Tanstaafl says:

Oops! I’ll bet that Rosie O’Donnell has heard of this!

Truthiocity says:

My god, can’t they see if there are homosexuals in a place like pakistan where they can be killed for it, then they obviously can’t help it and aren’t that way by choice.

Where is that compassion they are always bragging about?

This meeting with homosexuals “was the second most dangerous attack by the U.S. against Pakistan” ?

The answer is clear. The CIA developed a gay ray that would turn men gay. We should take it out of mothballs and if they don’t do what we say we turn all of Pakistan gay. Seems fair. And Fabulous!

BTW that’s not a joke. The CIA and Army really did develop a non violent chemical agent they claimed had that effect.

The fiendishness of it is, in countries where they ristrict the freedom of women, the resulting way the men interact with each other- well, let’s just say they won’t ever really know if they have been hit with the gay ray or not.

Mu hu, ha ha ha!

Tahir says:

I believe that this adventure by the Americans, like all their other adventures on foreign soils, is aimed at further destabilizing Pakistan by bolstering the agenda of a minority whose norms clash with those of the majority.

Ironically, that agenda of that minority is not representative of the sentiments of everyone in the minority and the adventure has thus invariably endangered those who remain distant to those sentiments. I am one such Pakistani and I believe that with their clandestinely motivated sudden advocacy of the so called “gay rights” in Pakistan, the Americans have put the lives of the likes of me at risk. Let me explain how.

I am a 35 year old Muslim native Pakistani, born and bred in Karachi, the largest cosmopolitan city of my country. I have a post graduate degree, score 125 on the IQ scale, work in the entertainment media and draw a sizable income. I am average looking and slightly effeminate in thought and demeanor.

Genetically i am a Klinefelter and am non-straight by sexual orientation. I am perfectly comfortable with the biological and psychological profiles I was born with, associate neither shame nor pride with them, and have never had any desire to change them.

My situation is known to my family, to most of my friends who with the exception of my best friend are all straight, and to a lot of my co-workers. I feel I am well accepted and am psycho-socially well adjusted in life.

Until last year I was in a monogamous relationship that lasted for 10 years. My relationship was known to both our families and to my friends.

I neither fiercely hide my orientation nor advertise it though I am one of the few of my kind in Pakistan who had the courage and audacity to give public interviews to the local press and to the BBC about their personal life while still in my teens.

I tend to advocate and practice responsibility and moderation in all aspects my life including the sexual. I’ve never been sexually promiscuous, never solicited sex, never asked for sexual favors in return for extending benefits professionally, and have never psychological molested the willing or the unwilling in that contest. I’ve never been in a situation where I was harassed on account of my sexuality.

I prefer to be defined through my share of the part one plays in making this world a better place for living. For this reason I do not use the word “gay” or any of its taxonomy to define any aspect of my life. The term to me is a label that disables, puts me in a bracket that alienates me from those around me and is too foreign for my comfort. I have never had the desire to emulate “gay pride” sentiments, wear rainbow colored bandannas and be part of some close-knit gay community. I keep my professional, personal and social lives aligned to the mainstream society and in doing so, have never faced any hindrance from the straight members of the community I move around with.

In my personal opinion and experience, urban Pakistan is a comfortable enough place to live and work for anyone like me who modulates the outward expressions of his personal life according to the norms of society, culture and religious practices of the majority and does not rock the boat of these norms and practices unnecessarily.

My understanding is that Pakistani gay men and women who fiercely advocate “LGBT Rights” belong essentially to the upper socio-economic strata. These “gay” men and women are well placed in life, attend the best educational institutions, secure the best possible jobs, have powerful social networks, wield powerful connections through comrades and sympathizers in politics, civil services, trade and finance, armed forces, showbiz & fashion and the electronic & print media.

Whereas they subscribe to the western liberal mindset, they unfortunately remain engaged in perpetuating aspects only of its sexual promiscuity which is the only agenda they push, using “rights” as the beautiful wrapper around it.

When a minority’s philosophy and practices singularly contradict those of a majority whose moderates tolerate them with a snicker and whose fundamentalists ignore them by looking the other way with a raised brow, a peaceful coexistence between the two comes at the heels of the minority’s “responsibility” to carry itself in a way that does not offend the expressed sensibilities of the majority.

