Burundi Outlaws Homosexuality. You Can Do That?

Joining such geniuses as "President" Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe in his condemnation of gays, the President of the lovely lil' African nation of Burundi said that he will sign new legislation outlawing homosexuality. The punishment will be up to three years in jail and heavy fines.

Our friend Wikipedia notes that Burundi is one of the poorest nations on the planet. Over 80% of its people live in poverty. I'm so glad this country's leaders are focusing on the things that are really important. Screw food and shelter; imprison them gays!

I wonder if anyone took the time to explain to Burundi's elected leaders that you cannot choose to be gay. Recent scholarship uncovered that the oft cited "gay conversion" studies of the 1970s may have been faked. It's like one man interviewed for a psychological study once answered in response to the question of whether he chose to be gay: "Who wakes up one morning and decides to be society's definition of a deviant?" And, really, anyone who "chooses" to limit his dating pool to 10% or less of the population would just be stupid... or really bad at math.

While no one would mistake American conservatives for Burundi nutjobs--I mean, I'm sure no Republican politician would advocate putting gays in jail just for being gay... well, unless he was from a solidly red district--the two groups do share something in common: focusing on something retarded when there are real problems in the world. Burundi's people would probably like some, oh, I don't know, food? And Americans would like jobs and their 401(k)s to recover.

I'm not a religious person like I used to be. But having grown up very religious, I've been blessed to be able to look at the world through the eyes of a person of extreme faith. And the question I so often want to pose to those foaming at the mouth at anti-abortion rallies or spewing hatred and outright ridiculous lies at anti-gay marriage rallies (or even villifying those unAmurican illegal immigrants who are takin' our jewbs!) is this: When you're standing before God on the Day of Judgment, don't you think He might be a little disappointed with the fact that you spent so much time and energy trying to control His children rather than... donating to the poor (as Jesus instructed), visiting those in prison (as Jesus instructed), healing the sick (as Jesus instructed)...?

Wouldn't it be funny if the real factor that ended up driving gay equality in the U.S. was just sheer fatigue combined with a sense that maybe there are bigger problems in the world than letting Adam & Steve get married? Perhaps they can honeymoon in Burundi. Oh wait... it still sucks. Nevermind.