Lately I have often wondered at the dysfunction of the GWB administration.  Many areas of dysfunction might be singled out by reporters, progressive groups, Democratic legislators, pundits of all stripes, and even die-hard old school Republican Conservatives.  But I have most specifically addressed one aspect of the GWB dysfunction— although in general terms — before in a post called Rage:

My rage comes from reading ultrapatriotic right-wing blogs, the words of Freedom Thumpers, who mince over every suggestion that America does anything but bring Freedom to the world while ignoring the great disservice America renders to its gay and lesbian citizens — or who, in fact, wail over and bemoan the “threat” of homosexuality.

My rage comes from witnessing the lies and violence committed in the name of “Freedom” by those who know nothing of freedom, the vehemence and patriotic zeal of those who would export what they cannot — or, will not — bring to their own nation.

There are cheap political points to be scored in the argument, for either the Social Left or Social Right; but I have to wonder if the Bush administration has crippled itself by strongly supporting or even advocating anti-gay policies while trumpeting a new dawn for freedom in the Middle East.  Our president has alienated a whole group of Americans who could be great allies in the war on tyranny.  Perhaps he does not realize that there actually are queer homocons; perhaps GWB must secure the support of bigots in America whose fear of gay men and gay women can be translated into fear of “ragheads” and “sand niggers” — can xenophobia translate into better connectivity and cooperation, with all the benefits they may bring?

But what about photos such as this photo, of two young gays being hanged in Iran:



Or what about Doug Ireland’s repeated call for gays to wake up and smell the shit that is Islamist Sharia law?

I’m angry at our Brokebrain gay leaders for not making international solidarity with persecuted gays abroad part of their agenda, and thus part of our national gay agenda. And doing so requires a helluva lot more than just issuing an occasional press release. It requires, yes, real activism, organizing and education. The next time you think of sending a check to HRC or NGLTF, tell them you’re sick at heart at their indifference to this global gay suffering. Demand that they create an international desk, and assign at least one full-time staff person to monitor attacks on gay people in other countries and educate gay Americans about these threats to human freedom abroad.

Demand that these groups immediately take up the most urgent case—the ongoing and massive entrapment, persecution, torture, and execution of gays in the Islamic Republic of Iran, on which their silence has been deafening. Demand they give Iran full-throated attention, through demonstrations—like the ones European gay organizations have been holding repeatedly all across the Continent—public forums, and their own publications. Demand they provide concrete and material help for the penniless gay Iranian refugees from torture who are living precariously from day to day, under constant threat of deportation back to certain persecution for how and whom they love.

But American gays have been ejected from GWB’s vision for a democratic and peaceful Middle East, and most know it.  Indeed, GWB has “broke their brains.”  Here is the thing to be considered: Doug Ireland is an adamant progressive who will attack the GWB administration at the drop of a hat, but he also recognizes the tyranny and barbarity of Sharia law. Many gay activists in America choose to ignore the threat because they are so focused on their own concerns, whether it is the legalization of gay marriage or freedom from discrimination in the workplace.  Consider.  Iranian gays must worry about being hanged.

More recently, Doug Ireland has highlighted the fate of 26 gays in the United Arab Emirates.  26 men arrested at a “gay wedding” are to be imprisoned for five years each.  Previously, reports had suggested that the men would undergo “hormone treatments” to cure them of homosexuality.  Does the so-called gay agenda include freedom for gays in the Middle East, or only for those in America?

The question for privileged U.S. gays is, will our national gay institutions — like HRC and NGLTF — maintain the same discrete silence about these 26 unjustly imprisoned men, the latest victims of Sharia law’s brutal punishments for homosexuality, as they’ve observed about persecution of gays in Iran, Poland, the Baltic countries, Nigeria, Nepal and more? Or will our national gay groups join the global fight for gay freedom, liberation, and the basic human right to love whom and how they wish, according to the dictates of their natures? [Ireland]

An incredible disjunction perverts American policy.  We can see the confusion in the GWB administration when policy makers become discombobulated when discussing the election of Hamas in the Palestinian territories — an extremist organization that is quite homophobic by the way:

In this tumultuous dispute, there is plenty of room for debate about the control of land, whether or not Israeli responses to terror are too aggressive, and what the final political settlement should entail. But let there be no mistake: In Israel, gays enjoy the freedoms and tolerance of a liberal, Western democracy. In the disputed territories run by the Palestinian Authority, gays are routinely harassed, tortured and murdered.

A 2002 article in The New Republic documented the dire predicament of several gay Palestinians. A 21-year-old recalled that he “was forced to stand in sewage water up to his neck, his head covered by a sack filled with feces, and then he was thrown into a dark cell infested with insects and other creatures he could feel but not see.” One man fled to Tel Aviv, only to be captured by the Palestinian police upon his return to Nablus, a city in the West Bank.

“They put him in a pit,” a friend of the man recalled. “It was the fast of Ramadan, and they decided to make him fast the whole month but without any break at night. They denied him food and water until he died in that hole.” Tel Aviv, Israel’s flourishing gay hub, has become for Palestinian gays what Miami is for Cubans: a refuge of freedom from tyranny.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, co-founder of Hamas, has recently vocalized the Hamas view: “Are these the laws for which the Palestinian street is waiting? For us to give rights to homosexuals and to lesbians, a minority of perverts and the mentally and morally sick?”

You see, partial democracy is not democracy.  When members of a state are singled out for exemption from the democratic process — or indeed, are killed to nullify any potential vote — the so-called democracy is a lie.  But the GWB administration does not focus on the liberty of individuals; the GWB administration has put its faith in a small handful of abstract processes which it thinks define “democracy,” or in a handful of instruments of the democratic state.  A declaration of equal representation and equal protection for the individuals within the state would seriously threaten the U.S. administration’s policies concerning gays within our own country; best not do that. Thus, the ME policy suffers.

There is the dysfunction.  Gays in America might answer Bush’s call and work tirelessly for liberty in the Middle East if only he would clarify his own concept of liberty and realize that we are here for his support.  We have always wanted liberty.  But we’re queer.  We want liberty, but we also want the approval of the authorities that be.*  Unfortunately, this means that major GLBT organizations in America are not likely to support GWB’s policies for democracy in the ME until we are called into action; and, because we are queer, GWB will continue to shy away from asking for our support.  There is the dysfunction.

Or perhaps we will vote for a Democrat who understands these things, come 2008.

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*Note: This is likely to be a controversial statement.  But consider how fervently gay activists work for the legalization of so many gay-friendly issues.  Having been long shut out, and refusing to return to the closet, we recognize the power of the state and seek its approval: For a state, legalization is approval.