Religious Right Leader Wants to Educate Away the Gay

September 26, 2012 by 38 Comments

A religious right leader delivered a message on the Piers Morgan show that should surprise no one, saying that gay people don’t deserve equal rights because being gay “ceases procreation” and that the educational system should be reformed to make sure no one becomes gay. Did I mention that the religious right leader in question is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

httpv://youtu.be/xwYPjpVDfWI

Filed Under: Equality, Wingnuttia 38 Comments
About Ed Brayton

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

  • http://www.gregory-gadow.net Gregory in Seattle

    So Roman Catholic priests and religious, Buddhists monks and anyone else who choses celibacy do not deserve equal rights under the law?

    And if it is a matter of education, how in the world could I have been subjected to a lifetime of an aggressively heterosexual education and still turn out gay?

  • hexidecima

    nice to see that people like Ahmadinejad, Pope Benny (‘cepting priests of course), Ralph Reed, and all of those other wannabee theocrats would claim that anyone who doesn’t breed deserves no rights.

    What they really mean of course is *anyone* disagreeing with them deserve no rights at all.

  • raven

    saying that gay people don’t deserve equal rights because being gay “ceases procreation”

    Which it doesn’t. Plenty of gay people have families.

    In authoritarian environments, males frequently get married to women for appearances sake (or to keep from being persecuted or killed). Karl Rove’s father was…gay.

    It can be hard on the woman though.

    A letter from a woman who found out her husband is gay « The Arab …

    thearabobserver. wordpress.com/…/a-letter-from-a-woman-who-foun…

    12 Feb 2012 – A letter from a woman who found out her husband is gay … What husband would ask his wife to sleep with other men if she wants? ….. There are not enough words to describe the devastation this has had on my life, or the …

    This happens a lot in the Mormon cult.

  • slc1

    According to this clown, homosexuality doesn’t exist in Iran.

  • http://www.ranum.com Marcus Ranum

    If education works, why does the government of Iran apply the death penalty for homosexuality? Oh, can it be because education doesn’t work?

    (Hint: try tolerance. Tolerance works.)

  • ottod

    Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Michele Bachmann, Bradlee Dean: Sometimes, it’s just hard to keep them straight.

  • http://howlandbolton.com richardelguru

    Of course one could argue that in an overcrowded world anything that “ceases procreation” is a good thing, and we probably need more of it.

  • http://howlandbolton.com richardelguru

    Also: am I alone in thinking that this guy is introducing himself by saying “I’m a dinner jacket”?

  • TGAP Dad

    He’s an idiot and a kook. We already knew that.

  • cjcolucci

    Here’s my prediction: we won’t be running out of heterosexuals any time soon, and they’ll continue to breed. So will some homosexuals, by the way. I’d be happy to introduce Ahmadenijad to a lovely lesbian couple down the street from me that has reproduced twice, with the help of sperm donations from a gay man.

    If he — or anyone else — doubts my prediction, I’ll take bets.

  • Larry

    Close your eyes and he could be anybody from the xtian taliban.

  • http://www.ranum.com Marcus Ranum

    Close your eyes and he could be anybody from the xtian taliban.

    Why not? The abrahamic religions all come from the same root and all worship the same imaginary god. You wouldn’t expect them to innovate over something like homophobia…

  • bmiller

    The interesting thing is how this idiot defines things so rigidly. Would most people who engage in same-sex activities in Iran even define themselves as “gay” per se?

    We all need to be careful of rigidly defined status. Sexuality is more fluid and flexible that some people (like the Iranian Idiot) think

  • http://www.themindisaterriblething.com shripathikamath

    This is why our media is inept. Why don’t they ask Santorum or Paul Ryan if he agrees with Ahmadinejad in this respect, and whether he can work with him now that they have some common ground. Common ground that he does not share with Gary Johnson or Obama.

  • http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com WMDKitty (Always growing and learning)

    richardelguru — *snorfle* Does kinda sound like he’s saying that, ne?

    =====

    Re: Ahmanutjob — This guy, he scares me. Between the deliberate ignorance, the arrogance, the homophobia, and the fact that they’re thisclose to producing a nuclear bomb… *shudders*

  • slc1

    This guy is not some ignorant uneducated slob. He has a degree in Transportation Engineering.

