Cruelty of Ignorance, redux

Meteor Blades at dkos quotes Juan Cole expanding on the ramifications of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's absurd denial that homosexuals exist in Iran. First, he agrees with me:

The ultimate in denying people their rights is to deny they even exist (the nonexistent obviously have no rights...Of course, gays are punished very severely in Iran, in reality.

But here's the money quote-- Cole compares this denial to the American right:

It would be nice for the US Right to have us forget that they pull the Ahmadinejad act with regard to gays every day. Denying gays the right to marry is a way of erasing them from civil society. It is a way of denying that they really love one another, as straights do. It is a way of asserting that they do not exist.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the US military (so unlike the one followed by many NATO allies) is also a way of erasing gays. They don't exist unless they themselves press the case that they exist. In order to remain in their jobs, they are forced to erase themselves by their silence. The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy is a way of pretending that there are no gays in the US military. For if it could be proven that anyone is gay, he is immediately expelled. It is just as silly as what Ahmadinejad said, and just as pernicious. That policy is supported by the entire American Right, which is no better than Ahmadinejad in this regard.

My sentiments exactly.