Homophobia In America

It was a radiant day in American history. America had finally legalized gay marriage in all fifty states. A brilliant flame among a history shrouded in darkness. After years of campaigning, fighting and strife, the American LGBT community could finally look forward to a superb future. Despite there being a flame, there is also still darkness. All of America has yet to realize that despite winning one battle for the LGBT community, America still must wage war with ignorance, rancor, and apathy. Still shrouded in the darkness, caused by the negative feelings towards the LGBT minority, are other countries including Asia. Currently in Manilla, members of the LGBT community are forced into sex work. In Singapore, it is illegal to be homosexual.
In Malaysia, homosexuality is punishable by whipping. In Brunei, the price for being homosexual is the death sentence (Mosbergen). America needs to understand that the struggle involving the LGBT community may be flourishing in their country yet may be also going amiss in another country. The struggle in Asia involving the Asian LGBT minority discloses that America can learn that even when a struggle is going well in one country it could still be going badly in another. By comprehending Asia’s history and culture involving the LGBT minority Americans can understand the current turmoil involving the Asian LGBT community. When looking at the history of LGBT rights in Asia one must examine European and Western influence. Countries like Brunei have been ruled by Europe allowing European influence on the country, allowing religions like Christianity to spread to the country.
Britannica.com, the online Encyclopedia, notes that “ The official language is Malay, with English as a major second language. Brunei’s population is predominantly Sunni Muslim, although the Chinese usually follow Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, or Christianity. Some of the indigenous peoples are Christian, while others follow their own local religions.” Christianity has had some influence on Asia especially in Brunei one of the worst places in Asia for LGBT rights. Christianity’s effect on Asia allowed homophobia to exist in the country. America has had issues with LGBT rights due to regions like Christianity opposing the ideas like same-sex marriage. Something that especially displays the idea of Christianity’s effect on Asia is by looking at the countries where Christianity has had little effect on. Christianity is not one of the predominant religions of Japan. Japan has even started to give out same-sex marriage licenses in Shibuya Yard, despite the government trying to stop this, which proves how drastically different LGBT rights are compared to Brunei (Friedman). The lack of Christian influence has allowed Japan to improve much faster than other Asian countries
in LGBT rights. LGBT rights have always been a battle against traditional values that come with religions like Christianity. Besides looking at how Western Culture has influenced Asian by examining Asia’s culture also allows for people, even Americans, to come to the realization why Asia’s LGBT rights are the horrid way it is. According to Eamonn Fingleton, a writer on Forbes magazine,”[almost all children are born out of wedlock and Asia has very low divorce rates.]”. Asian people strictly tend to get married and have children. Essentially, to do anything besides being marry and having children. It would be outlandish to do anything outside of this like partake in a same-sex relationship. History tends to support majority so the majority will not support same-sex marriage because it is a minority that is going against the established culture. Something that is established in the culture is going to be passed down from parent to child. Artel Patel, a Huffington Post writer of Asian descent, notices how Asian parents tend to try to push their children into marriage. It would greatly upset if the kids were never to marry especially if the child is a part of the LGBT community and thus cannot obtain the right to marry. Asia due to cultural and historical factors has an unpleasant attitude towards LGBT rights which America can learn from to realize LGBT issues are not over. Examining the history and culture of Asia is not enough however to truly understand the current struggle of the Asian LGBT community, one must also look at how Asia has recently violated the rights of the Asian LGBT community. By understanding how Asia is violating the basic human rights of its citizens, especially when looking in the case of transgender women in Myanmar, one can come understanding of the dilemmas facing the LGBT community of Asia.
Understanding the definition of basic human rights allows anyone to grasp how the Asian LGBT minority have had their rights broken. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document that establishes what basic human rights are and are not. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article One “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” The idea of the first article elucidates how clearly the LGBT minority’s rights have been broken. The statement “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, includes all people whether they are born heterosexual, born straight, born transgender or any other sexuality or gender outside of the norm. The first article conspicuously establishes that human are born with the same rights. No people, no government, no community, no country should allow someone to be treated unjustly due to the way they are born. The first article exemplifies how the Asian LGBT community rights have been broken. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights later begins to define basic human rights. One example of a basic human rights broken is in Article Twelve which proclaims “No
one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law in Asia, except for the LGBT community. The LGBT community must protect themselves from authority figures of the law. The Huffington Post article titled” Gay People In Myanmar Can't Live Openly. Here's Why” describes how the policemen of Myanmar repeatedly “repeatedly punched and kicked” transgender women. By hurting the transgender women the police also violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ Article 5 “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”. The harsh treatment of the policemen privately in a cell towards the transwoman could be classified as torture or degrading treatment or punishment. However, the inhuman treatment was not just limited to the pain they police inflicted on the transwomen. In David Elmer’s article for the online newspaper The Telegraph, Eiemer writes about how the woman were forcibly stripped naked and “They were then forced to parade naked as if on a catwalk, while being photographed, as well as made to hop like frogs, clean the shoes of the police and answer demeaning questions about their sex lives”. The police were actively attempting to dehumanize the transwomen. The police actively attempted to humiliate the women and treated them like animals by making them hop like frogs. The police treated the women worse than animals, by mortifying them into submission. The police are supposed to protect those who are in need of help yet the police were the one that caused the problem. The police reflect how Asia has been treating the LGBT minority, without concern of human rights. The fact is Myanmar is just one case of many depicting how the Asian LGBT have had their basic human rights violated repeatedly. The virulent idea itself of being cruel towards someone based on their gender identity or sexuality itself seems wrong and immoral yet it continues to precede. Being fully able to understand how Asia is infringing on the rights of its LGBT community allows for other countries including America to realize that the LGBT struggle is not over yet. America is still ignoring the struggle for LGBT rights in Asia yet people in Asia are still attempting to improve LGBT rights.