When I first reported that “WASHINGTON BLADE” Executive Editor Chris Crain was bashed in Amsterdam, a number of readers commented that I had failed to indicate that the assailants were “Morroccan-looking.” One reader noted that the “Dutch problem with tolerance is not a Dutch problem…it is a Muslim problem.” It looks like he may be right.
Another reader just e-mailed me this article from the London Times which reports “a disturbing rise of gay-bashing, as conservative Islamic culture clashes with Dutch liberalism.” “[I]ncreasingly fearful of holding hands in public,” many gays are “moving to rural areas for safety.”
Even as such harassment increases, some, including a number of gay activists, dismiss the problem. The “TIMES” reports:
Gay campaigners are outraged that sensitivity about intolerance towards Muslims is blinding people to intolerance from Muslims. Scott Long, the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender programme at Human Rights Watch, the human rights group, caused outrage when he declared: “Gays often become the victims of this when immigrants retaliate for the inequalities they have to suffer.”
Mr Crain, who has been deluged with e-mails of support from Dutch citizens, thundered back: “Long’s ‘blame the society’ political correctness is a distraction from the very real cultural clashes happening in Holland and elsewhere.”
He’s right. We can’t excuse violent acts merely because they were perpetrated by minorities.
Hello & Best Wishes – I need to vent after reading this….I am sorry that this editorial will be LONG, but I like to write! (Smile!)
A little about myself to start with….I am an American gay male, who loves all cultures, people, animals, nature, and the earthly community. I am interested in absolutely everything. I believe in a loving, caring, merciful God as well and am active in my church and my community.
I usually don’t say things like what I am about to say and I don’t wish to sound bigoted. However, I think that if the Muslims in Amsterdam are having a problem with the Gay community (and the Gay community was in Amsterdam FIRST and for a MUCH LONGER TIME), then the Muslims should GO BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM! ESPECIALLY if they are lashing out against openly gay people with violence! That INFURIATES me!!!!
I have travelled to different countries, and one thing stands true….when I go to ANOTHER COUNTRY….whether emigrating or visiting….it is up to ME to ACCOMODATE MYSELF to THEIR WAYS, learn to speak THEIR language, and adapt to THEIR culture….and THAT’S not some abstract philosophical idea….THAT’S simple common courtesy!
If I go to another nation, it is NOT UP TO ME TO TRY TO PUSH MY WAYS, BELIEFS, AND VIEWS ON THOSE WHO LIVE THERE! I don’t have to believe everything they believe or see eye-to-eye with them on everything, but I DO have to be accepting and tolerant of differences….ESPECIALLY if I am a newcomer! We should be accepting and tolerant of difference anyway!And using violence is NEVER acceptable anyway!
Let’s put the shoe on the other foot for a minute….can you imagine the outrage if gay couples by the thousands started to immigrate into Islamic countries and attack religious Muslims outside their Mosques? Nevermind the outrage….they’d be jailed and or executed instantly!
If someone believes that it is wrong for two people of the same gender to have a relationship or to be in love with each other, then that is FINE….that is THEIR belief….the same way that we, as gay people, believe that our gay loving relationships are perfectly natural and beautiful, and, if we believe in a Higher Power, God given and blessed. That’s a fact of life….people will never agree on everything….that’s just the nature of our human-ness. However, none of us has the right to become violent simply because we don’t agree or see eye-to-eye.
I don’t agree with the Conservative or Evangelical Christians in my country, but I don’t feel violence toward them. And my last neighborhood was heavily populated by Islamic immigrants and they, as a whole, were LOVELY people….they might have held the belief that same sex relations were not right, but I never experienced any negativity from them….they always greeted me nicely, I played soccer with their kids sometimes, and on Christian holidays they wished me and my family the best. So the newcomers in Amsterdam should get their acts together and get a clue or SHIP OUT!!!!
Oh well, I guess I have ranted and raved enough….thank you for reading……I just had to spill it all out. God Bless and best wishes to all. PEACE on earth to ALL CREATURES!!!!
Sincerely, Kev (AKA Tazmanian Devil)