Comments on Saudi Morality Police Arrest 21 Gay Men

I say we invade and secure their oil supply!

Oh wait, we tried that already and it didn't work so well. Darn.

Fuck it, let's mail 'em some porn.

And let's send them a couple cases of beer too. Porn and beer - it makes everyone more civilized.

Huh? I'd give some credence to that hyperbole if it was Huckabeee, but it's ol Johnny Boy that's the nominee - an old Rockefeller Ford type Republican who will appoint moderates to the Supremes. Gay rights is here to stay, so stop with the fear mongering.

What is a "Rest House"?

Like a "Rest Area"?

Maybe fund an agency to get those folks moved to somewhere civilized.

As morally reprehensible as this is, it's a bit hard for us to throw stones at the ones who own much of the deed to our mega-debt (same goes for screaming at the Chinese about their human rights violations). We've mortgaged the damned country.

But, yes, the Saudis ought to be ashamed for doing such horrible things.

And for all the screaming about Roe v. Wade at the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) writhing with Hillarage, it's good to remind all those "Hillary is my gurrrl" queers they need to step up and vote for Obama if they'd like to hold onto Lawrence v. Texas.

I have an idea!

Let's stop letting them send anti-US and anti-gay "religious" Wahhabi texts to mosques in the USA!

That would work.

Small cells of oppressed gay men (assuming women are not allowed into gov. occupations) in Saudi Arabia could infiltrate the commission and provide coded intelligence to dummy websites or text message phone trees set up and maintained by american gay and lesbians that non-infiltrators could access without fear of reprisal.
Perhaps such infiltrators could find out who the commission's informers were and commit counter intelligence by selectively outing some of the ostensibly straight leaders in the commission.

In other words, support a real, decentralized resistance movement.

Dan, nice idea. However, whatever we send them will be lost in the billions of dollars we send to them for our oil addiction. I'm guessing they'll laugh all the way to the bank, as the saying goes.

Actually, they'll probably privately enjoy the porn, like most folks who are infuriated publicly by the idea of what gets other people off. Let the Saudi royal family buy their own porn with petrodollars!

I look at this as just one more reason why we should support energy independence and reduce or eliminate our dependence on burning fossil fuels - especially ones we can't produce in the US! Heck, if gay rights isn't enough, what about the cost, the environment, national security...

@3:
For the record, McCain has already stated his intention to appoint 'strict constructionists' to the (two) Supreme Court seats that will (likely) open up in the next presidential term.

And he's publicly declared himself hostile to the very concept of a right to privacy:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/05/26/080526taco_talk_toobin

Agreed, @9. In a more perfect world (or union), we'd throw every available dime into a Manhattan Project/Apollo Program of R&D for solar/wind/geothermal/tidal power and use domestic oil production for whatever we needed for plastics (though it would be nice to ween ourselves off that depenence as well).

Realize too that these men when found guilty (which is probably just a formality) will likely face severe penalties. But first you'll have the torture to extract the guilty plea.

Best thing homos in this country can do is not to go there. All countries in the middle east are extremely violent to LGBT persons (even "moderate" places like Dubai). When I have to travel to that part of the world, I do not take my partner with me. I also don't fly airlines like Emirates. These countries don't want us there, and we shouldn't spend any more money with them than what is necessary.

@12 - sadly, Dave is right @12. Even if one of my high school classmates lives in Dubai (but she's straight and loves wearing giant floral floppy hats to polo and horse races ...)

Dan, I respect you as a fellow progressive, a feminist, fair-minded, open-hearted person. Your condemnation of "Bitter Hillary Clinton supporters," as potentially damaging to the future of the Supreme Court, however, makes me sad. I suggest this article for you: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/06/23/pumas/index.html

I, too, wanted a woman--Hillary Clinton, to be exact--in the White House. But I speak for myself when I say I would NEVER vote against my reproductive rights. Please stop reinforcing the stereotype of "bitter women" on such a progressive blog, in hopes that when the opportunity arises to finally vote a woman into the White House, we will not be held back by damaging stereotypes. Until then, my heart goes out to the oppressed in Saudi Arabia, and my vote will go to lessen the oppression in the US--which is to say, NOT to John McCain.

I was just thinking about how backward this country was for arresting prostitutes. You would think, in a supposedly enlightened country as ours, we would understand that it's a natural part of adult sexuality. But no, not here. We are just as fucked up as the Saudis. You could protest any Arab business deals here in the U.S. to your congressman and make sure your investments don't benefit them in any way.

Or you could just move to Saudi Arabia, Vince.

Dan, there's a typo in the second-to-last sentence in your post. "One" should read "one hundred"? "One thousand"?

Vince, you gave me an idea:
cut off the visting Saudi businessmen's access to American prostitutes?

@12 Israel is a huge exception to your mideast rule- gays can marry and the overwhelming majority of israeli (die-hard religious nut-cases not withstanding) could give a fuck about what consenting people do behind closed doors

+ israeli guys are HOT!

I say we get a post office box in one of those off-shore corporate countries, send scores of gay porn to it, and have it forwarded to random addresses in Saudia Arabia. It will create great suspicion and fear, plus cause a few boners.

@19 That might be workable, especially if it was sent on burned DVDs with no labels or anything to identify it as porn.

Cheaper, too.

In many middle eastern countries adolescents males / young men have sex with other young men and nothing is said about it. It is seen as a compromise while they wait to be married.

The older / stronger participant is usually insertive; as to be receptive by choice is considered deviant. This is because women are receptive, and women are in inferior; and to be like a woman by a choice is evidence of a sick mind.

The only ways to improve human rights in Saudi Arabia are the ways it was improved in the west. Through lots of fighting in legislature, the court and in the media.

So don't spend the money on porn. Give it to a legal defence fund. Give it to a women's rights group. Contribute to a fund that dubs good documentaries and entertainment with positive gay characters into Arabic, and then disseminates them widely.

Porn will only be seen as an example of the decaying west.