Anyone in the know, knows how the power-wielding “gay” community in Pakistan harbors in its ranks those who walk all over these sensibilities everyday and are yet tolerated by the majority. In fact, surprisingly at times their moderates facilitate them in these efforts. Congregation of gays, the so called “Gay Parties”, in the major metropolitans of Pakistan, where the rich and the famous use their position and power to entice the willing and influence the unwilling to satiate their sexual hunger, are guarded at their gates by uniformed police and para-military forces.

Every now and then, when the same majority hears these gays call for making all such enticing and influencing acceptable socially and legally, their fundamentalists see it as a slap in the face of their religious sensibilities and turns it’s head around to glare at them angrily. Gays go back into their closets and everything gets back to its normative state.

That has been the state of affairs so far. And it has worked well for 60 years. The retaliation of the majority has never gone too far ever. However, this time Americans have put things in a place where they have pitted the straight majority across the gay minority squarely.

The majority has now seen gays in Pakistan getting a clear pat on the back by those who they believe violate the sovereignty of their country everyday, who they see marching straight across into their territory to kill osama bin laden, who murders their civilians everyday in drone attacks, whose ambassadorial staff murders their young ones in cold blood in public and then gets off easy by claiming ambassadorial immunity.

According to the New York Times, in 2009, Ansar Abbasi, a prominent Journalist during his interview with then U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale told her that he hated all Americans. “You should know that we hate all Americans, Ms. McHale,” Abbasi told her. “From the bottom of our souls, we hate you.” According to the New York Times, a pollat that time showed that Mr. Abbasi’s statement mirroeds 25% of the population in Pakistan.

Things have worsened since then. Today, 88 % of Pakistanis have a negative view of the Americans who they see as the perpetrators of anarchy in Pakistan. They shout slogans of hatred against the Americans and burn its flag on the streets alongside effigies of its leaders. Anything and anyone the U.S. condones they hate it with equal vengeance.

And in this environment, the American embassy in Pakistan hosted a party for Gays and Lesbian activists in Pakistan. “I want to be clear: the U.S. Embassy is here to support you and stand by your side every step of the way,” said the US deputy ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Hoagland to the Pakistani gays he invited to his party, a statement the embassy released also to the press.

The retaliation of the right wing fundamentalists this time was no longer an angry look. “Such people are the curse of society and social garbage,” said the retaliatry statement issued by the an Islamic political party. “They don’t deserve to be Muslim or Pakistani, and the support and protection announced by the U.S. administration for them is the worst social and cultural terrorism against Pakistan.”

Just a few months ago, the governor of Punjab was shot dead by his bodyguard who believed that the governor had criticized the Blasphemy Law, the law that proscribes punishment for blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam. Immediately following that murder, Sherry Rehman, the former Minister for Information had to withdraw her proposed amendments to the law and had to leave the country and seek refuge abroad.

For the first time in my life, following the latest US adventure,I am fearful for my life. The boat that i had managed to sail effortlessly so far, has been rocked by those whose philosophy i had carefully distanced from. Their irresponsibility has come knocking on my door and i can no longer rest assured that my responsible behavior will continue to gives me immunity against victimization.

I for one am not willing to die for the 10% whose licentiousness now has he seal of approval of those the 80% hate. I’m sure the Americans will continue to add fuel to this fire to incinerate its way to anarchy in Pakistan. I am equally sure the licentious will be relentless in their pursuit of American approval to help open new avenues of debauchery for them.

My only hope is that the when the fundamentalists come witch hunting for the likes of me, I am able to convince them that their enemy is not by any means my friend.

Tahir says:

@Rom … for the record I do not hate the American people. It is a ridiculous notion to hate people of a whole continent en mass.

Hatred of the Pakistani nation for the American Government is documented in surveys of the latter’s own newspapers. That hatred, its reasons and dynamics was never the prime objective of my post. My point was, that given the present environment in Pakistan, the sudden and open official support of the American government puts huge question mark across its motives and puts the life of the likes of me in danger.

There is a lot said everyday in the world media about actions and intentions of the strong of the world when they feed its poor or bomb its militants. Being a minority myself I’m not in a position to indulge in the luxury of a balanced approach. I just don’t wish to end up being the victim of those who might see me as the friend of their enemy.