When Will the Gay Lobby Learn?

This article first appeared in New English Review.


As a conservative, I have become much more sympathetic to gay issues in recent years. While I don't favor same-sex marriage, it is now the law of the land, and there are bigger wars to fight in my view. I am also glad that there is more acceptance towards gays in America today, and they don't have to hide in the closet.

That said, there is still much to be critical about when it comes to the organized LGBT community. Is the issue of gender-neutral restrooms really that important? In addition, I find it appalling that so many in the LGBT community have bought into the ridiculous "pink-washing" argument against Israel that was invented by the pro-Palestinian lobby. This line of reasoning argues that Israel is unfairly using the fact that they are virtually the only country in the Middle East that is tolerant toward gays while they are being murdered as part of sharia law in Muslim/Arab countries and the Palestinian territories.

Yesterday, took the cake, however. Across the nation, "Equality" rallies took place  to mark the one-year anniversary of the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando. That was when Omar Mateen went into the Pulse nightclub and murdered 49 people before being killed by police. Yet, the fact that Mateen was a Muslim was lost. The fact that sharia law in Islam mandates death to homosexuals was lost. Nothing was said about Islamic bigotry toward gays. Instead, what you heard were condemnations against the Trump administration. It matters more to them that the Trump administration is not fully on board with pushing gender-neutral bathrooms. It matters more to them that Vice President Mike Pence, a committed Christian, opposes same-sex marriage.

Even before yesterday, the organized gay lobby in America has been notoriously silent on the issue of Islamic persecution of gays. They don't talk about the images of gays being publicly hanged from construction cranes in downtown Teheran. They don't talk about gays being thrown off rooftops in Gaza. Instead, it's Trump that is a danger to gays.

The day before (Saturday), ACT4America organized over 20 rallies across the nation in opposition to sharia law. I myself attended the one in San Bernardino, near the site of the 2015 massacre that killed 14 people. There were counter-protesters including some ANTIFA types. Typically, the local media presented a generally negative portrayal of the ACT demonstrators while portraying the other side as all peace and love. Yet, over the weekend, we read about a man in Pakistan condemned to death for "insulting" the Prophet Mohammad. Sharia law mandates death for adulterers, apostates, blasphemers and homosexuals. It is clearly against the US Constitution, yet, many Islamic leaders in the US assure us that sharia is perfectly compatible with our own laws. It may seem silly to fear the imposition of sharia in the US, but that is indeed the long range goal of the Islamists among us. Not too many years ago, the idea of sharia courts in European countries like the UK seemed preposterous, but they exist now.

Our rallies Saturday were in part to support the rights of gays to live in peace and safety. Yet the gay lobby would prefer to attack those who don't want to spend millions upon millions of dollars to build special bathrooms than speak out against those who would take their very lives. It just doesn't make sense.