GLBTQ activism faces multitudinous challenges within the international community, not least of which is the difficult-to-walk line between respecting local cultures, and wanting to adopt a universal standard of equality. As a self identified gay man, and a first generation American from Ghana, I understand very personally the difficulty of rectifying sexuality and culture. While I do not have any concrete solutions for the problems of what I will term 'international gay bashing', I do think that a healthy discussion about the circumstances that same gendered loving people face globally, and the model for types of responses would be useful in coming to some sort of conclusion about the issue…or at least make me feel better about it.
 

This blog was prompted by much internal introspection and consultation with other activists, but perhaps most importantly by of the unspeakable news I read about the newest form of creative persecution directed at the gay men of Iraq. I read here, that people suspected of being gay in Iraq have been disowned by their families and tribes, hunted down by militias, have had their anuses glued shut and then fed medicine that will give them diarrhea. That sort of inhumanity defies words, but it is certainly not the only instances of violence coming out of Iraq recently, or many other countries, namely in sub-Saharan Africa.

A few weeks ago some bodies were unearthed that were tagged with hate-filled messages referring to their sexuality in Iraq. In Burundi, the government has recently legalized a measure that makes homosexuality punished by prison time and fines. Recent reports out of Senegal are that youth activists (shock) are publicly calling for the lynching of gays. Finally, In Uganda, where being accused of being a member of the LGBTQ community is not looked favorably upon and is generally taken to be a death sentence, the faces and names of gay people are being published in newspapers. Indeed, while we in the United States seem to be charging towards marriage equality, many parts of the world remain…let’s just say ‘inhospitable’ to our friends, allies, and community.