  • http://www.facebook.com/using.reason usingreason

    Wait, didn’t he claim there was no gay in Iran; that Iran was some magical land that kept the gay out? I suspect he was probably cupping some hot dudes ass while he was saying that, not figuratively.

  • dingojack

    WMD – Where were you Nov 2000 to Feb 2009?*

    Dingo

    —–

    * not just close, but actual finger on the actual button

  • http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com WMDKitty (Always growing and learning)

    @dingojack — Ah, fuck. You mean they already have one? *whimper*

  • F

    Yes, yes. This is “education” to Them.

  • d cwilson

    Fundjelicals complaining about Shariah law is like Coke drinkers saying that Pepsi is bad for you.

  • Pierce R. Butler

    To be fair: What Ahmedinejad(‘s interpreter) said, during a 2007 Q&A at Columbia University, was, “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

    He may well have meant only that Iran doesn’t have US-style vocal out-of-the-closet activist gays, which few fact-checkers would deny.

  • Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven

    Religious Right Leader Wants to Educate

    *spittake*

    *reads the rest* oh. >.>

  • anubisprime

    It is indeed beyond passing strange that the fundagelicals complain loud and vociferous about, yet have so much fear and angst over a foreign power that worships a different sky fairy, yet their characters are identical.

    it would seem there is a little jealousy in the mix here, the repression and woo fixated culture of one forming an inspiration and deepest desire of the other.

    Even their bitterly twisted female & teh ghey hatreds & paranoias are precisely the same.

    I do but believe the fundagelicals protesteth to much…that is their deepest and most fervent craving for a society based on patriarchy and a supernatural bogieman.

    The fundagelical motto should indeed be a Robbie Burns homily…

    “Oh the gift that God would give us to see ourselves as others see us.”

    We see them for exactly as the repressed and sexually dysfunctional, intellectually bankrupt, ignorant bigots they are, but they have not a clue, they do however recognize those traits in others, that is after-all how they coalesce like moths around the flame of ‘cretinous dumbfucks for jebus’ in the first place.

    They are just extremely confused, and obviously hate what they themselves are, sad really, their blindness about themselves is self induced, that is a measure of their internal fear & inadequacy and that is apparently all consuming, cognitive dissonance does the rest.

  • martinc

    The truly strange thing about this is that in the one sexual orientation issue that might squick the American religious right even more than homosexuality, Iran is a world leader:

    “As of 2008, Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand.”

    from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexuality_in_Iran

    It’s an interesting read … quite how a howlingly full-metal-burqah Islamic nation decided that boys can be girls as long as they get the chop is one of those hard to answer questions. And then you find that the main instigator and inspiration for the program was Ayatollah Khomeini. Yes, THAT Ayatollah Khomeini.

    Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

  • mikee

    just discovered this website written by a fellow New Zealander

    http://www.mygenes.co.nz/

    How embarrassing to live in the same country as him

  • StevoR

    don’t deserve equal rights because being gay “ceases procreation”

    I wonder if “Imadinnerjacket” who mentioned the environmental crisis in his UN speech (yeah I caught parts of it) realises the major part overpopulation plays in that then?

    Fewer humans having kids the better at present frankly.

    PS. No offence intended to Audley Darkhart of Darkfetus fame & any other pharngula & FTB bloggers who happen to be / trying to be preggas / large in family! (Nymn spelling?)

  • http://polrant@blogspot.com democommie

    One of the first things I noticed about IdreamofJeanie’sdad when he first opened his piehole on the international scene was how easy it would be for Jurgen Prochnow to play the role in the biopic (Morgan Freeman could do Kofi Annan)with no makeup and a few days without any sleep.

    IdreamofJeanie’sdad is not speaking for the Supreme Leader (or whatever the fuck they’re calling him this week) OR the Iranian people. He’s like the crazy uncle that everybody wants to NOT invite to family events but has a little secret fear that they may be in his slippers some day.

    His finger is not, nor has it ever been, afaia, on the conventional war “GO” button, nevermind the Nu’q’Lar button. slc1 may have better intel on this but I don’t think Ahole is in any genuine command position.

