Universalizing Gay(Human) Rights

In another reversal of Bush administration's irrational, reactionary, bigoted and downright criminal policies, the Obama administration has pledged to sign the UN Declaration for decriminalization of homosexuality. The declaration has been signed by some 66 countries, including all Western countries plus Australia, Japan, and Canada. Many countries (including most Muslim countries) oppose it. The resolution was drafted under the sponsorship of France and the Netherlands out of concern that human rights of gays throughout the world are being savagely violated on a daily basis given the fact that homosexuality is considered a crime in 77 countries.

In its characteristically bigoted Texan-style manner, the Bushies argued that had the US signed the declaration it would have exposed itself to violating its own laws, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, by mandating down the road the right of gays to marry. Even though I believe the latter to be an essential human right--guaranteed by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights--the argument of the Bush administration was simply bullshit since the resolution has no legal enforcement provisions. So, what is the point?

Well consider the fact that the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights has no provisions to enforce them per se. The UN does not have a universal army which can go into a country and prevent human rights abuses (they tried to do that in Bosnia with UN blue helmets and we know how that turned out). But, the power of the UN Assembly is in its ownership of a global podium, a global soapbox from which to put the spotlight on certain issues, such as, in this case, murder, abuse, and discrimination of millions of homosexuals throughout the world. These resolutions can definitely shame and eventually force governments into doing the right thing. Let's remember that the UN's resolutions against Serbia eventually morphed into Milosevic dying in a small prison cell meeting a destiny much better than he truly deserved, but still paying for his crimes.

The resolution will have a powerful impact on Eastern European countries which are trying to join the EU as well as those E.European countries which are already members but which have a history of homophobic violence. As I do not like to criticize anyone before looking into my own backyard, let's take Bosnia-Herzegovina for example, my homeland.

Gay rights in Bosnia remain an underground movement with even heterosexual allies like myself afraid to come out in public and defend their gay fellow citizens from discrimination and abuse. As the public sphere in Bosnia matures and expands, the gay movement has attempted to come out of the closet by organizing a first Queer Festival in Sarajevo between 24 and 28 September 2008. The festival was to include exhibitions, performances, public discussions, movie screenings, all with the purpose of ending gay discrimination and ensuring equality before the law. In the prelude to the festival, the Amnesty International issued a warning to the Bosnian authorities that they were obligated by international law to ensure the safety of the participants of the festival. In the prelude to the festival, there were reports of the Bosnian media fanning the homophobic hysteria. So, how did the festival go? Not so well to say the least.

At the opening of the festival on 25 September 2008 some 70 men, sporting long Wahabbi-style beards and carrying signs "Allahu Ekber" and "Kill the Gays" attacked the gathered festival participants outside of the Academy of Fine Arts, beating them savagely. There were even threats that "fags" would be burned alive because they were violating the beginning of the Muslim month of Ramadan. Despite the alarming warnings from the Amnesty International, the city authorities failed to prevent the Wahabbi thugs from unleashing violence on Bosnia's fragile democracy. To their credit, though, the police intervened and some seven police officers were injured some seriously. The organizers were forced to move the festival underground.

Now, even though I have enormous problems with any kind of religion, Wahabbism that has been imported into Bosnia during the darkest hours of the war is particularly infuriating to me. This is not the first time these extremist fucks have disrupted the fragile civil society in the country. In a small remote village in central Bosnia they had even established a school (just for boys) the Wahhabi style despite instructions from the authorities not to do so, violating the state education laws.

In my mind, the behavior of these groups (and they are very well organized by some leading "religious scholars") has earned them a one-way ticket to an Islamic country of their choice, a procedure I would follow with religious fanatics of all creeds. But the more worrisome thing is the fact that while their violence might have been abhorrent to many Bosnians I know for a fact that homophobia is widespread in Bosnia and that many supported such attacks.

Thus, the UN Declaration on decriminalizing homosexuality has the potential to open up public discussions in societies like Bosnia, which is desperately trying to join the EU. Given the fact that all members of the EU, as far as I know, have expressed support for the Declaration, the latter can also give many straight Bosnians the courage to come out in defense of their gay friends. In short, by universalizing gay rights, the UN can help make them simply human rights and strip the term of its potentially unhelpful exoticism.