Not so long ago there was no AIDS, no homosexual instruction in school, no bathhouse orgy rooms, no obscene pride parades, no Brokeback Mountain.
All of those characteristics would still be desireable things today, and whatever it is we were doing then to discourage them must have worked pretty well.
And what we were doing is then is exactly what the UAE is doing now. Sodomy was a capital offense at the time of our founding and remained that way through most of the 19th century. As late as 1960 every state in the union had anti sodomy laws. The notion that homosexual conduct is anything other than an abomination to be discouraged with the full force of the law is a thoroughly modern development.
Conservatism is valuing the standards and institutions which have proven themselves in the past. This is a textbook example.
Yes, but that's not because there weren't any homosexuals --- they just married women and pretended to be straight, while having sex with each other behind closed doors. You think that's preferable? I find it amusing that you think homosexuality will just go away if it's made a crime.
As late as 1960 every state in the union had anti sodomy laws.
As late as 1960, millions of American housewives watches Liberace each week on television. Those anti-sodomy laws worked really well....