The first thing I want to say about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University is this: I hope I never get introduced like he did. While I believe Lee Bollinger, the school's president, had the right to frame the event as he did, I was shocked how harsh and inhospitable his opening remarks were. Watch the video or read the transcript... it's over-the-top.

Regarding Ahmadinejad's ridiculously ignorant claim about gay men and lesbians, I think Juan Cole's writing says it best:

"... Ahmadinejad's bigotted statement that there are no homosexuals in Iran derived from his rightwing religious commitments. What he said is very serious. He erased gays right out of existence. The ultimate in denying people their rights is to deny they even exist (the nonexistent obviously have no rights.) There could be a debate over whether the gay lifestyle exists in Muslim countries, as a matter of identity politics, of course, but Ahmadinejad is not that sophisticated. He was saying that all Iranians are straight. Of course, gays are punished very severely in Iran, in reality.

It would be nice for the US Right to have us forget that they pull the Ahmadinejad act with regard to gays every day. Denying gays the right to marry is a way of erasing them from civil society. It is a way of denying that they really love one another, as straights do. It is a way of asserting that they do not exist.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the US military (so unlike the one followed by many NATO allies) is also a way of erasing gays. They don't exist unless they themselves press the case that they exist. In order to remain in their jobs, they are forced to erase themselves by their silence. The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy is a way of pretending that there are no gays in the US military. For if it could be proven that anyone is gay, he is immediately expelled. It is just as silly as what Ahmadinejad said, and just as pernicious. That policy is supported by the entire American Right, which is no better than Ahmadinejad in this regard."

Both Iran and the United States share blame in trying to erase gay men and lesbians from society. We're just a little (though not a lot) more subtle about it.

I've thus far resisted temptation to comment on the Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) sex scandal, but if you consider it in the context of Ted Haggard, Mark Foley, Jim West, Bob Allen and the like, the hypocrisy of the closeted conservatives speaks for itself.

Instead, I'd like to share a couple of positive stories in the news the past couple of days that show change is in the air. First, after a ninth grader heard homophobic comments and threats for wearing a pink polo shirt to school, classmates in Nova Scotia rallied to his support, turning the school into "a sea of pink" in making an anti-bullying statement.

Second is a story about an amazing change of heart by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who surprised many in an emotional statement of last-minute support for same-sex marriage. The full video is well worth watching; in short, Sanders explained "I just could not bring myself to tell an entire group of people in our community they were less important, less worthy, or less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage than anyone else, simply because of their sexual orientation." 

Acceptance, affirmation, and activism... these are good things.