    “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Michele Bachmann, Bradlee Dean: Sometimes, it’s just hard to keep them straight.”

    It’s actually quite simple. One of them is a theocratic religious fundamentalist and totally fucking insane.

    “Sexuality is more fluid and flexible that some people (like the Iranian Idiot) think”

    Let me know when you’re having your next party.

  • http://thouwinterwind.wordpress.com Winterwind

    martinc:

    Gender identity isn’t the same as sexual orientation. Transgender people can be straight, gay, bisexual etc.

    You’re right in that the Iranian regime is supportive of sex reassignment for people they deem transgender, which seems very progressive compared to other religious regimes. The problem is that they’re forcing some gay people to undergo sex reassignment when they really don’t want or need to.

  • http://thouwinterwind.wordpress.com Winterwind

    Also, why do people always mock Mr Ahmadinejad’s name? He’s a bad person because he’s a homophobic genocidal dictator, not because his name isn’t Anglo-Saxon.

  • davidhart

    StevoR@27: “I wonder if “Imadinnerjacket” ”

    Come on; if you’re going to mock his name, at least make “Ah’m-a-doin’-jihad” or some such:-)

  • StevoR

    @ ^ davidhart : hey, if its good enough for David Letterman, its good enough for me! 😉

    @30. Winterwind :

    He’s a bad person because he’s a homophobic, Holocaust denying, Bomb-seeking, genocidal dictator..

    FIFY – & why not mock his name?

    @28.democommie :

    “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Michele Bachmann, Bradlee Dean: Sometimes, it’s just hard to keep them straight.”

    It’s actually quite simple. One of them is a theocratic religious fundamentalist and totally fucking insane.

    Um, yeah, maybe.

    Now who is which? Seems to apply to all three of them to me – tho’ I’m not that familiar with Bradlee Dean.

  • http://polrant@blogspot.com democommie

    “Now who is which? Seems to apply to all three of them to me –”

    SteveR:

    That would depend on which side of the Abrahamic divide one lives on. For those of us who have no dog, sacred cow or other deity to pay obesiance to, they all look equally FITS*.

    * Fucked In The Skull

    As for making fun of Ahmadinejad’s name; when you act like a fucking cartoon character, well, there ya go.

  • slc1

    Re democommie @ #28

    His finger is not, nor has it ever been, afaia, on the conventional war “GO” button, nevermind the Nu’q’Lar button. slc1 may have better intel on this but I don’t think Ahole is in any genuine command position.

    It is my information that this is true. The man calling the shots in Iran is the Ayatollah Khamenei. However, this must be said about Ahmadinejad. Unlike the ayatollahs who don’t know their collective asses from a hole in the ground, Ahmadinejad actually has a secular education, having graduated from college with a degree in transportation engineering. This just goes to show that having a legitimate degree is no guarantee that the recipient is a sensible person (Mitt Romney anyone)

  • lofgren

    So poor sex education is why there are so many gay people in the US? Man, this must put the religious right in quite the quandary.

  • dingojack

    Ah Stevo & SLC, nothing that half a dozen 15 Mt nukes couldn’t fix, right?

    That’ll sort out those (brown) genocidal maniacs.

    “Kill ’em and let (our white) god sort ’em out”.

    :) Dingo

  • bmiller

    democommie: pics please?

    Note I am not excusing the regressive and crazy “Pray Away the Gay movement” or anything like that.

    I’m just noting that rigid, politicized “identities” don’t always reflect how people live their lives or see themselves. Often due to oppressive religious mindsets or cultures… of course. I recommend various posts here: He is an excellent writerwho is somewhat skeptical about some of the claims. (He also dislikes Barack Obama, so you will probably be offended here)

    http://thisislikesogay.blogspot.com/

    One interesting anal;ogy in the orientation as a choice argument is that religion is a choice. :)

  • davem

    Also: am I alone in thinking that this guy is introducing himself by saying “I’m a dinner jacket”?

    I always get ‘Armoured Dinner Jacket’, which I feel is more appropriate too. As to mocking him, WTF? I’ll get silly names out of anyone I please, thankyou.