That Article About The Outrage For The Gays Killed by ISIS
This piece, titled ‘Where Is The Outrage For Gays Killed By ISIS?’ and originally published on out.com, was written by Michael Lucas, the creator of Lucas Entertainment, one of the largest studios producing all-male erotica.
He asks: where are the celebrities, LGBT leaders, and progressive politicians who decried Dolce & Gabbana’s slights, yet remain silent over ISIS murders of gay men in the name of Islam?
Read below.
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The backlash against Dolce and Gabbana last week was immediate, brutal, and covered by news outlets from The New York Times to The Advocate to E! Online.
The gay fashion icons had made some decidedly unfashionable remarks about same sex marriage and gay parenting, including “The only family is the traditional one,” along with a reference to “synthetic” children.
The negative response from both the LGBT community and straight people was, I think, quite appropriate. But it only deepened my frustration over the relatively modest amount of news coverage and the surprising absence of protest over an issue of far greater importance to gays, lesbians, and all people of good will: the executions of men suspected of being gay by Islamic extremists in Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
In recent months, ISIS has released photos and videos of its masked members dragging these men to the rooftops of tall buildings and pushing them off, to the apparent delight of crowds below. In several cases, the hapless victims reportedly survived the fall, only to be stoned to death by onlookers.
The murders, which have taken place in ISIS strongholds such as Mosul and Raqqa, are often preceded by a jihadi denouncing the Koran-prohibited “crime” of sodomy. And they’re accompanied by cries of the Islamic phrase “Allahu akbar,” “God is great.”
Killing gays by making them plunge off high buildings is just the newest method used by Muslim radicals; other, more traditional means of murder are also in full force. Photos published on social media this month show the beheadings of two men for alleged homosexuality in the Nineveh province of Iraq, after a man described by a local official as an “Islamic State religious judge” read an indictment. Others have reportedly been crucified, and some mercilessly mutilated.
I ask you to envision a similar, horrific scenario in a very different location. Imagine if priests were tossing gay men off the top of St. Peter’s Basilica into the square below, with jubilant crowds filling Vatican City yelling “Praise be to Jesus Christ” (or the equivalent in Latin or Italian).
It is considered brave to bash the pope or a cardinal, but when anyone does the same of Muslim clerics, that critic is called a racist, an Islamophobe, or prejudiced.
Wouldn’t the Vatican scenario I described above be the headline on every American newspaper, the lead story on every newscast, the top trending topic on Twitter? Would not every LGBT leader, every human rights activist, every liberal and right-thinking person in the U.S. denounce the atrocities, as well as the religion that gave rise to such hateful actions? Would the streets of American cities not fill with protest marches and angry demonstrations?
Yet radical Muslims somehow seem to get a pass. Intensive news coverage and progressive protests apparently get detained at the border of Islam. Why is there this atrocious double standard?
There was worldwide revulsion when ISIS burned to death the caged Jordanian pilot, and decapitated Western journalists. But where is the outrage when Muslims publicly murder Muslim men for being gay, or stone to death Muslim women for adultery or for having been raped?
It’s been called “the soft bigotry of low expectations,” this notion that Muslims can’t be held to the same standards of behavior as those of other faiths. Liberal voices often compare conservative Christians or Jews with radical Muslims. But have longtime anti-gay preacher Pat Robertson or Judaism’s Lubavitcher Rebbe ever advocated actual violence against gay “sinners”?
Of course not. Political correctness, however, forces us to tiptoe around the truth that Islamists today are slaughtering people for homosexuality, blasphemy, and adultery, not to mention for sketching pictures of Muhammad.
Some courageous voices in both the liberal and Muslim communities have spoken out against the recent barbarism.
The insightful books of Wafa Sultan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, two personal heroes of mine, grace my bookshelves. Both women secularized so they cannot even be counted as Islamic voices and in fact they are no longer welcome in the Muslim community and have bodyguards when they make public appearances. Where are the celebrities, LGBT leaders, and progressive politicians who decry the slightest hint of homophobia, yet remain silent when gay men descend to their deaths at the hands of thugs who say they are acting in the name of Islam?
