Editor,
I am writing in response to the letter by Richard Garcia published in the Daily Lobo on Tuesday. I am disappointed Garcia is joining the crowds that continue to criticize the president of Iran based on a few quotes that are floating in the media.
According to the press, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said something to the effect that Iran doesn't have homosexuals. Ahmadinejad has been president of Iran for three years. He cannot be held responsible for Iranian laws or acts. In addition, anybody with a minimal knowledge of Iran would know that the president is not the supreme leader and cannot make any final decisions on national matters. I, for one, have no idea what he exactly meant - whether there are no homosexuals or that they were all killed or that they are not in public. But like in all cases with the president of Iran, nobody cares to speculate, research or actually ask him what he meant. They are too busy bashing him. As for Garcia's statement that as a homosexual he is glad that he's not in Iran - and his closing statement of God bless America - I almost jumped out of my seat. Homosexuals in this country are second-class citizens. They are not allowed to marry, a right that no other minority group is denied and one that is linked to health insurance, child custody and a host of other benefits. The U.S. president supports a bill that would make a constitutional amendment to that affect.
It's bad enough that homosexuals are stigmatized in this country, but the hatred against them is at an institutional level. Iranian law is based on Islam, and according to those in power here, U.S. law should be based on Christianity, a religion in which homosexuality is forbidden.
As for the Holocaust, why is Garcia and the media of this country so concerned with whether the president of Iran believes in a historical event that happened a century ago all the way in Europe? I wonder how many people in this country believe that a systematic genocide is being carried out against the Palestinian people or that the U.S. government is killing innocent civilians in Iraq?
"God bless America?" Garcia, enjoy your status as a second-class citizen. Meanwhile, instead of focusing on the lack of rights in Iran, you might want to watch yours slip away right here at home.
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Shoshana Handel
Daily Lobo reader
