“BRUSSELS — Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals face widespread harassment, bullying and discrimination across Europe, according to an EU report released Tuesday.
That harassment and discrimination occurs “in all areas of social life,” from schools to the workplace to health care centers, the report by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency said.
…...”
Link to full report
Why is this news? I suspect we all know it. We also all know or should know that the same is true in the entire Western hemisphere. Lord have mercy!
FWIW
jimB
31 March 2009
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5 comments:
Jim,
As Europe's Muslim popultion grows and it's Christian populatio shrinks, you can expect more and more hostility to LBGT people, not less.
That saddens me. While we disagree on the basic goodness of homosexual relationships, I do not believe that any person should be discriminated against simply because of his or her besetting sin.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Deacon Phil,
I fear you are right. Europe is facing a long night and no one over there seems to care.
FWIW
jimB
Were I to venture a guess as to why this is, I would guess that the increased securlarization of Europe (combined with an almost rabid multi-cultural "sensitivity") plays a large role in this.
The rule of law and the rights of the person flow from the Christian idea that man is made in God's image. While there were law and some rule of law in ancient times, (Rome attempted it and Hammurabi tried it) the "nobles" were often exempt and there was no real concept of "rights." That didn't come into being until the Age of Enlightenment and the process flowed from the flowering of Christian civilization.
As the world become "post-Christian" look for personal rights to be curtailed (of course, they will be curtailed in the name of expanding the rights).
Also, the idea that no culture is any better or worse than ours - they are just different - works against us when we are confronted with a culture that does not believe in personal rights or freedoms. But, if we refuse to say "you are wrong" or "if you wish to live among us, you must agree to abide by the rules and laws of our culture" then we doom our culture to be lost.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
As an off topic post script, I keep getting a "mail failed delivery" note when I comment on your blog. I get a notice that your email address, kb9ngi@arrl.net, is not valid. I believe you are now at yahoo.com. There may still be some config in your blog set up that has this old email address. - pls
Phil,
I have not used the arrl.net address for a long time. Thanks I will look into the config files.
Jim
Ok, I tracked it down and fixed it. Thanks again.
Now to the topic...
What I think I see is a Europe in the grips of a sort of terminal indifference. Those who actually care emigrate, the rest simply party.
A loooong time ago when I was an undergrad at Loyola (Chicago) I gook a course called, 'rights in conflict." The premise was that most disputes that land up in civil as opposed to criminal litigation are about an exercise of your rights that impinges on mine.
If your perceived right looses, then you are likely I think to see that as a curtailment of legitimate rights, and if mine does I will do the same. In both cases, we are probably both wrong and both right.
FWIW
jimB
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