How bad could it get? America’s ugly election

Nowhere to hide

An authoritarian regime arrests the hero of “Hotel Rwanda” 

Rwanda

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Executive focus

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14

The Economist

September 5th 2020

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Letters

I want the world to know

Your interesting article on the

coming-out experiences of gay

people did not mention the

widespread institutionalised

discrimination they face in

eastern Europe (“Queer, there

and everywhere”, August 8th).

In Russia a recent referendum

contained a draft amendment

banning same-sex marriage. In

Poland Andrzej Duda, the

president, declared during his

re-election campaign in June

that gays “are not people” but

are worse than Bolshevism,

and that gay marriage is out of

the question for Poland.

Just days after his swear-

ing-in ceremony, the police

used heavy-handed tactics

against demonstrators who

were protesting against the

detention of a gay activist; 48

were arrested. The police

claimed the protesters were

being disruptive and denied

them access to lawyers.

You wrote about a generally

more tolerant world for gay

people, but there are still

places in Europe where dis-

crimination and bigotry are

entrenched and where equality

before the law does not exist.

piotr zientara

Associate professor of

economics

University of Gdansk

“Tolerance” of gay people is

progress, but it is not a Utopia

of respect, acceptance and

celebration of differences. Yes,

more of us are coming out, and

earlier, but it is still not easy. I

don’t want to settle for “gay

rights”. I want equal rights.

Pride events are visible be-

cause they are unusual. For the

rest of the year we check our

surroundings before holding

hands, even in San Francisco or

London. Most American states

still allow the panic defence,

which allows someone to

claim temporary insanity if

they attack a gay person. And

gay sex is still illegal in nearly

70 countries.

I have been out for decades

and have grown used to being

told that things are fine for us

now, and that I should be grate-

ful for other people’s tolerance.

I was delighted when you

called for equal marriage 24

years ago (“Let them wed”,

January 6th 1996). But please

consider a place for us gay

folks beyond being tolerated.

jon huggett

All Out

San Francisco