Can No One See the Distinction?

Two gay Iranian teenagers -- one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17, were executed this week for the "crime" of homosexuality . . .

Consensual gay sex in any form is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to the website Age of Consent, which monitors such laws around the world, in Iran "Homosexuality is illegal, those charged with love-making Irangay_teens_2 are given a choice of four deathstyles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword, or dropped from the highest perch. . .

A message to the kneejerk reaction some readers may have: This isn't the type of thing that happens when homosexuality isn't accepted. If that were the case, gays would've been hanging routinely throughout our country's first 200 years. It's the type of thing that happens when religious zealotry overrides the political process instead of informing it. There's a big difference. At times, the difference is subtle, but it can manifest itself in big ways.