Gay rights being reversed in China -- part of an international trend

[Jingthing]

China is so big and so important, so this is big news.

 

China's LGBTQ community is fading from rainbow to gray - CNN

 

But overall, the global news is pretty bad. Most of Africa not getting any better. Putin's Russia still Putin's Russia. Bolsanaro in Brazil. Repressive measures in Poland and Hungary. A backlash in the USA particularly around transgender issues and still no chance of national anti-discrimination legislation being passed for employment and housing.

 

(Note: I intentionally just said gay instead of the alphabet soup thing because I've noticed that most every topic here devolves into silly posts about the alphabet soup thing rather than the actual subject.)

Edited July 10, 2021 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Speaking of anti-gay attitudes in Putin's Russia, this is funny:

 

 

[Scott]

I think the world is making a strong swing to the right.  I suspect there are a lot of reasons but the pandemic has a lot to do with it.   Pretty much every major disease outbreak results in social upheaval and that can rise to the level of political action as well.  

 

[Denim]

43 minutes ago, Scott said:

I think the world is making a strong swing to the right.

 

I think BLM and the whole woke thing is a move to the left rather than the right. Taking the knee etc and political correctness are more left leaning then right.

 

Only China and other authoritarian regimes are , ironically ,moving to the right.

 

No worries in Thailand though. Won't wash here.

[Scott]

3 minutes ago, Denim said:

 

I think BLM and the whole woke thing is a move to the left rather than the right. Taking the knee etc and political correctness are more left leaning then right.

 

Only China and other authoritarian regimes are , ironically ,moving to the right.

 

No worries in Thailand though. Won't wash here.

The reaction to BLM, voter's rights, LBGTQ have resulted in a legislature that is definitely right, not left.  

But this isn't about US politics.   It's international.   Cuba is having demonstrations, Myanmar is in a bit of a mess.   Thailand may well have problems ahead.   There are a lot of unhappy people.  I suspect in Thailand it won't affect LBGTQ folks, but it won't help them either.  

 

[bojo]

On 7/10/2021 at 10:18 PM, Jingthing said:

China is so big and so important, so this is big news

Big news worldwide to those that it matters most to for sure, but maybe not to others.............

[onthemoon]

3 hours ago, Scott said:

I think the world is making a strong swing to the right.  I suspect there are a lot of reasons but the pandemic has a lot to do with it.   Pretty much every major disease outbreak results in social upheaval and that can rise to the level of political action as well.  

 

I don't get it: What does the pandemic have to do with it?

[Scott]

12 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

I don't get it: What does the pandemic have to do with it?

Perhaps, I am confusing things.  If so, I am sorry but if you look at pandemics (and epidemics) throughout history, they have had an unsettling affect on people.   The very ability to stay alive is threatened in an unfamiliar way.   When people experience insecurity and danger, they respond in unpredictable ways.  One of the major consequences is blaming -- this was blamed on China, then the Delta variant was blamed on India.   That's the basic jist.  

 

When hate raises it's head, gays are invariably caught in the cross hairs.  

 

[onthemoon]

2 minutes ago, Scott said:

Perhaps, I am confusing things.  If so, I am sorry but if you look at pandemics (and epidemics) throughout history, they have had an unsettling affect on people.   The very ability to stay alive is threatened in an unfamiliar way.   When people experience insecurity and danger, they respond in unpredictable ways.  One of the major consequences is blaming -- this was blamed on China, then the Delta variant was blamed on India.   That's the basic jist.  

 

When hate raises it's head, gays are invariably caught in the cross hairs.  

I have not (yet) heard of the gay / LGBT community being blamed for Covid. Anything is possible, I guess.

In history, a crisis, especially a political crisis involving the military (aka war), led to anti-gay attitudes, because gays don't produce children that can become soldiers. Today, many gays are nurses (so the prejudice says), and nurses and doctors are the heroes in the fight against the pandemic.

It's a simplification, and there are other reasons that work against acceptance, but I don't think the pandemic is part of it.

[Scott]

You are missing the point.   The pandemic is causing fear and suspicion and a rise in hate in general.   Asians outside of Asia have certainly been targeted.   Unfortunately, when hate starts surfacing it's like hitting a hornet's nest.   Anti-semetism is on the rise and well document, anti-immigrant and the LGBTQ is an easy target for haters.

 

[onthemoon]

3 minutes ago, Scott said:

You are missing the point.   The pandemic is causing fear and suspicion and a rise in hate in general.   Asians outside of Asia have certainly been targeted.   Unfortunately, when hate starts surfacing it's like hitting a hornet's nest.   Anti-semetism is on the rise and well document, anti-immigrant and the LGBTQ is an easy target for haters.

I see that Asian are being hated, as a powerful man called it the Chinese virus. I am not seeing LGBT people being targetted as an effect of the pandemic, but maybe I just haven't read in the newspapers what is going on in your country.

I do not believe that fear of the unknown in general, such as with this pandemic, will cause fear (and therefore hate) against LGBT people. While you could conceive a causality (the phenomenon of LGBT is another "unknown" to a large part of the general population), I have not heard of any of my gay or lesbian friends bringing this together in their experience. However, YMMV.

[Scott]

13 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

I see that Asian are being hated, as a powerful man called it the Chinese virus. I am not seeing LGBT people being targetted as an effect of the pandemic, but maybe I just haven't read in the newspapers what is going on in your country.

I do not believe that fear of the unknown in general, such as with this pandemic, will cause fear (and therefore hate) against LGBT people. While you could conceive a causality (the phenomenon of LGBT is another "unknown" to a large part of the general population), I have not heard of any of my gay or lesbian friends bringing this together in their experience. However, YMMV.

It's not a direct cause of anti-LGTBQ actions.   LGTBQ issues have been caught up in the general situation.  

 

[clivebaxter]

How are gay rights getting on in the Islamic world?

Edited July 15, 2021 by clivebaxter

[Jingthing]

33 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

How are gay rights getting on in the Islamic world?

Poorly.