Gay-Bashing Muslims Are 'Innocent,' Of Course

Who is responsible for the disgusting attack in Amsterdam that left writer Chris Crain looking like he got run over by a Mack truck? Crain, who is gay and was walking hand in hand with his boyfriend when the assault occurred, says he was spat upon, then severely beaten and kicked by a group of young immigrants with Moroccan features and accents.

But some left-leaning apologists can't bring themselves to point the finger at the thugs who rained merciless blows on Crain's face and body. They'd rather accuse, um — well, anybody but the actual perps.

Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Program at the Human Rights Watch, cited a number of recent indicators that religious intolerance is on the rise, including the selection of an arch-conservative new pope, claims by American evangelist Pat Robertson that liberal judges are more of a threat to the United States than terrorism, and an Italian nominee to the European Commission last fall who called homosexuality a "sin." "Fundamentalism isn't just an Islamic phenomenon — it's global," Long said.

Yes, when someone gets beaten up five thousand miles from U.S. shores for somehow offending the attacker's Muslim beliefs, why wouldn't it be Pat Robertson's fault? And surely you've heard of those much-feared Catholic goon squads, wearing tall pointy hats and wielding sharpened crucifixes as weapons, who violently terrorize gay men holding hands? What, you haven't? Oh. Come to think of it, neither have I.

Long believes the attack against Crain may be as much about current tensions over immigration in Dutch society as it is about homophobia. ... About a million people living in Holland identify as Muslims, most of them immigrants from Morocco and Turkey. Many of them view homosexuality with disdain and are, in turn, treated with disdain by the ethnic Dutch. "There's still an extraordinary degree of racism in Dutch society," Long said. "Gays often become the victims of this when immigrants retaliate for the inequities that they have to suffer."

So when Muslims in Holland turn violent, it's really the fault of the native Dutch for not mollycoddling these poor, downtrodden creatures even more. I see. Just as it was the fault of the indigenous Dutch when Moroccan firebrand Mohammed Bouyeri slaughtered writer and filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam half a year ago; according to some, that heinous murder was the result of the Dutch not inviting enough minorities to their birthday parties. Seriously.

Comments

[John Palubiski]

I hope Mr Crain will be alright. The probleme with HRW is that they think according to what can only be described as 'subtle racist catagories'. Those pre-set definitions cannot admit to, or acknowledge, Islamic chauvinisn. Religious bigots must necessariy be Christian and no individual with even a slightly darker complexion could ever be classed as racist.

No thought required! But hey! Great productivity bonuses for indignation!

Will they change their tune when it's their turn to be attacked? To judge by the way things are going in Holland, we'll no doubt have the answer in short order!

Idiots!

[John Palubiski]

One more thing: The Blade article you've linked to, Rogier, has done the unthinkable by drawing an equivalence between Islamic fundamentalism and Christian "fundamentalism".

There is no comparison. This is a standard rhetorical slight-of-hand that is most counter-productive because it tends to normalise what's happened ( gay bashing par-for-the-course in any religion) and it detracts from the identity of the perpetrators by placing them in a just-another wackey-religious-nut catagory. They're all the same, you see.

They are NOT the same.

Let me put it this way: Rome has gay bars aplenty. Saudi Arabia has none. THAT is a difference, NOT an equivalence.

Do you think the folks at The Blade see that?

Or would it be too uncomfortable for them to admitit?

[J&T]

JP wrote: "The Blade article you've linked to, Rogier, has done the unthinkable by drawing an equivalence between Islamic fundamentalism and Christian "fundamentalism"

In the context of confronting homophobia in the Netherlands they are the same. The young Dutch/Moroccan goons on the streets of Amsterdam should be held responsible for their own actions. The lack of gay bars in Saudi Arabia is hardly their fault.

It's possible the guys who beat up Crain were thugs who happened to be Moroccan. What pisses me off is when Islamic clerics broadcast their hateful sermons from the mosque and are rewarded with invites to multi-cultural events.

[John Palubiski]

No there are NOT the same! What you've said J&T is completely false. Now I'm no bible thumper, but I challenge you to find even a SINGLE passage in The New Testament in which Christ exhorts his followers to kill homosexuals.

On the other hand even a brief rundown of Hadith and Koranic scripture will net you plenty.

But then what would urbaine cosmopolitan secular elites know about either theology, J&T?

On the gay-bar statement you've missed the point entirely! The almost complete absence of gay establishments, not just in Saudi Arabia, but all over the Islamic world should tell us something.

The routine murder of Gays and Lesbians in many majority Islamic countries should tell us something, as well.

As a gay person I happen to know which side my bread is buttered on. There are NOT fundamentalisms (plural), but rather only ONE fundamentalism that represents a true danger. Yet in our cowadice and laziness, in our desire to avoid unpleasant truths, we prefer to dissimulate it among various multiple fundamentalisms in order to delude ourselves and to facilite the denial.

C'est de la merde!

One last question: of WHAT possible use is it to gay people to mention ad nauseum that Pope Benedict was a member( against his will, by the way) of the Hitler Youth?

Like are the fucking gay bars in Amsterdam anticipating an imminent assault by enraged murderous Jesuits, or what?

If we are not allowed to identify the enemy, than I can only presume that more of us will subjected to similar attacks.

60's are over. 20th century is over.

But for some it just never ends!

[steveorr]

I was Gay bashed in 1994 in N.Y.C. You can play the Gay or Straight or religious right card if you want to but to me Gay bashings (with more than 1 person) are more like mini-lynch mobs. They are a group of cowards who get really ballsy and action oriented because they are in a crowd--a mass--also (like "the masses") ignorance reigns supreme. Crowds, especially hyped up ones can do crazy stupid things...call it the "herding-hunting tribal instinct" your basic caveman (men) instinct--warrier/army instint--whatever. But of course every faggot MUST know how to fight back! AND FIGHT BACK DIRTY! More dirty than the enemy--it's the only way to win and to live without constant fear. We must know we are as creative at defending ourselves as we are at dissing Paris Hilton, accessorizing straight men or getting off (alone or with other lovers)!

[rom]

Gay-bashing in Amsterdam? Who would have thought this?Today it is the gay and lesbian community to be attacked by muslims thugs and to be threatened by muslim clerics (imam of Rotterdam went on trial for this), tomorrow it'll be every one else who does not fit into ther hainous, medieval beliefs. I have never been gay-bashed so far, maybe because i live in a country that has only 2% muslims within its borders.I get angry when i read things like what happened to Mr Crain, and i wonder what awaits our gay and lesbian community, because of the fact that Europe^s muslim population is growing and growing, and growing........!

[John]

Two years on, and the loony arguing is still with us. A few days ago Radio Netherlands let the world know: it's not only society's fault, but especially Ayaan Hirsi Ali's:

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/ned070727

Harassment of Jewish people in big Dutch cities is on the rise too, which should come as no surprise.