And Golda Meir
Correction, it’s sexual orientation, not preference.
I hope that as a head of state, he’d instead tell them “The sleeping arrangements of the POTUS are not subject to your approval, review, or comment.”
No nation like Saudi Arabia is going to invite a President Buttigieg only to arrest him upon arrival. That would unleash the mother of all diplomatic kerfuffles.
This video seems on point.
(Speech on foreign policy and national security.)
If he were ten years older and, I hate to say it, straight he’d win in a landslide.
Is that your euphemism for war? Because it would be an immediate casus belli. But they would live with it.
To which he’d get a simple reply that “of course, but the presence of a foreigner in our country is”.
To which the response should be, “Do you really want to risk your relations with the USA over this?”
Sure, but my point is that I’d expect if a country dug in its heels, and said “If you bring your SSM spouse we will arrest him, if you give him diplomatic immunity we’ll persona non grata him”, the response would be “Then the President will not be visiting your country during his term of office, and any upcoming scheduled visits from your head of state are hereby cancelled as well.” Not “Oh, OK, we’ll gladly cave in to your anti-diplomatic (and anti-human rights) demands.”
Do you really want to have that fucking conversation?..
:rolleyes:
There is a long and distinguished record of whites telling non whites what to do. I doubt very much that such things would be tolerated. Frankly the way it would be setup is that the US would try and avoid actions that gave offence and the receiving country would ignore any such actions that did.
BTW FYI, under the Vienna Convention on Consular relations the immunities and privileges are to members of the household, not specifically to relations. Chasten is undoubtedly part of the Household.
It has always extends to spouses and children, but also to younger siblings, nephews, nieces, wards, parents or in laws living with a diplomatic family.
I have no idea why you’re bringing race into it. If a head of state was going to make a state visit to another country, and that country tried to impose conditions on that visit which the head of state found unreasonable and insulting, I’d expect the head of state to cancel the visit.
Too late to edit: I know that Presidents usually travel without spouses, so yes, this would never come up in the real world - Buttigieg would travel without his husband to keep things smooth and diplomatic. But say some summit of multiple world leaders was going to occur in a country where SSM is illegal, and the host country invited the spouses of every head of state except the one in a SSM. In that case, where it’s a deliberate snub, yes, I’d expect that the head of state would raise a stink about it. Of course, I also thought Obama shouldn’t have bowed to the Saudi king either, so what do I know?
The President often travels without the First Lady, but also often travels with her. And the question of who will form part of the President’s entourage is in the first instance one for the President. So I think it plays out like this:
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Bigotland invites the President of the United States to make a state visit.
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The President plans on bringing his husband (or, she plans on bringing her wife). Bigotland is made aware that the husband will be included in the party during the (entirely normal) advance discussions about the practicalities and details of the visit.
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Bigotland says “we’d much rather that President’s husband didn’t come. That would create problems for us at home - adverse comment, possibly protests. Could mar the visit, distract attention from the issues we mutually wish to advance, yadda, yadda.”
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The US says “The President comes with his husband, or not at all. Your call.”
Since this sequence is entirely forseeable before it even begins, in the real world Bigotland doesn’t extend an invitation to the President unless they (a) they are happy to host the President with his husband, or (b) they are entirely certain before they even issue the invitation that that the President will come without his husband.
If Buttigieg bombs the shit out of Iran, Saudi leaders would give him a hand job on live tv.
There’s large portions of almost all middle east nations that think dealing with the US at all is wrong. I mean is “the US is the great Satan!” really much better than “the US is the great Satan… and gay!”
Most Americans, it is safe to say, never have to worry about interior conditions in Saudi Arabia, and thus there’s rarely any reason for the media, educational institutions, or anyone else to inform us about the matter in detail. But in fact the evidence is, if Buttigieg or any other gay man does become President, Saudi Arabia will find a way to handle it.
Let’s be clear, the government of Saudi Arabia is a bunch of violent, psychopathic, intolerant, greedy barbarians. People in the country are either executed or tortured for a vast variety of “crimes”: homosexuality, adultery, “blasphemy”, “apostasy”, women wearing the wrong clothes, … Since the Khashoggi murder, there seems to be slightly more willingness among mainstream sources to acknowledge these facts.
However, we should not imagine that the religious police relentlessly catch everyone who commits these “crimes”. It’s more a matter of an occasional display of authority to keep people intimidated, rather than the wild mass-murder that occurred under ISIS and the Taliban. Further, Saudi society is strictly class-stratified. There’s the royal family, then the other wealthy oil families, then middle class and poor Saudi citizens, and lastly the foreign workers. Only those low down the chain are really in dangerous of arrest by religious authorities for adultery or something like that. Among the rich and powerful, you’re only in danger if you get on the wrong side of the King and his ruling faction. Then, as Khashoggi demonstrated, all bets are off.
The King and the government also know that their existence depends on exporting oil to the rest of the world, importing certain things to maintain a certain standard of living for their people, and importing American weaponry to wage their wars. So there is no chance that they’ll break with the USA, over a gay President or for any other reason.
I once worked with a fellow teacher who often traveled with business executive husband to Saudi Arabia. She said that there was a arrangement to simply have enclaves for wealthy westerners in every Saudi city where they might need to travel. Within those enclaves it is simply agreed, largely in an unofficial way, that the crazy rules enforced by the religious authorities don’t apply, and that people can dress, have sex, and so forth by the rules of a normal western place. They will not have trouble accommodating President Buttigieg if necessary.
Arguably, he has more experience with governing than the America-hating fuckstick does, even SINCE his inauguration…