Thanks for getting back to me on this terrible problem.

Poland, a country not known for its liberal stance on many issues during the 20th century, is now at the forefront of gay oppression. This should surely earn it black marks in the EU which, over many years, has been a shining light on many issues of sexuality equality.

Distressingly, and increasingly so, many Caribbean places such as Jamaica and St Maartens (which I didn't know existed – having only heard of St Martins – but they are Dutch and French halves of the same island), and African countries such as Uganda, Nigeria, and also increasingly so, Zimbabwe, have episodes of murders and attacks which are getting worse.

The alarming thing is that they all deny homosexuality in black communities, stating that the white man brought this unholy sexuality to their lands, and we all know that homosexuality has been around as long as heterosexuality!

Religion is often given as the excuse for these assaults on human rights, whereas what you have stated,

"conflict between their desires and the imperatives of the culture they’re in" is more often what drives the murderous results around the world.

Check out the Reverend (sic) Fred Phelps (USA) web site

godhatesfags to give yet another perspective on gay hate.

I meant that it seems to me violence against gay people might be higher in societies where there is a high level of repressed homosexuality because of rigid cultural or religious prohibition. Which means it's pretty bad in most places I guess.

The most sadistic exponents of such violence are very often driven by the disconnect within themselves which results from conflict between their desires and the imperatives of the culture they're in. Arab societies fit this paradigm; they deal death sentences for homosexuality but it is at least as common there as here, and has a very long history.

I am not sure what this means and what its relevance is to the gay murders around the world.

Does this imply that I am a repressed homosexual? This would come as a big surprise to all who know me.

Maybe you would like to check out our web pages?

http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken

Iraq will soon be on the list, but of course countries like the USA and Australia have not been included, but should certainly be, given the increasing tide of homophobia sweeping both countries.

Poland is showing its true form as a conservative, reactionary, Jew-hating, gay-hating, racist country which should be kicked out of the EU. If the EU doesn't act on Poland, then the EU may see itself enter the ranks of all these other countries.

"BAGHDAD, May 17 (UPI) — Hard-line Shiite militias in

Baghdad have issued a blanket death sentence for homosexuals,

lesbians, prostitutes, liberal professors and booksellers.

Ali Hili, who ran a gay nightclub in Baghdad but fled to

Britain this year after receiving death threats, told The Times of

London he knows of more than 40 men killed in recent months.

Hili claims Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered

spiritual figure in Iraq, provoked the slayings by saying on his Web site

in April last year that homosexuals should be killed in the "worst, most

severe way."

"We could never envisage this happening when Saddam

(Hussein) was overthrown," the 33-year-old Hili said. "I had no love for

the former president, but his regime never persecuted the gay community."

Elsewhere in the city, a 34-year-old theater actor, who

would only give his name as Bashar, said he has gone into hiding

after a death threat. Two close members of his family have been

killed by militants, who say they will carry on killing his

relatives until he turns himself in."