Religion and politics often
go hand-in-hand, many politicians being religious themselves. So how does this
affect laws on homosexuality?
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| Snapshot of the historic announcement. |
President Barack Obama is a Christian and after having previously
struggled with the issue of same sex-marriages has recently stated
that he thinks
“same-sex couples should be able to get married." Although the theme of his
presidential election campaign was ‘change’ I don’t think anyone dared believe
he would make such a massive impact on gay rights! Because America is such a
world power this will hopefully inspire several other countries to follow suit.
Check
the historic moment out;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0usiWHp_PI.
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Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, support gay rights
for the Jamaican Community. |
This act of change led me next to Jamaican Prime Minister,
Portia Simpson Miller, who (as this
video-link shows) during her campaign stated she would “allow homosexuals in” her cabinet. In
doing so she puts forward an evolutionary view unlike her opposing candidate. Truly
leading the way and making a difference! This may not be on the same scale of
Obama’s announcement but in my opinion is more commendable because Jamaica “
is considered one of the most homophobic nations on earth”,
so the fact that the country’s leader will allow homosexuals in political
positions is a huge step forward for the heavily religious country. I think both
leaders should be unbelievably proud of themselves the comments they have made
are undoubtedly controversial but mean such a MASSIVE deal to
millions of people!
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Clegg telling BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "We are simply saying those who want to show
a lifelong commitment to each other should be able to do so." |
Of
course not all countries have made such a progression. I was really surprised and saddened to
discover that Australia had voted against SSM’s (as this clip shows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSfE1MZUAE.) Australia is famously a country that supports gay rights and
a country that people look up to when it comes to issues of homosexuality. Does
this then suggest that the political world
isn’t
moving forward with homosexual issues?
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| Heart-filled letter from 8 year old from Sophia Bailey-Klugh. | |
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What a wonderful letter from that little girl! Did Barrack Obama write back to her?
ReplyDeleteAlso just wondering, if there was any negative reaction to these political leaders statements?
What kind of affect do you think these inspirational comments will have on ordinary people?
Hi there Joanne. Thanks for these questions.
ReplyDeleteI posted that picture at the end of my blog because I thought it was an inspirational letter from someone who is so young! As well as the fact that it's just pretty darn cute! I didn't even think about whether or not Barack Obama had written back but I was VERY pleased to discover that he had!
Here's a link to his response
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-mcgonnigal/obama-responds-to-10-year-olds-heartfelt-letter-about-her-dads_b_2074213.html
And in case you wanted to check out where I found the picture, here's a link to an article about that too.
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-mcgonnigal/sophia-bailey-klugh-letter-to-president-obama_b_2036499.html
To answer your second question, yes sadly (but unsurprisingly) has been backlash towards the political leaders for saying this.
Check out this article about the churches reactions
- http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/10/religious-leaders-react-to-obama-on-gay-marriage/
and this link discussing how the announcement has caused an "Urban backlash"
- http://www.webpronews.com/obama-gay-marriage-support-sees-urban-backlash-2012-05
These links may also help with your last question about 'ordinary people' as the second article explains that "Some don’t think that it is right for gay people to get married, some do not agree with gay people at all." As Jamaica is one of the most "homophobic nations on earth" (quoted above) there was also an obvious backlash from ordinary people in Jamaica too!
Of course, ultimately there is always going to be mass backlash with comments like this, that is what makes these announcements so inspiring! But in my opinion this is one of the fist steps into a more tolerant world! There was always going to be backlash towards the first big political leader who supported same-sex marriages but hopefully in ten years time (maybe longer, maybe less) if political leaders continue to support gay rights then this will hopefully be the beginning of a more tolerant society!
...oh also, here are some YouTube clips of regular people and how they reacted
ReplyDelete- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Fxek43ztI
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Syjc8dVCUs
oh and why not have a look at these reactions from celebrities too
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpbpRT3R3gE
...Hope that helps!