I have recently complained about Michael Lerner's cooperation with demonstrators he admitted were anti-Semites. But Jews like Lerner are far from unique. Gay organizations, too, put their leftist ideology, which amazingly puts them in the camp of the Mullahs, above their solidarity with persecuted Iranian gays. This was getting to be too much for activists like Michael Petrelis. The internal battle in the gay community erupted and made the pages of Bay Windows Online and the New Republic.

As I care about all persecutions and have blogged on the Iranian persecution of gays, I received an open letter to Michael containing all the ridiculous moral equivalency typical of the left followed minutes later by Michael's response.

Michael,

I spoke to this reporter on August 9. At that time, the only things that were clear about the executions were that one of the men was a juvenile when he was executed and that the conditions of confinement and the treatment of the men had been inhumane. At no point did I say – nor does my quote say - that governments should not be criticized/condemned for imposing capital or other punishments solely on the basis of sexual orientation. I am angry that the reporter implies that I did and am sending a letter to the editor.

I stand by my quote that we should not have double standards when talking about capital punishment or conditions of confinement.

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), told me that when George W. Bush was a governor,"there wasn't a peep about the execution of juveniles in Texas. ... Let's not have double standards because it's a different part of the world." Foreman, who worked within the U.S. prison system for ten years, says that the United States still engages in"barbaric behavior" at home."If we think that psychological torture and physical torture and rape and inhumane conditions are not part of our own criminal justice system, than people don't have a clue about the reality of our nation, let alone the conditions of Guantánamo, let alone the sanctions to keep prisoners in Afghanistan."

Matt Foreman, Executive Director

Hi Matt:

I've searched NGLTF's web site and also Googled for any statement from you and your group condemning Iran's executions of the two teenagers in July, and have found nothing.

Where is your condemnation of Iran's brutal mistreatment of gays and lesbians?

If you've already deplored the executions and Iran's abuses of gays and lesbians, please share your statement with me and I will post it to my blog.

Michael