This week’s Newsweek cover story highlights the rise in gay rights worldwide: “Now mature in the west, gay power is growing worldwide, even in the land of machismo [Mexico].” Joseph Contreras of Newsweek writes:
“The growing maturity of the gay-rights movement in the West is having a marked effect on the developing world. In the United States, the Republican Party is in trouble in part because it has made a fetish of its opposition to gay marriage. At least some gays in big cities like New York question why they are still holding “pride” parades, as if they were still a closeted minority and not part of the Manhattan mainstream. Since 2001, Western European countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain have gone even farther than the United States, placing gay and lesbian partners on the same legal footing as their heterosexual counterparts. And now, the major developing powers of Asia, Latin America and Africa are following the liberal road–sometimes imitating Western models, sometimes not–but in all cases setting precedents that could spread to the remaining outposts of official homophobia.”
Al Mohler offers a sober reflection:
“The most important part of Contreras’ argument is his conclusion, in which he predicts that change is inevitable, since young people around the world are adjusting to a new sexual liberalism. The data support that prediction, which holds true in the West and in much of the developing world.
Globalization began as a term related to economics and the development of a global market for goods and services. Contreras’ article reminds us that where good and services go, moral and ideological assumptions hitch a ride. Today’s world is a global marketplace of moralities and worldviews. As the Romans warned, caveat emptor — Let the buyer beware.”
Related: Joe Carter on homosexual immorality (in light of the Senator Craig debacle)