By Alex Vaughn
Conservative religious activists in Pakistan have condemned and protested a gay rights event last week sponsored by the US embassy in Islamabad. Over 75 people attended the meeting, which was co-hosted by the Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies, the embassy said. The crowd included U.S. Embassy officials, military representatives, foreign diplomats and leaders of Pakistani LGBT advocacy groups.
The Islamic officials demanded the Pakistani government arrest the participants under the country’s laws and said the meeting was “tantamount to stabbing the Muslim world in the chest.” At the “gay pride” event at the embassy, the US deputy ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Hoagland, said Washington was committed to gay rights in the country.
“I want to be clear: the US embassy is here to support you and stand by your side every step of the way,” the embassy said in a statement.
In a statement issued by the US?Embassy, it stated “This gathering demonstrated continued US Embassy support for human rights, including LGBT rights, in Pakistan at a time when those rights are increasingly under attack from extremist elements throughout Pakistani society.” Members of Pakistan’s largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), described the event as a form of “cultural terrorism.” “Such people [homosexuals] are the curse of society and social garbage,” JI said.
“They don’t deserve to be Muslim or Pakistani, and the support and protection announced by the US administration for them is the worst social and cultural terrorism against Pakistan.” Protesters in Karachi called the event “an assault on Pakistan’s Islamic culture.”
According to Dawn, an English-language Pakistani daily, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, a top official with JI, told a rally: “We condemn the American conspiracy to encourage [bisexuality] in our country. They have destroyed us physically, imposed the so-called war on terrorism on us and now they have unleashed cultural terrorism on us.” Mehnati added: “This [event] shows [how] cruel America has unleashed a storm of immoral values on our great Islamic values, which we’ll resist at all costs.” In Islamabad, the youth wing of JI burnt a US flag and shouted “we are ready for jihad against the US.” A placard at that rally read: “Americans, we will not allow you to spread your vulgar and ugly civilization in Pakistan.” A spokesman for the group, Noorul Bashar, told Pakistani media: “Through our peaceful rally, we want to give the message through the media that we will not allow these people (gays) to live here and they should be immediately deported out of Pakistan.” While Pakistan’s constitution does not even address homosexuality, under the strict laws of Islamic Shariah, such acts are regarded as immoral and evil and can result in brutal punishment, including whipping, prison and sometimes death.
Just when it seemed relations between the US and Pakistan couldn’t get worse, this new wrinkle has developed.
Conservative religious groups in Pakistan have sharply criticized the US Embassy and described the event as the second most dangerous attack on the country by the US after the drone and missile strikes that have that have killed civilians in addition to their intended insurgent targets.
Hoagland reaffirmed US commitment to a proclamation signed by President Barack Obama May 31 that, “we rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” There has been no comment on the event by Pakistan government officials, but the furor could fuel public resentment of US dealings in the country. The two governments already are at odds over fallout from the secret US attack in Abbottabad in which Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden was killed May 2, as well as civilian deaths from unmanned Predator drone aircraft and missile attacks in remote areas where Al Qaeda and other insurgents are hiding.
Whether the criticisms over the gay rights celebration will gain traction with the Pakistan public remains to be seen. Already it has generated debate on Internet blogs. Islamist groups held rallies in major cities Monday, at which US sponsorship of the event was denounced.
Nonetheless, the country seems to be softening some of its official treatment of homosexuals. Earlier this year, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled to allow a third gender category on national identity cards.
“Previously, we were having two categories, male and female, for registration,” Brigadier Ehsan ul-Haq, who manages the national database in Karachi, said at the time. “This (homosexual) community agitated for a separate identity of their own. They went to the Supreme Court, the court agreed and we will implement it.” Pakistan does not, however, recognize marriage or civil unions by homosexuals, and homosexually is socially and religiously ostracized in most areas of the country.
The Obama administration’s projection of its philosophy on homosexuality in Pakistan comes at a time when the US itself is wrestling with questions of rights for homosexuals. States are debating whether to recognize same sex marriages and the military is divided on whether homosexuals should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces.
Only seven states and one district currently allow same sex marriages. Other states recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and some states offer civil unions of same sex couples that afford some of the legal benefits and protections of marriage.
In addition, twenty states outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation while twelve others prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression.