comment: >
  
  all major religions. Religion, in many cases, is not about an individual's relationship with their selected God(s), but more a form of social control while creating groups of "others." I guess you'll disagree, but I got my jaw completely shattered and 6 other bones broken in my face, chest, and arm by a group of "good Christians" who turned a corner saw me hug my ex goodbye as he left work in the US. And guess who the police sided with in that situation? Religion is a weapon, and the vast majority suffer under it when it is allowed to govern (women, minorities, lgbt, immigrants, etc)
context: Overhead on the street:
  "You mean two guys married each other?"
  "Yemen" >
  
  Oman >
  
  You being Syrias? >
  
  Iran here as fast as I could to tell you >
  
  Nah, no way this israel >
  
  Motherfuckers are dying of hunger and they're still more pissed off about two men marrying each other. >
  
  The more impoverished and the more religious the country the more likely they don’t buy into any progressive views. If you’re impoverished and religious … gg >
  
  Two words : Saudi Arabia >
  
  you made the most intelligent comment in this entire thread so succinctly! i'm gay and i live and work in Yemen. my national colleagues talk añl the time about how the Saudis are pushing extreme versions of Islam incessantly across Yemen (and much of the Middle East and North Africa) and they lament how just a few decades ago women dressed colorfully and could walk around in long skirts. The average Yemeni is not hyper-religious and the current civil war really has nothing to do with religion, and is more of a power/land grab by the Houthis, Saudis, UAE, Qatar and Iran to control major shipping routes and some oil deposits. I'm not super out at work, but some of my colleagues certainly know, and i work with one gay national guy who the women will take their hijabs off around when they are in private (technically a big no-no, but shows they accept him for what he is and dont see him as a threat). Of course there is a ton of sexism and homophobia, but I don't think Yemen would be anywhere like it is now without Saudi Arabia's relentless influence. >
  
  Wait  a minute , have we talked before, your account seems familiar >
  
  maybe XD i try to jump in when i see news about Yemen bc there is a lack of information flow and i think they get a worse rep than they deserve usually hahah i've lived in way shittier places XD I think most people just hear the same perspective over and over and it dehumanizes a lot of super average people who are just caught in a shiiiiiiiiiiitty situation, and by dehumanizing entire religions/nationalities/groups based on the actions of their few worst leaders we allow more extremism to grow >
  
  I had a job in Saudi a while back and one of my colleagues used to reminisce fondly over what a great time he had working in Yemen before and what a chill place it used to be. >
  
  these are the stories i love to hear! :) people always point out places Queen Elizabeth visited during her honeymoon in Yemen and proudly talk about how it used to be the gem of the Middle East  (surely exaggerated but it IS incredibly beautiful). >
  
  He was like it was their little secret - him and the others working there. >
  
  So, Nomen? >
  
  Namen >
  
  lol, a country in the middle of a civil war and on the brink of collapse is more worried about two guys getting married. No wonder their country is a shithole. >
  
  I'm always confused by people being angry at what other people do in their personal lives if its between consenting adults and does no harm. >
  
  Religious brainwashing does this. >
  
  Not always, I have an atheist coworker who hates gays.
  He thinks gays are disgusting. >
  
  Which is weird, judgemental and unnecessary...but what I really don't understand is how you go from "I think they/that are/is disgusting" to "therefore we must outlaw it and persecute those who disagree with me." Particularly as an atheist who isn't falling back on the "but I'm saving them from eternal damnation" justification. >
  
  It's like other "disgust" traits where you think it's a societal "infection" that has to be fought off. They think it will spread if they don't get rid of it. Ironic given their disdain for vaccines.
  Edit: spelling. >
  
  please use the letter 'g' in the word disgust >
  
  Hah. That's what I get for using reddit on the front screen of my phone. The keyboard is even more cramped than an older gen smartphone. >
  
  lol no worries, as long as you know the difference >
  
  Also, happy cake day Colon! >
  
  I'm on the verge of gobbling cock and the mere sight of other men holding hands would be enough to cause me to cross over to the gorgeous side and this is wholly unacceptable. - Yemenis >
  
  Ridiculous comment - obviously turkeys gobble; whilst cocks crow.
  Learn proper fowl language before talking about birds. >
  
  Unidan is that you? >
  
  Here's the thing... >
  
  There country has numerous issues to worry about but they're more outraged about what people do in their bedroom >
  
  
  There country
  
  And here country too! >
  
  Isn’t this the country where an old man could marry a 9 year old girl?
  In any case, I think there are far greater things Yemen should concern itself with. >
  
  It wasn’t a legal marriage, so the headline is somewhat misleading. Looks like two men said they were married in a Houthi controlled area. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were unfortunately executed, they went against religious and cultural norms, so I don’t think anyone in local authority will be advocating for them >
  
  I’m sorry this whole situation made me laugh, it’s objectively great that more people can marry who they love, but the rules-lawyering and loophole trickery it can require is also very funny to me. “okay but what if it’s a Wednesday and we’re both wearing yellow?” “... law doesn’t say anything about that, go for it. But maybe make sure it’s pastel yellow just in case.” >
  
  Man am i glad i live in Norway >
  
  Do you just copy and paste this to every thread about the middle east or US? >
  
  lol >
  
  Gay marriage: clearly the worst thing to happen in Yemen recently. /s >
  
  Oh no, how dare people in love get married.  Entirely defeats the concept. -joke >
  
  You'd be surprised at how many people are opposed to "love marriages" and I'm not even talking about the gay kind >
  
