Ahmedinejad's comment re gays

Since reading a log yesterday praising this man for his breathtakingly risible remark that there were no homosexuals in Iran (a comment which, I understand, was expunged in the Iranian media) I've been trying to think where I've heard something similar before. It's now come to me that around 20 years ago, I think, the then Chinese Prime Minister claimed that there also were no gays in his vast country. At kindest, one can only accuse both leaders of 'wishful thinking' from their point of view. It would be just as fatuous to suggest that they had no intelligent people, no left-handed people, no Christians, no introverts etc etc. There are even now still some blacks around who maintain that homosexuality is a 'white thing' in the face of the evidence of their own cultural history (James Baldwin, anyone?) But I do see some glimmers of hope. The greater number of gays who come out, the more will people such as their families, friends and associates come to realise that we are not any better or worse than the rest of humanity - the same traits, blemishes, emotions and so on, differing in only a single aspect of our lives. Of course there always be those who prefer to disown association or even blood-ties with the gay man or woman who has decided to be honest, which no doubt is very painful indeed, often to both parties. But in the global scheme of things I do take heart that the shift to more openness can only move in one direction. It is very unlikely indeed that there will be a significant change of heart in my lifetime to the Iranian, Chinese and other authorities. But I do persist in the hope that future generations will experience a gradual diminution in the still too-prevelant scourge of homophobia in certain societies. It's not that many years since hatred and oppression of gays in Great Britain was mainstream. Now it's starting to look marginal, even cranky. Most of western Europe led the way. We in Britain joined in, albeit somewhat belatedly. I look forward with some hope to future trends both in the remainider of Europe and outside.