January was a sad month for equality. Hatred and callousness have shown themselves all over the world. In case you’ve forgotten the examples of that, let the Editorial Board give you a recap of the highlights of Dismal January.
Five men in Liverpool were cleared of gang-raping a woman because she had chatted online with one of them and talked about group sex. She never consented to sex with those men, but apparently that didn’t make a difference to the U.K. judge who decided group-sex fantasy and gang-rape consent are the same thing.
A Filipino woman was sentenced to 100 lashes for becoming pregnant when she was raped in Saudi Arabia. Her rapist went unpunished, but the woman miscarried due to harsh conditions in prison, where she awaits her punishment.
Halliburton/KBR continues its attempt to silence a woman who was raped, beaten and locked in a shipping container five years ago while working in Iraq. Despite a court ruling allowing the woman to sue despite the company’s arbitration policy, KBR is stopping at nothing to defame and humiliate her in hopes of winning its case.
The Hawaii State House killed a civil union bill that would have given nonmarried (including gay and lesbian) couples the same rights as married couples. The House voted to stall the bill indefinitely, meaning it won’t see light again this session.
Massachusetts voters rejected the congressional bid of Martha Coakley, who led a state campaign against the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which aimed to destroy attempts at marriage equality in the U.S.
U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt introduced a bill that would take away states’ rights to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants — students whose parents brought them to the U.S. and who worked their way through the education system and deserve to go to college.
Conservative talking head Pat Robertson — who blamed Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks on homosexuality, liberalism and secularism — suggested that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was a result of a pact with “the devil.” The conservative Christian Broadcasting Network immediately issued a statement in Robertson’s defense.
The Transportation Safety Administration launched an investigation after it was found that supervisors at an Orlando TSA office used a Jeopardy-style board with categories like “pickle-smokers” and “creatures” to ridicule and humiliate lesbian, gay and black employees.
What these incidents tell us is that the world is far from peaceful. Despite the efforts of some people and groups to fight hatred and injustice, people are nowhere near equal.
The point of this isn’t to be a downer. We simply hope that if people pay attention to the gross injustices that happen every day, we can stop giving in to the bystander effect and take every chance we get to prevent them — and we can start by supporting President Obama’s efforts to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
Obama announced in his State of the Union address that he would focus this year on getting rid of the discriminatory practice. As he said in his speech, “It’s the right thing to do.”
Already, the president is facing Republican opposition. House Minority Leader John Boehner — who habitually does all in his power to limit freedom and restrain progress — said today on “Meet the Press” that this isn’t the right time to work on defeating the policy. Well, we think it is the right time.
Do whatever you can to encourage the death of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Tell your lawmakers that you won’t sit back and watch as Americans continue to have their rights denied.
Happy February, Alligator readers. Here’s to hoping it’ll be better than January.