  New Law Would Ban Marriages Between People Who Don't Love Each Other >
  
  Hope it's the first of many. Congratulations to the couple!!! 🎉🎉🎉 >
  
  "Some have asked the Yemeni government to impose the death penalty punishment on the gay couple."
  What kind of savages will want to kill people for marrying whom they love? We should have nothing to do with this kind of shitheads. >
  
  Our former vice president was one of those people. >
  
  all i can say is   
  Ye men! >
  
  I can already feel my own heterosexual marriage being damaged. >
  
  If you don't like gay marriage, don't go to gay weddings.
  Really is that easy to mind your own buiesness. >
  
  Second gay marriage stirs semen in anger >
  
  Mind your own penis >
  
  Why in the world can’t people just mind their own business? >
  
  yeah, it boggles my mind how people go out of their way and waste their time and energy to hate on a minority >
  
  Always will be people who are angry they didn't get to do it first. >
  
  Mald about it, clowns >
  
  You know Yemen, you should focus more on fixing your food shortage problem, corruption and war. Being pissy over two guys loving each other ain't gonna get you out of the crisis. >
  
  Chandler finally got hitched.  Good for him! >
  
  Surprised that gay marriage is now legal in yemen >
  
  🏳️‍🌈 Applause >
  
  Those are brave men. - me.
  There are brave men out there. Let's go kill them. - Yemeni's and Tyrion Lannister. >
  
  Imagine being so up someone else's business you have anger to spare when your nation is shit, you don't know if your gonna survive the next week, and someone down the street probably is scoping you out to steal everything you have.
  Just because two people of the same sex love one another enough to make a formal contract of it.
  THIS! This is why we need to outlaw religion. It makes people irrational to the point they are literally insane! >
  
  The skydaddy crowd really hates when sex organs play samesies. >
  
  As with Iran the conservatism of the Middle East is taking serious body blows. It’s only a matter of time before “Western Influence” becomes mainstream. >
  
  How about just human decency taking hold. >
  
  What you call human decency is literally whats considered western influence in these countries. Women's rights? western influence, animal rights? western influence, free speech and expression? also western influence. The word "liberal" is literally used as an insult where I live. >
  
  That's a shame. I will never respect any culture that doesn't value these things. >
  
  And they don’t respect western culture for not valuing subservience of women, straighthood being the only ‘clean’ sexuality, religion being paramount, etc etc.
  The world has all sorts, and the West doesn’t have a monopoly on saying its morality is best. >
  
  If any culture says that gay people need to die, orthat women don't deserve the same rights as men it is backwards and deserves to be forgotten by history as a relic of the past.
  Piety =/= superiority. >
  
  Not saying I’m agreeing with these backwards places, obviously, just that morality is relative and everywhere thinks they do it best. These places spit on the same things we think of as making us more moral than them, and vice versa. >
  
  They even touched their butts together!? So grody. >
  
  Good luck to them. That's gotta be a different kind of hell for such a threat overhead, forever. There are some great people there. There is also massive religious backlash for anything seen offensive. Violent backlash. I wish them a long and happy life regardless. >
  
  I didn’t realize there was any semblance of a functioning government or social system in Yemen rn honestly. Figured it was all rubble, starving kids and Destroyed tanks >
  
  Why are people angry about two humans making their love official? It’s not as if they personally loose something. >
  
  That’s interesting I would have thought being gay was highly illegal there. >
  
  Yemen, there's no need to feel down
  I said, Yemen, pick yourself off the ground >
  
  Why do people even care?  Leave people alone to do their thing. >
  
  Fuck Yamen >
  
  Bold mutherfuckers >
  
  Can't say I'm surprised. These guys should've just left the country >
  
  That's one way to gain asylum in the west. >
  
  It's rainin' Yemen, Hallilujah >
  
  Funny how people always feel justified in getting angry about things that have nothing to with them and are none of their business… if you don’t like gay marriage, don’t get one. >
  
  Anger->Fear->Acceptance->Progress >
  
  Religious fundamentalists are known for being accepting of new ideas.  This should go well. >
  
  Gay marriage in the US still stirs anger lol >
  
  Religion is the scourge of our society - time to move on humanity >
  
  Houthi controlled area? Why am I not even surprised >
  
  I guess you should support their genocide correct? All those children dying, just some broken eggs. >
  
  Good, phobes deserve nothing but negative things, let them stew in stress and anger until they learn and change or it causes health problems. >
  
  I wonder how much of their kids are exposed to the internet? If like half of yemeni kids could watch youtube or tiktok, i bet most of them would start reversing the religious brainwashing.
  Even young adult women. Imagine youre under constant oppression but you need a laptop for school. You watch some youtube videos and all you see if normal ass women doing their youtube vlogs, their makeup tutorials, song covers, interviews. I imagine it would be much harder to see all of that and still support the dangerous sharia laws. >
  
  i live there. they all have instagram, youtube, facebook, cellphones, etc. They can get cheap Huaweis pretty easily and there are a lot of internet cafés. Most urban and younger Yemenis really hate the religious extremism being pushed on them by the Saudis, and a lot of my colleagues talk fondly of 20-30 years ago when women could dress as they wished and walk freely. In some villages they still do, but those are areas closer to Africa than Saudi Arabia. The tribes in the desert have largely been converted/bought off by the Saudis bc they have oil in the desert which the Saudis buy and they generally have less education and exposure to the outside world. It sucks really bad for a majority of the people I've met :/ especially the women, who are highly educated. I work with several women who are well-respected engineers and doctors >
  
  The worst part is that it could all just go away so easily if people simply changed their minds. Islam is a stain against humanity.