[R-G] Khomeini on Sodomy

[CeJ]

Some cultures do not essentialize or biologize or naturalize the
issue. This or that type of sex act might make one unclean or a sinner
or even strange, but it does not make one essentially 'queer' or
'straight'.

I have the repeated discussion with many Japanese whereby it is
asserted that in Japan they do not have homosexuals. On the other
hand, the concept of 'gay' seems to have come in by way of American
cultural influence (usually it is stated about  a man who acts
effeminate).

I am not saying that it is an empirical fact that there are no
homosexuals in Iran or Japan or the US. But the issue is to quite an
extent the cultural interpretations given to sexual behaviour. Many
cultures are far from ever conceptualizing sex acts with the same sex
as a categories of biology or social lifestyle.

What is ironic about the Bollinger-Ahmadinejad meet-up is Bollinger
has become the mouthpiece for how many on the US right who loathe gay
lifestyles and would love to eliminate them.

I myself would point out that such attempts at 'liberation' through
lifestyle activism are a poor substitute for real liberation through
politics. And I would like to hope that eventually a need to engage
collectively our politics and political economy are what essentially
make Americans, Canadians, Iranians and Japanese alike.

CJ