foray into the murky waters of legislating Tanzanian sexuality. And by all means, tell us what you really think :)
Hi. I agree with Zakia's point, and made something of the same points myself in my two posts on the topic (http://bottomupthinking.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/homosexuality-and-development-aid/ and http://bottomupthinking.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/its-our-money/). That all said, your original post raised the very valid point, as others elsewhere have also done, that Cameron's statement quite possibly set back the cause of gays in Tanzania and other developing countries where this is a live issue. Thus I think both views are simultaneously right. In conclusion, I think that Cameron probably chose the wrong approach in going public, but then he's a politician, responding primarily to domestic political considerations, and probably we should expect nothing different. MJ
ReplyDelete@Bottom Up Thinking - I fully agree that Cameron took a very bad approach. The worst, perhaps. Thanks for sharing links to your blog.
ReplyDelete@Elsie - I commented already on the original post, but thanks for encouraging such interesting discussions.
@Bottomupthinking: nice pieces of writing on the subject, and a good perspective. I agree with your points even if they tilt further to the right than I do. I think there's a good debate hidden in there about aid, like Zakia brought up. Is it a right? And if it isn't, then what the hell is it?
ReplyDelete@Zakia: thanks for participating :) I want to hear from you whether you think that aid is a right, and how things are going for you trying to rep the Rainbow by being the go-to person for familial and other intel on non-heterosexuality. Well, I hope.