In speaking recently about Muslim terrorism, President Obama, who cannot even bring himself to utter the phrase “Islamic extremism,” said, “Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”
The president entirely misses the point. Christianity and Judaism have continued to evolve over the centuries. In the last few days alone, the Presbyterian Church became the largest Protestant group to formally recognize gay marriage. And a Reform rabbi became the first openly lesbian president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Much of Islam, however, is like a mountain that has never moved during the thousand four hundred of years of its existence.
Seventy years ago, the average American citizen might have been able to say, despite sporadic news reports, that he or she was not aware of the evil that was taking place inside Nazi concentration camps. Today, none of us can make that claim about the evil that is radical Islam. Smartphones in the very hands of the killers show us their savagery, and we excuse or ignore it at our own peril.
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22 Comments
Chuck
March 23, 04:37Oppression Olympics? Next abeg.
Chuck
March 23, 04:52This porn producer should know that jihadi groups in the Middle East thrive on getting Americans to misplace the blame for their acts of terror. ISIS wants you to publish crap about how muslims are back ward and ISIS wants you to start attacking muslims. Muslims who aren’t jihadists then feel threatened and more of them support ISIS. This helps ISIS push its Millenarian ideology – Islam versus the West to the death.
I don’t expect him to give an educated opinion, but I don’t expect his shitty claims to be disseminated as valid either. I hope KDians read widely on this topic.
A specific rebuttal : People don’t march against ISIS’s killing of gays because we already know ISIS is a totalitarian/ repressive regime, and because our marches won’t change their minds. We march against D&G because they are bound by the same social mores that we are, and protests can change their behavior. Your march against ISIS won’t save any gays – it might even motivate more killings so that ISIS can prove how it stands against the West.
In sum, please please contextualize posts like this with the proper frame work so KDians who don’t analyze arguments don’t take this as truth or valid.
Mandy
March 23, 04:58Chuck, may I borrow this your comment? It’s incredibly illuminating.
King Mufasa
March 23, 09:13“I don’t expect him to give an educated opinion, but I don’t expect his shitty claims to be disseminated as valid either” << why?? Because he's a porn director.
Even though I agree with you on some points, I still have this overwhelming urge to bitchslap you.
Max
March 23, 10:16Where have you been Papa simba?,
Chuck
March 23, 11:09@King Mufasa, have you read any of Michael Lucas’s other articles or followed his activism for in support of the apartheid state of Israel? Read before you jump to conclusions.
Gad
March 23, 12:53I’m ashamed of this comment. Terrorist activities thrive because of people’s conspiracy of silence. What you are saying is not surprising to me though because double dealing is human nature. I’m sure that if there was outcry against the evil act of mudering gays, ISIS will lose some sympathy in quarters where they previously have fans. Terrorists are mindful of public outcry. That’s why they embark on propaganda.Thats why they care about the reportage of the press. ISIS killed 12 coptic Christians and it provoked Egypt a Muslim nation to bombard their strongholds across Lybya, another sovereign nation. If a Muslim nation can flout international diplomacy because of 12 Xtians not minding the consequences,I wonder if we have excuse for our conspiracy of silence against gay men. This is our testimony. We affirm that ours and the lives of our kind are not worth an effort.
Chuck
March 23, 14:31@Gad, where does ISIS have “fans” that are unaware of its treatment of homosexuals? To the larger point: terrorists thrive on public outcry – that is how they win, by provoking countries to react to their activities without considering strategic goals. ISIS wants you all to start marching against Islam and Arabs etc, rather than take measures steps towards its defeat. Look at the First World War. Gavrilo Princip, an anti – Austrian terorrist, murdered the Archduke of Austria, provoking Austria into declaring war against Serbia. By the end of the war the Austrian empire had crumbled, because the Austrians allowed themselves to be provoked by a terrorist. As for Egypt, those Coptic Christians were Egyptians. It is no sourprise that Egypt attacked ISIS in Libya, since it had the support of oneof the Libyan factions opposed to ISIS ( there is a civil war going on in Libya with several factions claiming authority over the country). There is no conspiracy of silence about ISIS’s treatment of homosexuals and Christians – it’s on the news everyday. Finally, you should read more about terrorism – your opinions are half baked and improperly considered. The evidence and context behind your claims is missing.
