A report released today by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch says hundreds of gay men have been tortured and killed in Iraq in recent months, some by the same security forces and militiamen who cooperate with the US military. HRW urges the Iraqi government to take action against the increasing victimization.
"Iraq's leaders are supposed to defend all Iraqis, not abandon them to armed agents of hate," says Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "Turning a blind eye to torture and murder threatens the rights and life of every Iraqi."
The report includes documentation of horrific and systematic torture, rape, and murder of victims. Some of it is really hard to read. One gay man who was targeted says,
They came to my parents' house a day later. I was out of the house when it happened. The neighbor's son has the same given name and so they kidnapped the wrong guy. When they found out they let the boy go, but they beat him severely-they wanted to kill him. They tortured him with electricity, they beat him with cables. He looked like a roast chicken when he came home.In a BBC report, Iraqi gay rights campaigner Ali Hilli believes Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world for gay, lesbian, and transgendered people, and says that even during the Saddam years, there was greater sexual freedom for citizens: audio link.
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I don't get it - why do gays stay in such a plae? I love my home city, my home state, and my nation (although some of its leaders and policies piss me off).
But if it was overrun with bloody-minded torturing thugs who hate me for existing... if shit like that went down, I would GTFO on the next plane/boat/bicycle.
I wish there were a cure for hate like this. That didn't involve rubbing a lamp first, I mean.
@ #1
and where do you suppose they might go?
@ Knodi:
Are you suggesting that gay Iraqis should move to the U.S.? Because most of them don't have the means to get here and we aren't letting them in anyway.
why do they stay? Because they are poor? Because they will be killed if they try to leave? Because no country will have them (for being Iraqi as much as gay) Because all they ever knew is there? All their family, everything?
knodi,
Are you aware of the gay man who's under threat of deportation back to Iran even though his lover was publicly executed for being gay? Very few countries will take refugees for being queer. And very few countries will take anybody from the middle east.
the Cheney Administration's Occupation and Looting Coordination Authority was staffed by hand-picked fundy-xtian lunatics. Why should this be a surprise?
The Taleban types and fundy-xtians always agreed on who they should murder first. Read this sometime:
http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Life-Emerald-City-Inside/dp/1400044871
But if it was overrun with bloody-minded torturing thugs who hate me for existing... if shit like that went down, I would GTFO on the next plane/boat/bicycle.
What we do "over there" is still us doing it, still us responsible for it, still us tacitly approving by pretty much ignoring it.
Your country DOES do that, just becuase they don't do it to YOU, HERE, doesn't make it someone elses responsibility. It's yours and mine.
Pope Benedict, Rick Warren, and Ayatollah Ali Sistani have issued a joint ecumenical proclamation deploring these hate crimes:
http://just kidding, you know they would never do that.
@Takuan,
Luckily an imam here (Amsterdam) shakes my (non-religious) hand and laughs if someone suggests they'll find an (import) wife for me... it is indeed not the religion, but the fundy types. Fundamentalism and (civil) war make a very bad combination.
@1
They might also stay because they believe that they should be allowed to live as they are without this constant attack. In fact it might even be because they believe everyone everywhere has that right.
Simply leaving their homes will only take away the fight and the oppressors will continue to beat and harass and kill the other gay, lesbian and transsexual people who come out in the future.
Islam has a problem with gays?
Unpossible!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4725959.stm
This was a real eye opener. The slow trickle of news coming out of Iraq has led me to falsely believe that some sense of normalcy has returned to the country.
That's clearly not the case: death squads still kidnap people off the streets and from their homes, being sent to the Ministry of the Interior is widely regarded as a death sentence, extortion is rampant, the police and the armed militias are one and the same...
Iraq is hopelessly and irreparably broken. How do you even begin to fix a completely non-functional society? The nation is ruled by the ruthless tyranny of armed and organized thugs who will fight - literally and with terrible violence - any attempt to bring the sort of order and stability that would strip them of their power.
I mourn for the generations that will grow up in misery and hopelessness.
@11, so , shall we hang Little Shoes?
And Iraq seemed like such a nice place before I heard of this.
When they finish murdering all the GLBT in Iraq, they will move on to the next perceived evil... whatever suits their twisted minds. I want to believe and hope one of their kids is gay, but they would just murder them too.
I feel for these folks, what a sense of hopelessness, dread and fear...
Blog of the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group, which helps LGBT people escape Iraq: http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/
If you want to practically help send some $$$ the way of 'Iraqi LGBT' http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com
They run safe houses inside Iraq as well as supporting refugees in the rest of the middle east.
Whilst the HRW report is good news for raising the profile of the pogrom, only Iraqi LGBT is actually supporting people (saving them from murder) inside the country. But funds are scarce and they consequently have to turn people away.
To find out more, read their annual report which is published on their website.
I has idea! Since we have been honing our nation building skills for the last 200 years, let us take a disputed strip of land and make an autonomous nation for them!
Sometimes, BenHer, I think that the only thing that will save the human rice is to wipe everyone's memory like on Dollhouse, but without implanting anything, and resettle everyone of all races and backgrounds at random across all the land in the world.
Probably wouldn't even work, come to think of it.
Here in Denmark, iraqi refugees, (men, women & children) did seek asylum in a church in Copenhagen, with the, ahem, blessing from the priest. Last week, the danish police, raided the church in the middle of the night and rounded them up for deportation. Protesters assembled spontaniously, organizing a sit-down blockade, but were beaten with sticks.
So much for a "christian" country fighting for "civilized western values" and "democracy".
http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article767127.ece