War Is Boring reports that with the fall of the Taliban, who — surprise! — executed gays, in Afghanistan, the gay community has exploded (if not in numbers then at least in visibility). In fact, the Afghani equivalent of gay marriage is also occurring.

. . . [N]ow the Taliban are gone and the Afghan gays are out, big-time. In rural Afghanistan, I’m told, openly gay relationships are now quite common. Marriages, even, insofar as elaborate ceremonies mean marriage.

Women haven’t been so lucky:

So Afghans just shrug [about homosexuality] and move on to more important issues, such as the latest tactics for oppressing their daughters. Six years after the Taliban’s fall, most Afghan women still wear their burqas when they’re out in public and many decline to appear in public at all.

On step forward and one step back. Sounds like the U.S. Except there probably aren’t that many discos in Kabul or Kandahar.