Gad
March 23, 15:05I wont press it.
KyrxxX
March 23, 06:22Islam is a religion of peace biko! Abi?
Am just gonna shut up now nd let the ppl with “illuminating” comments speak.
Goodmorning!
MacArdry
March 23, 09:07“People don’t march against ISIS’s killing of gays because we already know ISIS is a totalitarian/repressive regime, and because our
marches won’t change their minds. We
march against D&G because they are
bound by the same social mores that we
are, and protests can change their
behavior. Your march against ISIS won’t
save any gays – it might even motivate
more killings so that ISIS can prove how
it stands against the West.”
This message is endorsed by me.
sinnex
March 23, 10:21The world is afraid o reprisal attacks…
Gad
March 23, 12:58My brother damn reprisal attacks. Its all hypocrisy. Silent but active connivance. If you know the behind the scene acts that surround these terror acts you will shudder.
Khaleesi
March 23, 11:09I feel and understand his pain. I was outraged and horrified when i watched the news coverage of ISIS murdering gays, it could so easily have been any of us. Sadly, i really dont know how much the world can do about this … ISIS is a very sinister and violent terror group without a drop of mercy in their hearts.
simba
March 23, 12:08Max dear.. am no Papa oooo.. am still in my very late 20s.. I read all and just couldn’t comment anyfin intelligent now.. my state of mind and work is crazy.. and thanks for checking on me Max.. warm hugs dear
Teflondon
March 23, 15:53Sadly no one checks on me.. It’s a cruel cruel world we live in!
simba
March 23, 12:24Max…my opinion…..
To be sincere, I dint read the whole article.. and it’s somebody tht held the phone for me and even typing my dictation /comment..my hands are busy… Islam is homophobic, isis is Islam with intent to create a sharia caliphate. their laws are simple, kill all Homosexuals. These guys are babaric,they kill pregnant women and rape kids, so grammar and diplomacy don’t get to them. It’s Nkari in igbo language, meaning they can do what they wanna do and get away with it.. its only a fool tht hears de drum of war and remains, an anticipated war does not kill a cripple. Therefore me and u, and fellow Homosexuals, in Isis occupied countries are at risk but we are surviving by burying our rainbow flags.. as we have not yet, killed de hydra headed Isis,may all homo run or bury their rainbow flags.. better alive than dead with right…
trystham
March 23, 18:06Well, I don’t see the writer carrying guns fighting on the LGBT’s behalf. Frankly, this issue can only be discussed when both parties are sane. Sadly, Islam or its extremities in these countries is NOT sane.
They still av loads of issues to deal with especially Women and Children rights. If they can address those 1st, there is hope yet for LGBT rights.Until then…
wondabuoy
March 31, 17:23Muslims … the “insane ones”… I have one on Facebook as a “friend”. He is always lonely and looking for love; yet lambasting any person as fag, homo, etc. He hacked one of his friends’ account and is using it as a bait, and threatens the account-owner to pay a ransom. He is gay too. Hmm. Too much drama around this guy. I just dislike him to a great extent.
One “honest” of them, said that most of them that have vendetta for gays are actually gays but more like are fighting a war of blame on themselves. I couldn’t understand.
Gad
April 01, 01:58God gives us opportunities to build alliances and bridges of love but we often misuse them and instead fan embers of hatred and discord which little by little leads to calamity. Its not cool to refer to Muslims as insane.
wondabuoy
April 01, 10:43No, @Gad, It’s not all of them I referred to as insane. I was referring to the insane percentage of them. sorry the statement was ambiguous.
Gad
April 01, 14:26Noted