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Notes -
Why is LGBTQ so important for liberals in terms of foreign policy?
For example, when debating Russia, arguments often amount to Russia is evil because they aren't onboard with pride. Russia isn't putting LGBTQAASASFDSFDSFDSFDSFSD people in concentration camps, they simply seem not to have pride flags while having a don't ask don't tell attitude. Why does that infuriate liberals that much?
Countries in the middle east can engage in all sorts of questionable behaviour but, often it is a lack of LGBTQ flags that infuriates the left. Again, they aren't mass-executing LGBTQ people or having concentrations camps, they simply don't celebrate it or want it rubbed in people's faces.
It seems like existence of pride parades seems to be a key benchmark for judging the moral virtue of a country. Why is this benchmark so central?
It is one fairly reliable way to judge how ideologically distant a society is from the Western enlightenment tradition. Liberals may not put it in those terms but that's what they actually want.
It has its limits. Israel has pride parades while Gaza does not and we know what liberals think about this conflict. "Victim of colonialism" is an even more important moral virtue, apparently.
I think you're using the term liberal to talk about two separate groups of people who subscribe to distinct ethical models. The first type judge other societies based on how well they align with tolerant western ideals, as you said, while most of the type of people who simp for Palestine (lets call them progressives) determine the worth of a society based on where they fit in the progressive stack, where being Muslim or black outranks everything else. That Russia is bad because of their lack of civil liberties is a perception held primarily by the first group, not the second, for whom I'd go so far as to say gay rights/women's rights aren't a particularly salient issue outside of their immediate environment. I think if any of them have a negative opinion of Russia, it's likely going to have more to do with associating Russia with Donald Trump than anything lgbt related.
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