A Gay Israel?

by Wayne Besen

In 2004, a group of gay activists took over Cato Island, a small sand bar in the Coral Sea off the northeast coast of Australia. They planted a rainbow flag on the beach and declared it the world’s first gay kingdom in protest of anti-gay legislation in Australia. When I originally read this news story I got a good laugh while I drank my morning coffee.

After a recent spasm of anti-gay violence in several countries, I’m no longer chuckling. The merits of founding a nation where persecuted homosexuals can escape rampant abuse is worth exploring.

Opponents would argue that such an effort would hamper fighting for equality at home. I don’t believe it would harm the cause anymore than the founding of Israel hurt fighting Anti-Semitism across the globe. This would not be a political act of separatism, but a realistic measure to offer personal sanctuary and give homosexuals in grave risk a place where they can escape tyrannical regimes.

The world is growing smaller and the Internet is now providing us barbaric images of state sanctioned anti-gay murder. For example, on July 19, Iran hanged two teenage boys in the city of Mashad who were reported to have been boyfriends. Before their executions, they spent 14 months in prison and each received 228 lashes. The Iranian government originally said that the boys were being executed for raping a 13-year-old boy, but evidence is emerging that this is likely a fabrication to blunt international condemnation of the executions.

In Nigeria, a 50-year-old man from the northern state of Kano was sentenced to be stoned to death by an Islamic Sharia court after acknowledging he had consensual homosexual sex. Led by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., twenty-two House Democrats signed a letter to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo that stated, "the specific circumstances of this conviction are highly problematic" and the death penalty for any individual for private, adult, consensual sexual activity is "grossly inhumane" and "below the standards that any civilized society should uphold."

On July 23, Latvia’s first gay pride event descended into violent chaos when 1,000 hateful protesters hurled insults and debris at 150 parade participants. According to Rex Wockner’s International News, the rabid mob blocked the streets and forced the event to be rerouted while chanting, "No sodomy" and "Gays f**k the nation." Police were forced to circle the participants and form a human shield to protect them.

New York Blade editor Steve Weinstein recently wrote of a trip to Africa where he had a conversation with a closeted gay Kenyan. When asked what people would do if they found out he was gay, the Kenyan tearfully replied, "They would curse me...They would harm me. People don’t like us here."

Right now, there are nations where gay people are hunted down like wild animals and nine countries still execute gays for the "crime" of homosexuality. It is not quite genocide, because many gay people are able to hide like scared rats. However, when gay people are unearthed they are systematically imprisoned, tortured or killed.

While some enlightened countries will marginally take up our cause, I think it is clear that the only group that is going to save the lives of homosexuals is the gay community. If you think I’m wrong, ask yourself why every member in Congress did not sign Rep. Frank’s letter to stop the execution of the Nigerian. Do we really think that Stone Age Republicans are going to stop the stoning? And where are the rest of the Democrats?

The truth is that we will continue to see homosexuals abused in the twisted name of religion, culture and custom unless gay people act decisively to stop the violence. Sure, creating a gay state is a pipe dream, but so was relocating Jewish Poles, Germans and Russians who were victims of pogroms and the Holocaust to a Middle Eastern desert.

Perhaps the Netherlands would be sympathetic and give the gay community an island they control, such as Saint Eustatius in the Leeward Islands. It is at the northern tip of South America, so it would bring in gay tourism dollars. The island is 8 sq. miles, which isn’t much, but consider Manhattan is only 23.7 square miles and is one of the world’s great economic engines. The gay community, with help from generous supporters worldwide, could make this safe haven one of the most productive, proud and prosperous nations on earth.

It would be great if we did not have to discuss this radical option, but literally millions of gay people risk their lives each day simply by existing. It is time we consider creating an international refuge and sanctuary where we no longer have to depend on the often-stingy "generosity" of others. Each day we wait, more gay people die. No other minority would allow their brethren to be gratuitously killed and neither should the GLBT Community. Instead of burying our heads in the sand, maybe it is time we follow the lead of Australian activists and plant a rainbow flag on the beach.

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