Actress and singer Patti LuPone recently appeared on The View, saying that she does not know the difference between the “religious right” in the US and the Taliban. The Taliban has been constantly monitored by human rights organizations for extrajudicial murder, public executions, torture, and floggings.
LuPone said: “I have said this before and I’m going to get in trouble, but I’ve said this before and it’s been in print: I don’t know what the difference between our Christian right and the Taliban is. I have no idea what the difference is.”
Whoopi Goldberg chimed in: “You’re not the only person who has said that.”
LuPone responded: “I just don’t know what the difference is. What’s happening in this country right now, in the name of religion, is so dangerous.”
It is unclear what LuPone finds to be common between Christianity in the US and the Taliban, the latter of which has been constantly monitored by human rights organizations for crimes against human beings.
The current sticking point for many Christians across the US is so-called trans rights. It is true that many Christians across the country do not support the idea that children should be castrated or given hormone therapy. It is also true that many Christians across the country do not support men who simply identify as women to be allowed in women’s spaces, such as sports and restrooms.
It is difficult to imagine that LuPone would equate these concerns with the atrocities carried out by the Taliban. In 2022, the United States Institute of Peace reported that the Taliban had cracked down on women’s rights, including sending armed men into girls-only classrooms to physically inspect women’s bodies for signs of puberty, which would disqualify them from continuing their education.
The Taliban has also been reported to beat women who were found to be wearing Western-style pants beneath their regime-mandated outer robes.
The United Nations, in December 2022, published a piece that called for the Taliban to immediately halt public executions and public floggings, which had become rampant in Afghanistan.
The report said: “Since 18 November 2022, the de facto authorities have reportedly carried out floggings of over 100 individuals, both women and men, in several provinces including Takhar, Logar, Laghman, Parwan and Kabul. Each were given between 20 and 100 lashes for alleged crimes including theft, ‘illegitimate’ relationships or violating social behaviour codes. While criminalisation of relationships outside of wedlock seem gender-neutral, in practice, punishment is overwhelmingly directed against women and girls. The flogging has been carried out in stadiums in the presence of officials and members of the public.”
As far as LGBT rights in Taliban-controlled areas, they are virtually non-existent. In early 2021, J. Lester Feder, a senior fellow for emergency research at OutRight Action International said: “We spoke with LGBT Afghans who have survived gang rape, mob attacks, or have been hunted by their own family members who joined the Taliban, and they have no hope that state institutions will protect them.”
“For those LGBT people who want to flee the country, there are few good options; most of Afghanistan's neighbors also criminalize same-sex relations. It is difficult to overstate how devastating – and terrifying – the return of Taliban rule has been for LGBT Afghans.”
These are just a few of the examples that demonstrate the Taliban has absolutely no semblance to the Christian population in the US. It appears that LuPone does not understand the goings-on of the Taliban and the despicable human rights violations that are carried out under the banner of the extremist group.
